Chirality Transfer in Polynuclear Complexes Enantioselective Synthesis

2 Chirality Transfer in Polynuclear Complexes Enantioselective Synthesis 

A classical method for the preparation of enantiopure compounds is the resolution of racemate. However, it is much more effective to use the selective synthesis of the desired enantiopure substance via enantioselective approach. Stereoselective methods of synthesis have been widely developed in organic chemistry. The method of asymmetric synthesis has been known since the nineteenth century and asymmetric catalysis has witnessed an enormous amount of development in recent decades as shown in Chapter 3. In contrast, the asymmetric synthesis of coordination compounds has only recently become a subject of systematic investigation. This is no doubt related to the fact that the chirality of coordination compounds is a much more complex phenomenon than that of organic compounds, because of higher coordination and the multitude of possible central atoms. Furthermore, while in organic chemistry the chiral tetrahedral carbon centres can be prepared without racemization, in contrast T-4 metal centres are very often labile. In fact it is even difficult to prepare compounds with a metal centre coordinated to four different monodentate ligands, and thus the possibility of obtaining one enantiomer is excluded in most cases. 

In this part of Chapter 5 we will present the most recent examples of chirality transfer in coordination chemistry, but only polynuclear complexes will be reviewed. There are 

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