Asymmetric Synthesis and Catalysis

Asymmetric synthesis is concerned with building molecules in which one mirror-image form is produced preferentially over the other—a distinction that matters profoundly in medicine, where the two forms of the same compound can have entirely different biological effects. Much of the current effort focuses on designing chiral catalysts, both organocatalysts that rely on small organic molecules and transition-metal complexes, to guide bond-forming reactions with high selectivity and efficiency. Particular attention has turned to constructing quaternary stereocenters and complex scaffolds such as spirooxindoles through cascade reactions, since these architectures appear frequently in bioactive natural products yet remain difficult to assemble reliably. Central open questions include understanding precisely how non-covalent interactions like hydrogen bonding direct catalyst–substrate geometry, and how to extend the most successful catalyst designs to a broader range of carbon–carbon bond-forming transformations with predictable stereocontrol.

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79,100

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Keywords

OrganocatalysisEnantioselective ReactionsChiral CatalystsAsymmetric SynthesisC-C Bond FormationSpirooxindoles