Recent Developments in Enantioselective Phase Transfer Catalysis Using Chiral Ammonium Salts

Abstract

Due to the constant demand for non-racemic molecules in both industrial and academic laboratories, many efforts have been devoted in the last 25 years to the development of enantioselective phase transfer catalyzed (PTC) processes. Much of this chemistry was recently reviewed – the latest reports were from 2003/2004 and treated essentially the synthesis of non racemic ?-amino acids. After a short historical introduction, this article will thus review enantioselective PTC reactions reported in the last three years (2003–2006) and demonstrate how broad and active the field is – and this considering ammonium-catalyzed reactions only.

Keywords

• Ammonium salts
• Catalysis
• Chirality
• Green chemistry
• Phase transfer