Abstract The rhodium-catalyzed asymmetric hydrogenation of β-acetylamino acrylonitriles was investigated by using monophosphine and bisphosphine ligands. It was found that an Rh-QuinoxP∗ complex exhibited high enantioselectivities for β-aryl substituted β- acetylamino acrylonitriles and the Rh-JosiPhos CyPF-t-Bu complex was proven to be effective for the hydrogenation of tetrasubstituted olefins from cyclic β-acetylamino ...