Chiral Sulfur Ligands Asymmetric Catalysis [Hardcover]

The goal of this book is to show the high potential of chiral sulfur-containing ligands to promote numerous asymmetric catalytic transformations. The important number of reports appeared in the literature over the last 35 years often highlighted spectacular results in terms of efficiency and enantioselectivity, allowing access to many biologically important molecules, which clearly demonstrates that these ligands can now be recognised as real competitors to the more usual phosphorus- or nitrogen-containing ligands. A key point of reference for post-graduate students, researchers and academics.The preparation of chiral compounds is an important and challenging area of contemporary synthetic organic chemistry, mainly in connection with the fact that most natural products are chiral and their physiological or pharmacological properties depend upon their recognition by chiral receptors, which will interact only with molecules of the proper absolute configuration. The use of chiral drugs in enantiopure form is now a standard requirement for virtually every new chemical entity, and the development of new synthetic methods to obtain enantiopure compounds has become a key goal for pharmaceutical companies. The impressive number of reports dealing with the use of chiral sulfur-containing ligands for asymmetric catalysis is well representative of the success of such ligands to promote numerous catalytic transformations. Chiral sulfur-containing ligands represent a highly efficient class of ligands applicable in a broad variety of reaction types, also in view of some peculiar properties, which differentiate them from more popular ligands such as phosphorus- or nitrogen-containing ligands. Whereas the synthesis of chiral phosphorus ligands is often complex and difficult, the preparation of chiral sulfur compounds is much more convenient. Consequently, a wide diversity of chiral sulfur-containing ligands, more than forty different classes, is easily available either directly frol¥