Organocatalysis, the catalysis with low-molecular weight catalysts where a metal is not part of the catalytic principle, can be as efficient and selective as metalor biocatalysis. Important discoveries in this area include novel Lewis base-catalyzed enantioselective processes and, more recently, simple Brønsted acid organocatalysts that rival the efficiency of traditional metal-based asymmetric...

T he field of asymmetric catalysis is dedicated to the development of efficient catalytic methods for the construction of chiral molecules and has been dominated by the use of organometallics and enzymes for most of its history. However, in the past decade, the concept of organocatalysis has emerged as a discrete strategy for addressing modern day challenges in chemistry. It has become widely a...

The six-membered nitrogen-containing ring of the morphan scaffold, ubiquitous in natural products, is formed by an intramolecular aldol process of an aza-tethered dicarbonyl compound, leading to the first asymmetric synthesis of a morphan derivative using organocatalysis.

Wynberg's report from 1977 that natural cinchona alkaloids catalyze the asymmetric conjugate addition of aromatic thiols to cycloalkenones is a landmark discovery in hydrogen bonding organocatalysis. Wynberg proposed that this reaction proceeded via the formation of a thiolate-alkylammonium tight ion pair and activation of the enone electrophile by a hydrogen bond from the catalyst's hydroxyl g...

Over the past few decades, enantioselective phosphine organocatalysis has evolved rapidly into a highly efficient catalytic strategy for a range of useful reactions. However, as restricted by the traditional catalytic modes, some important reactions, such as asymmetric Strecker-type reactions, have thus far been out of reach of this strategy. Reported herein is an application of enantioselectiv...

Abstract During the last 20 years, organocatalysis has significantly advanced as a field. Thanks to contributions from hundreds of groups and companies around world, area risen few mechanistically ill-defined niche reactions, one most vibrant innovative fields in chemistry, providing several well-defined generic activation modes for selective catalysis. Organocatalysis is also on rise industria...