P-chirogenic organophosphorus acid-bases in asymmetric organocatalysis

As environmentally friendly processes are now strongly needed by the modern world, asymmetric organocatalysis has emerged as a powerful alternative method to produce chiral substances compared to catalysis with transition metal complexes and enzyme-mediated bioconversion. Although numerous classes of chiral Lewis or Bronsted acid-bases were known to be efficient in asymmetric organocatalyzed reactions, the use of phosphorus derivatives bearing the chirality on the phosphorus centre (P-chirogenic) have been less studied. The great interest of the P-chirogenic phosphorus compounds stems from their easy structural design which allows the development of a specific organocatalyst for a given asymmetric reaction. The article reviews the use of P-chirogenic organophosphorus compounds in asymmetric organocatalyzed processes.