When chiral product and catalyst are the same: discovery of asymmetric organoautocatalysis

The process of asymmetric organoautocatalysis appears to be a natural extension to asymmetric organocatalysis, and holds implications for models on the origin of biological homochirality. The discovery of asymmetric organoautocatalysis (i.e. the process in which the chiral product of a purely organic reaction acts as an organocatalyst for its own formation under conservation of its absolute configuration) and more recent reports on related systems are discussed in this review.