Asymmetric Catalysis: Recent Advances toward a More Sustainable Synthesis

Asymmetric catalysis is the most sustainable means of achieving efficient production of enantioenriched compounds, which are valuable to the pharmaceutical industry and advanced functionalized materials. The field has undergone considerable development since its inception about 60 years ago. The development of new chiral ligands or organocatalysts or the discovery of new reactions all led to spectacular progress in terms of activity and enantioselectivity. In this context, this Outlook article aims to highlight major advances that demonstrate the central role of asymmetric catalysis in sustainability, with the examples discussed representing a selection shaped by the authors’ scientific perspective and sensitivity. This includes recent innovations in catalyst recycling, the use of less precious and less toxic metals in asymmetric organometallic catalysis, as well as the control of the positioning of catalytic sites, to further improve their efficiency. The development of asymmetric electrocatalysis and photocatalysis as well as of mechanochemistry and continuous flow chemistry is also discussed. Finally, the complexity and step-economy issues are raised with the presentation of relevant examples of asymmetric multicatalytic processes and new challenging transformations that include late-stage functionalization reactions, molecular edition or reactions targeting the creation of axial, planar or helicoidal chirality.