# Total synthesis of natural products based on hydrogenation of aromatic rings

## TL;DR

This review discusses recent progress in hydrogenating aromatic rings to help synthesize complex natural products and pharmaceuticals more efficiently.

## Contribution

The paper highlights novel catalytic methods for hydrogenating aromatic and heteroaromatic rings with high efficiency and stereoselectivity.

## Key findings

- Recent catalyst and ligand designs enable efficient hydrogenation of quinoline, isoquinoline, and pyridine.
- Catalytic asymmetric hydrogenation supports the asymmetric synthesis of complex natural products.
- Hydrogenation techniques provide access to saturated structures crucial for pharmaceutical and synthetic chemistry.

## Abstract

Arenes and heteroarenes are easily available building blocks in organic chemistry, and saturation the aromatic ring facilitates synthetic chemists to efficiently synthesize natural products with complex three-dimensional structures. Recent advances in catalyst and ligand design have enabled unprecedented progress in the catalytic hydrogenation of (hetero)aromatic systems. Quinoline, isoquinoline, pyridine, and related substrates can now be reduced with high efficiency and stereoselectivity, providing efficient access to saturated and partially saturated architectures vital to synthetic chemistry. Furthermore, catalytic asymmetric aromatic hydrogenation has facilitated the asymmetric total synthesis of complex natural products and pharmaceutical agents. This review highlights recent advances in catalytic (hetero)arene hydrogenation, with a focus on its application in natural product synthesis.