Asymmetric catalysis articles within Nature

Featured

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Irradiation of chiral Al-salen complexes with violet light demonstrates efficient deracemization of cyclopropanes, enabling reactivity and enantioselectivity to be regulated simultaneously, negating the requirement for tailored catalyst–substrate recognition motifs.

    • Carina Onneken
    • , Tobias Morack
    •  & Ryan Gilmour

  • Article |

    The enantioconvergent alkylation of oxygen nucleophiles is achieved using α-haloamides and a readily available copper catalyst, and the reaction proceeds under mild conditions in the presence of a wide variety of functional groups.

    • Caiyou Chen
    •  & Gregory C. Fu

  • Article |

    The chemoselective and enantioconvergent N-alkylation of aliphatic amines, including ammonia, is achieved using chiral tridentate anionic ligands and a copper catalyst; the method shows excellent enantioselectivity and functional-group tolerance.

    • Ji-Jun Chen
    • , Jia-Heng Fang
    •  & Xin-Yuan Liu

  • Article
    | Open Access

    An unsymmetric, strong and confined chiral acid, a highly fluorinated imino-imidodiphosphate, catalyses the selective conversion of neral to (1R,6S)-trans-isopiperitenol, enabling sustainable routes to menthol and cannabinoids.

    • Joyce A. A. Grimm
    • , Hui Zhou
    •  & Benjamin List

  • Article |

    Triplet photoenzymes developed through genetic encoding and directed evolution result in excited-state photocatalysts that provide a valuable approach to enantioselective photochemical synthesis.

    • Ningning Sun
    • , Jianjian Huang
    •  & Yuzhou Wu

  • Article |

     The analytical workflow outlined in this study allows multiple crude reaction mixtures to be analysed simultaneously, with substantial reductions in method development and analysis time, and maximizes the chances of finding catalytic systems with broad substrate scope.

    • Corin C. Wagen
    • , Spencer E. McMinn
    •  & Eric N. Jacobsen

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The development of confined organocatalysts for the enantioselective cyanosilylation of small, unbiased substrates, including 2-butanone, is shown to lead to catalysts that are as selective as enzymes, with excellent levels of control.

    • Hui Zhou
    • , Yu Zhou
    •  & Benjamin List

  • Article |

    A transformation in which an ‘ene’ reductase catalyses the visible-light-induced intermolecular radical hydroalkylation of alkenes gives carbonyl compounds with a remote stereocentre in high yield and enantioselectivity.

    • Xiaoqiang Huang
    • , Binju Wang
    •  & Huimin Zhao

  • Article |

    Cooperation between a chiral hydrogen-bond-donor catalyst and a strong Lewis-acid promoter in an SN1-type reaction mediates the formation of tertiary carbocations and enables control over enantioselectivity and product distribution.

    • Alison E. Wendlandt
    • , Prithvi Vangal
    •  & Eric N. Jacobsen

  • Review Article |

    Our increasing understanding of non-covalent interactions involving aromatic systems is reviewed, and the use of these insights in the design of small-molecule catalysts and enzymes is surveyed.

    • Andrew J. Neel
    • , Margaret J. Hilton
    •  & F. Dean Toste

  • Letter |

    Imines conventionally act as electrophiles towards carbon nucleophiles in the synthesis of amines, but the range of amines could be much extended if the carbon atom of the imine could be rendered electron-rich to allow it to act as a nucleophile toward a carbon electrophile; such a reaction can be promoted by new phase-transfer catalysts, leading to highly efficient asymmetric reactions of imines with enals.

    • Yongwei Wu
    • , Lin Hu
    •  & Li Deng

  • Review Article |

    Carbon atoms to which four distinct carbon substituents are attached — quaternary carbon stereocentres — are common features of molecules found in nature; in this Review, the authors discuss catalytic enantioselective reactions that have been developed during the past decade for synthesizing organic molecules containing such carbon atoms.

    • Kyle W. Quasdorf
    •  & Larry E. Overman

  • Article |

    A catalytic process is reported that begins with a highly selective copper–boron addition to a monosubstituted allene, and in which the resulting boron-substituted organocopper intermediate then participates in a chemoselective, site-selective and enantioselective allylic substitution; this approach is used in the enantioselective synthesis of gram quantities of two natural products.

    • Fanke Meng
    • , Kevin P. McGrath
    •  & Amir H. Hoveyda

  • Letter |

    Spiroacetals are found in a broad range of biologically active compounds, including small insect pheromones and more complex macrocycles; a confined imidodiphosphoric-acid catalyst is now reported that is able to facilitate the stereoselective synthesis of small, unfunctionalized spiroacetals.

    • Ilija Čorić
    •  & Benjamin List

  • Letter |

    Some beetle shells exhibit iridescence owing to the chiral organization of chitin making up the beetle's exoskeleton. Inspired by this, these authors fabricate thin glass films with helical pores introduced using a renewable cellulose template. The chiral structure allows the material, which can be free-standing, to selectively reflect light at a specific wavelength that can be tuned across the visible spectrum by altering the ratio of silica to cellulose during synthesis.

    • Kevin E. Shopsowitz
    • , Hao Qi
    •  & Mark J. MacLachlan

Browse broader subjects

Browse Asymmetric catalysis across other nature.com journals