Asymmetric catalysis, synthesis and chirality

A selection of some recent advances in synthesis, catalysis and stereochemistry are listed. Highlights appeared among others in Science, Chem. Tech., Chem.& Ind., Nachrichten, Chem. World, Chem. Science, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., JACS beta, Manufacturing Chemist, Nature, Chem. Eng. News.:

The use of monodentate chiral ligands (phosphoramidites) has resulted in a paradigm shift in asymmetric catalysis (it was demonstrated that bidentate chiral ligands are not a sine qua non to achieve high enantioselectivity in transition metal catalysis). The first highly enantioselective catalytic 1,4-addition with Grignard reagents and allylic alkylation with organolithium compounds, key synthetic transformations, solved longstanding issues in the field of asymmetric catalysis. Taming organolithium reagents for selective cross coupling has recently been reported from our laboratories. A major advance is also the design of the first DNA-based asymmetric catalysis in water including enantioselective addition of water in water.