Iron-Mediated Asymmetric Synthesis

Chiral iron compounds have been overlooked as potential catalysts in organic synthesis. However, advances in this area within the last decade have revealed only a small part of their potential. There is no doubt that in the near future this field will flourish and further expand to deliver useful processes that will enrich the pool of synthetic methodologies. The aim of this review is to summarize advances in development of enantioselective iron-complex catalyzed processes and their application in organic synthesis. These processes include oxidative coupling reactions electron-rich arenes, cycloaddition reactions of unsaturated compounds (e.g. Diels-Alder reaction, [3+2] and [4-4] cycloadditions), aldol reactions of silylated enol ethers, carbometallations of cycloalkenes, thia- and oxa-conjugated additions, Friedel-Crafts reaction, opening of small ring compounds (epoxides), oxidations (epoxidation, dihydroxylation, heteroatom oxidation, and kinetic resolution), reductions (carbonyl group reduction), and other processes (aziridination, carbene insertions). Keywords: iron catalysis; enantioselective catalysis; coupling reaction; cycloaddition reaction; aldol reaction; carbometallation; conjugated addition; Friedel-Crafts reaction; oxidation; reduction; carbenes