Enantioselective Organocatalysis and Superacid Activation: Challenges and Opportunities

Since the pioneer reports of the groups of Akiyama and Terada on Bronsted acid organocatalysis, this field never stopped growing with the development of ingenious strategies for the activation of challenging poorly reactive substrates. The development of superacidic organocatalysts is an important way to selectively functionalize reluctant electrophiles and other approaches have also emerged such as the combination of Lewis and Bronsted acids as well as the consecutive organocatalysis and superacid activation. This Concept aims to highlight these different strategies and demonstrate their complementarity.

Automated summary

Since the pioneer reports of the groups of Akiyama and Terada, the field of Bronsted acid organocatalysis has been continuously growing with the development of ingenious strategies for the activation of challenging substrates. Different approaches such as superacidic organocatalysts and the combination of Lewis and Bronsted acids have emerged, highlighting the complementarity of these strategies.