Recent Progress in Applications of Cinchona Alkaloids and Their Derivatives in Asymmetric Catalysis

Abstract

Cinchona alkaloids widely exist in nature, which have attracted extensive interest of researchers because of their readily availability, biological activity, unique structural properties, and easy modification. With the development of asymmetric synthetic chemistry, cinchona alkaloids and their derivatives have been used as a privileged class of chiral catalysts or ligands in many catalytic asymmetric reactions. In particular, a variety of cinchona alkaloid-derived chiral catalysts and ligands have been developed and applied by organic chemists in catalytic asymmetric synthesis in rencent years. The recent progress made in this field over the past few years is summarized. Moreover, the related reaction mechanisms and future development prospects are also discussed.