Recent Advances on the Organocatalyzed Enantioselective α-heterofunctionalization of Carbonyl Compounds

This review covers literature on organocatalyzed enantioselective alpha-heterofunctionalization of carbonyl compounds from 2006 to 2009. In this review, we will consider those reactions in which a new carbon-heteroatom bond is formed using a chiral organic molecule as catalyst, excluding those processes, which involve the modification on the hybridization of a previously functionalized carbonyl compound. Using this straightforward synthetic strategy, a wide range of valuable chiral building blocks such as alpha-amino acids, alpha-amino alcohols, epoxides, 1,2-diols, alpha-sulfenylated, alpha-selenenylated and alpha-halogenated carbonyl derivatives can be obtained by this simple and advantageous methodology.