Recent Advances in Asymmetric Catalytic Electrosynthesis

Abstract

The renewed interest in electrosynthesis demonstrated by organic chemists in the last years has allowed for rapid development of new methodologies. In this review, advances in enantioselective electrosynthesis that rely on catalytic amounts of organic or metal-based chiral mediators are highlighted with focus on the most recent developments up to July 2020. Examples of C-H functionalization, alkene functionalization, carboxylation and cross-electrophile couplings are discussed, along with their related mechanistic aspects.

Asymmetric organocatalysis involving double activation

“…Besides, the double activation mechanism has not been fully elucidated in some cases because of the multiple interaction modes, thus detailed theoretical calculations might be helpful for better understanding the relevant reactions and inspiring new reaction designs. On the other hand, though photocatalysis and electrocatalysis are powerful tools for the generation of reactive radical intermediates, their integration with organocatalysis is still in infancy [103,118]. Besides, the combination of organocatalysis and biocatalysis remains underdeveloped [119], especially considering that multienzymatic systems have been widely witnessed in nature.…”

Organic Electrosynthesis Towards Sustainability: Fundamentals and Greener Methodologies

“…Thus, asymmetric synthesis of chiral alcohols, chiral amines and biologically relevant molecules have been performed using electrode‐immobilized enzymes as sustainable catalysts [126] . On the other hand, catalytic amounts of organic or metal‐based chiral mediators can enable enantioselective C−H functionalizations, alkene functionalizations, carboxylations and cross‐electrophile couplings by an electrochemical protocol [127] …”

Directing transition metal-based oxygen-functionalization catalysis

“…Scheme 3 shows schematic diagrams and simplied energy proles of the three electro-organic synthesis pathways to demonstrate their differences. 125,147 3.2.1. Direct electro-oxidation via outer-sphere electron transfer.…”