Recent advances in enantioselective organocatalyzed anhydride desymmetrization and its application to the synthesis of valuable enantiopure compounds

Chemical Society Reviews Pub Date: 2011-07-06 DOI: 10.1039/C1CS15120G

Abstract

Recent years have witnessed increasing interest in the field of asymmetric organocatalysis. In particular, efforts in this field have been devoted to the use of small organic molecules in asymmetric processes based on enantiotopic face discrimination and, only recently, efforts have also been devoted to asymmetric organocatalytic desymmetrization of prochiral substrates—a process based on enantiotopic group discrimination. This critical review documents the advances in the use of organocatalysis for the enantioselective desymmetrization of achiral and meso anhydrides and its application to the synthesis of valuable compounds as reported until 2010 (134 references).

Graphical abstract: Recent advances in enantioselective organocatalyzed anhydride desymmetrization and its application to the synthesis of valuable enantiopure compounds
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