Issue 21 - September 2007

All You Need to Know About Asymmetric Phase Transfer Catalysis (PTC) Pt 1

The subject of asymmetric PTC has moved on a lot since the early days in the 1980’s when the group of Dolling and Grabowski at Merck were pioneering the method on the scale up of manufacturing a drug substance. (Dolling U H et al, J Am Chem Soc, 1984, 106, 446; Hughes D L et al, J Org Chem, 1987, 52, 4745). Although the names of Corey in the US, and Lygo in the UK have been recently associated with asymmetric PTC, more recently it is the name Keiji Maruoka (Japan) who has published widely on the subject, and is becoming another key person in the field. Maruoka’s group has focussed on totally synthetic PTC’s rather than relying on alkaloid skeletons for their synthesis. The PTC’s catalyse a wide range of reactions.

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