Recent Developments in Asymmetric Catalysis

Asymmetric catalysis has long been dominated by C2-symmetric bidentate ligands. More recently, sterically and electronically unsymmetrical ligands have found increasing attention. An important family of these are the phosphinooxazoline (PHOX) ligands incorporating one P-coordinating and one N-coordinating unit. Important applications of PHOX ligands include Pd-catalyzed allylic substitution and Ir-catalyzed hydrogenation