Chiral Bronsted acid catalyzed Friedel-Crafts alkylation reactions

The asymmetric Friedel-Crafts reaction is one of the most powerful methods to synthesize optically active aromatic compounds. Particularly, the Friedel-Crafts alkylation of arenes with unsaturated compounds activated by chiral Bronsted acids provides direct access to enantiopure aromatic derivatives with perfect atom economy. In this tutorial review, recent progress in the development of chiral Bronsted acid-catalyzed asymmetric Friedel-Crafts reactions is presented.