Reservoir effect, asymmetric amplification

Blackmond pointed out that asymmetric amplification always has, as a consequence, a decrease in reactivity when compared to the enantiopure catalyst. This can be calculated on the various models proposed for the interpretation of nonlinear effects. It is qualitatively visible in the reservoir model above as well as in the ML2 model, where the asymmetric amplification given by g < 1 (low reactivity of the meso catalyst) has as consequence the overall slowdown in reaction rate. The generalized model ML has been discussed (for n = 2,3,4) when the various species are in equilibrium. The complexity of the curve can increase sharply as soon as n > 2. 

The asymmetric amplification is a consequence of an in situ increase in the ee of the active catalyst, since racemic ligand is trapped in the unreactive or weakly reactive meso catalyst. In the reservoir effect a similar phenomenon occurs outside the catalytic cycle. Let us assume that part of the initial chiral ligand, characterized by eeaux, is diverted into a set of catalytically inactive complexes (Scheme 12). 

Asymmetric amplification in the diethylzinc addition to aldehydes has been observed with many (3-amino alcohols as catalyst, presumably because of a reservoir effect similar to that discovered by Noyori et al. Asymmetric amplification has also been found for other classes of chiral catalysts—diamines, diols, titanium complexes, etc. The various examples are collected in Table 1. The... 

Keywords Asymmetric amplification. Asymmetric catalysis, Asymmetric depletion, Autocatalysis, Chiral auxiliary. Enantiomeric excess. Kinetic models. Non-linear effects. Reservoir effect... 

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