New organocatalytic strategies in asymmetric synthesis

This PhD thesis focuses on asymmetric organocatalysis. This strategy allows to obtain enantioenriched products employing a small chiral organic molecule as the catalyst. Among the advantages of organocatalysis, the following can be mentioned: (1) the catalysts are cheap and largely available, as often derived from natural substances; (2) transition metals are avoided; (3) organocatalysts can mimic the action of enzymes through peculiar substrate-catalyst interactions, thus paving the way to artificial reproduction of transformations which are carried out by nature. Three main works are included in the thesis: - A new organocatalyzed atroposelective biaryl coupling; - The development of novel chiral guanidines as organocatalysts; - A photo-organocatalytic method for the asymmetric beta-alkylation of enals. The first two works were carried on in the group of Prof. Marco Bella at Department of Chemistry, Sapienza University of Rome. The third one was developed in the group of Prof. Paolo Melchiorre at Catalan Institute for Chemical Research (ICIQ), Tarragona, Spain