Asymmetric Allylic Alkylation, an Enabling Methodology

The diversity of mechanisms for enantiodiscrimination and of bond types that can be formed make Pd-catalyzed asymmetric allylic alkylation a powerful key step for simplification of synthetic strategy to complex molecular targets. Using a wide range of different classes of compounds including alkaloids, polyhydrofurans, nucleosides and carbanucleosides, cyclohexitols and cyclopentitols, chromanes, cyclopentanoids, amino acids, barbiturates, etc., novel synthetic strategies emerge that provide short efficient asymmetric syntheses. Chemistry distinguishes itself from the other disci-plines in approaching scientific questions by its ability to design structure for function unfettered by what is available. A key enabling aspect of this freedom is the effectiveness of synthetic methodology to solve problems of selectivity, a feature that is particularly noted when dealing with biological problems. Providing efficient synthesis to complex molecules requires minimizing the number of steps, any side reactions, and purificatio