Asymmetric Activation of Racemic Catalysts

Abstract

In asymmetric catalytic reactions, racemic catalysts inherently give only racemic products, whereas non-racemic catalysts generate non-racemic products with or without a non-linear relationship. Conversely, we report herein as an account a conceptually new strategy for asymmetric catalysis using racemic catalysts wherein a chiral additive selectively activates, rather than de-activates, one enantiomer of the racemic catalyst.