text: Asymmetric hydrogenations are used in the production of several drugs, such as the antibacterial levofloxin, the antibiotic carbapenem, and the antipsychotic agent BMS181100.
  Knowles' research into asymmetric hydrogenation and its application to the production scale synthesis of L-Dopa gave asymmetric hydrogenation a strong start in the industrial world.  A 2001 review indicated that asymmetric hydrogenation accounted for 50% of production scale, 90% of pilot scale, and 74% of bench scale catalytic, enantioselective processes in industry, with the caveat that asymmetric catalytic methods in general were not yet widely used.
  Asymmetric hydrogenation has replaced kinetic resolution based methods has resulted in substantial improvements in the processs efficiency.  can be seen in a number of specific cases where the  For example, Roches Catalysis Group was able to achieve the synthesis of (S,S)-Ro 67-8867 in 53% overall yield, a dramatic increase above the 3.5% that was achieved in the resolution based synthesis.  Roche's synthesis of mibefradil was likewise improved by replacing resolution with asymmetric hydrogenation, reducing the step count by three and increasing the yield of a key intermediate to 80% from the original 70%.
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  Noyori-inspired hydrogenation catalysts have been applied to the commercial synthesis of number of fine chemicals. (R)-1,2-Propandiol, precursor to the antibacterial levofloxacin, can be efficiently synthesized from hydroxyacetone using Noyori asymmetric hydrogenation: 
  Newer routes focus on the hydrogenation of (R)-methyl lactate.
  An antibiotic carbapenem is also prepared using Noyori asymmetric hydrogenation via (2S,3R)-methyl 2-(benzamidomethyl)-3-hydroxybutanoate, which is synthesized from racemic methyl 2-(benzamidomethyl)-3-oxobutanoate by dynamic kinetic resolution. 
  An antipsychotic agent BMS 181100 is synthesized using BINAP/diamine-Ru catalyst.