Asymmetric reduction of ketimines with trichlorosilane can be catalysed by the Lewis-basic N-methylvaline-derived formamide anchored to a soluble dendron () with good enantioselectivity (</=94% ee) and low catalyst loading (typically 5 mol%) at room temperature in toluene. This protocol represents an improvement and simplification of the isolation procedure and recovery of the catalyst.

Catalyst 5, an ion pair consisting of a hydrophilic cation and a lipophilic anion, fulfils the solubility requirements needed to couple efficiency (enantioselectivities and anti-diastereoselectivities up to > or = 99%) and catalyst recyclability in asymmetric aldol reactions under aqueous biphasic conditions.

The research in the field of asymmetric carbene organic catalysis has primarily focused on the activation of carbon atoms in non-aromatic scaffolds. Here we report a reaction mode of carbene catalysis that allows for aromatic aldehyde activation and remote oxygen atom functionalization. The addition of a carbene catalyst to the aldehyde moiety of 2-hydroxyl aryl aldehyde eventually enables dear...

The first enantioselective organocatalytic transfer hydrogenation of cyclic enones has been accomplished. The use of iminium catalysis has provided a new organocatalytic strategy for the enantioselective reduction of beta,beta-substituted alpha,beta-unsaturated cycloalkenones, to generate beta-stereogenic cyclic ketones. The use of imidazolidinone 4 as the asymmetric catalyst has been found to ...

Many hands make light work: In an organocatalytic asymmetric sulfonation of enones, the activation of a sulfonyl imine by an N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC) catalyst led to the release of a sulfinic anion, which underwent nucleophilic addition to the enone. The enantioselectivity of the process was controlled by a chiral thiourea/amine co-catalyst through anion recognition and hydrogen-bonding int...

The asymmetric ring-opening of meso-aziridines with primary alcohols is realized using an N,N'-dioxide-Mg(OTf)2 complex as the catalyst. The desired vicinal trans-β-amino ethers are afforded in good yields and enantioselectivities. Aniline and water could also be used as the nucleophiles for the ring-opening in an identical catalyst system.

The powerfulness of a combinatorial approach in the discovery of novel chiral catalyst systems, particularly for the development of highly efficient, enantioselective, and practical catalysts for asymmetric reactions, was demonstrated by screening modular chiral catalyst libraries created by the strategy of two-component ligand modification of metal ions on the basis of molecular recognition an...

The chiral selectivities were altered and high diastereo- and enantio-selectivities of the products were obtained in water medium without adding acid co-catalysts when a primary-tertiary diamine catalyst was immobilized on mesoporous SBA-15 to form a recyclable catalyst for the direct asymmetric aldol reaction of cyclohexanone with p-nitrobenzaldehyde.

In the presence of a Brønsted acid catalyst, both aldehydes and N-Boc-aminals were converted to enecarbamates and N-Boc-iminium salts as activated nucleophiles and electrophiles, respectively, giving unprecedented Mannich adducts. The asymmetric variant of the present Mannich reaction has also been demonstrated with a chiral phosphoric acid catalyst.

Asymmetric catalytic variants of sunlight-driven photochemical processes hold extraordinary potential for the sustainable preparation of chiral molecules. However, the involvement of short-lived electronically excited states inherent to any photochemical reaction makes it challenging for a chiral catalyst to dictate the stereochemistry of the products. Here, we report that readily available chi...