Anion-binding catalyst designs for enantioselective synthesis

Select hydrogen bond donors can catalyze reactions of ion pairs through the recognition of anions. This mode of action can be exploited in enantioselective catalysis if a suitable chiral hydrogen bond donor is applied. Beyond just anionic recognition, an enantioselective anion-binding catalyst often must host numerous non-covalent interactions, including hydrogen bonding, general base, pi-pi, and pi-cation, to achieve high levels of enantiocontrol. Anion-binding catalysts can be strategically designed to support those non-covalent interactions required to render a process highly stereoselective. Tactics applied in anion-binding catalyst development include enhancing arene substituents for improved it-stacking, linking two anion-binding units together on a single scaffold, expanding types of functional groups for anion recognition, and building frameworks with bifunctional modes of action. The intent of this digest is to highlight observations that suggest as anion-binding catalyst designs advance, their associated synthetic methodologies for complex molecule construction become increasingly impressive. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.