Enantiomerically Pure Compounds by Enantioselective Synthetic Chiral Metal Complexes

Historically, two approaches have been reported for achieving enantiomerically enriched compounds. The first approach is through asymmetric chemical transformations involving chiral pools, chiral auxiliaries, chiral reagents, and/or enantioselective catalysis/biocatalysis. 1 The second approach is through the preparation of the racemic mixture and the separation of enantiomers by means of chiral separation. 2 These two pathways, however, have their own disadvantages. While the former requires a suitable precursor—auxiliary, reagent, or catalyst—the latter is generally time consuming and yields only up to 50% of the desired enantiomer.