Single-enantiomer fine chemicals

In the different volumes of this new series we will feature catalysts for oxidation and reduction reactions, hydrolysis protocols and catalytic systems for carbon-carbon bond formation inter alia. Many of the catalysts featured will be chiral, given the present day interest in the preparation of single-enantiomer fine chemicals. When appropriate, a catalyst type that is capable of a wide range of transformations will be featured. In these volumes the amount of practical data that is described will be proportionately less, and attention will be focused on the past uses of the system and its future potential. 

Obviously, in a relatively small work such as this it is not possible to be comprehensive. Preparations of bulk, achiral materials (e.g. simple oxiranes such as ethylene oxide) involving key catalytic processes will not be featured. Only a handful of representative examples of preparations of optically inactive compounds will be given, since the emphasis in the main body of this book, i.e. the experimental section, is on the preparation of chiral compounds. The focus on the preparation of compounds in single enantiomer form reflects the much increased importance of these compounds in the fine chemical industry (e.g. for pharmaceuticals, agrichemicals, fragrances, flavours and the suppliers of intermediates for these products). 

The demand to produce enantiomerically pure pharmaceuticals, agrochemicals, flavors, and other fine chemicals from prochiral precursors has advanced the field of catalytic asymmetric hydrogenation.1 In 2002 worldwide sales of single enantiomer pharmaceutical products approached 160 billion.2... 

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