Recent advances in the catalytic asymmetric construction of atropisomers by central-to-axial chirality transfer

Abstract

Atropisomeric compounds, referring to the compounds showing restricted rotation of a single bond, have recently received much attention as an important class of chiral molecules. Their significance is not only derived from their use as catalysts and ligands in asymmetric synthesis, but also due to their presence in many common scaffolds in drug discovery and natural products including axially chiral biaryls, arylamides and anilides. Thus, an increasing number of catalytic methods have been developed for their direct asymmetric preparation. In this context, central-to-axial chirality transfer serves as a promising strategy that has been widely used for constructing many atropisomeric compounds. This review, herein, highlights the recent advances (from 2010 to 2021) in the stereoselective synthesis of atropisomers by central-to-axial chirality transfer.