the appropriate temperature the hydrogenation is carried out under h 2 pressure suitable solvents for the asymmetric hydrogenation are for example chlorinated alkanes such as methylene chloride short chain c 1 c 6 alcohols such as methanol isopropanol or ethanol aromatic hydrocarbons such as toluene or benzene ketones such as acetone or carboxylic esters such as ethyl acetate the asymmetric hydrogenation is carried out for example at a temperature of from u2212 20 u00b0 c to 200 u00b0 c preferably from 0 to 100 u00b0 c and particularly preferably from 20 to 70 u00b0 c the hydrogen pressure can be for example from 0 1 to 200 bar preferably from 0 5 to 50 bar and particularly preferably from 0 5 to 5 bar the catalysts of the invention are particularly suitable for processes for preparing chiral active compounds in pharmaceuticals and agrochemicals or intermediates for these two classes the advantage of the present invention is that activities of far above 1 000 h u2212 1 tof which have hitherto not been achieved can be achieved using ligands which are simple to prepare in particular in asymmetric hydrogenations the invention is further illustrated but is not intended to be limited by the following examples in which all parts and percentages are by weight unless otherwise specified a solution of 1 g 3 17 mmol of s u2014 cl u2014 meo biphenol is added dropwise to a mixture of 0 41 ml 4 12 mmol of pcl 3 and 0 97 ml 6 98 mmol of net 3 in 5 ml of thf while cooling in ice the mixture is stirred at rt for 1 hour the precipitate which has formed is filtered off and is washed with a little solvent removal of the solvent gives the product as.