The invention discloses a method for preparing a cyclic chiral
nitrile compound and its application in preparing
ramelteon, and the preparation steps are as follows: first, a chiral
rhodium catalyst is prepared using a
rhodium metal precursor and a chiral diphosphine ligand as raw materials; then, a chiral
rhodium catalyst is used to catalyze an α, β-unsaturated
nitrile outside the ring for
asymmetric hydrogenation reaction, and a cyclic chiral
nitrile compound is successfully prepared. Compared with the existing method for synthesizing cyclic chiral nitrile compounds, the method of the present invention is simple and practical to operate, has high
atom economy, high
catalytic efficiency, high yield and high ee value. The present invention also provides a reduction
acylation reaction of 2-(1,2,6,7-tetrahydro-8H-indeno[5,4-b]
furan-8-yl)
acetonitrile with
propionic anhydride and
sodium borohydride under
nickel catalysis, and
ramelteon is successfully prepared. The method has the characteristics of simple operation and higher yield, which provides a more efficient, convenient and safe method for the synthesis of
ramelteon.