(S)-(-)-1-(4-PYRIDYL)ETHANOL

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General procedure: Substrate scope and enantioselectivity determination The relative activities of 26 substrates were measured using thepreviously described assay protocol with adjusted ratio of enzymeand substrate concentration. The a-chloroacetophenone activitywas assumed 100percent.Enantioselectivity was determined by examining the reductionof aromatic ketones using an NADH-regeneration system consist-ing of the puried KcDH and glucose dehydrogenase (GDH) fromBacillus subtilis CGMCC 1.1398. The 1-mL reaction mixture con-tained 0.5 mM NAD+, 10 mM ketone, 1 U KcDH, 50 mg glucoseand 2 U GDH in 50 mM potassium phosphate buffer (pH 7.0). After16 h, the reaction sample was equally separated into two parts, with one terminated by adding an equal volume of methanol, fol-lowed by HPLC analysis to determine the conversion ratio, and theother extracted with ethyl acetate, followed by ee analysis. Meth-ods used for analysing chiral products using HPLC or GC aredescribed in Supplementary Table S1.Triethylamine (315 mL, 2.26 mol) was added dropwise to formic acid (150 mL, 3.91 mol) with overhead stirring while maintaining the internal temperature below 60° C. with ice-bath cooling. Neat 4-acetylpyridine (100 mL, 0.904 mol) was then added rapidly while maintaining the temperature below 50° C. Following this addition, the reaction was allowed to cool to 28° C. and the chiral ruthenium catalyst [N-[(1R, 2R)-2-(amino-N)-1, 2-diphenylethyl]-2, 4, 6-trimethylbenzenesulfonamidato-N]chloro[(1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6-n)-1-methyl-4-(1-methylethyl)benzene]ruthenium (CAS No.177552-91-9; for catalyst preparation, see: Uematsu, N.; Fujii, A.; Hashiguchi, S.; Ikariya, T.; Noyori, R.; J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1996, 118, 4916-4917) (3 g, 4.46 mmol) was added. The mixture was stirred under house vacuum for 4 h and then overnight under an atmosphere of nitrogen. The reaction mixture was added dropwise to a stirred solution of 10percent NaGeneral procedure: Definite quantities of catalyst, chiral diamine, base, solvent, and heteroaromatic methyl ketones were placed into a 60mL stainless steel autoclave equipped with a magnetic stirrer bar. The autoclave was purged with hydrogen three times and the hydrogen pressure was increased to the desired level. The mixture was then stirred at room temperature for a suitable time. At the end of the reaction, the reactor was decompressed. Finally, the products were separated by centrifugation and analyzed by a GC instrument with an FID detector and β-DEX120 capillary column. The ee value was calculated from the equation: ee (percent)=100×(S−R)/(S+R).