Substrate spatial bias

There are also reactions which show stereoselectivity primarily because of mechanism rather than spatial bias of substrate. For instance, the conversion of an olefin to a 1,2-diol by osmium tetroxide mechanistically is a cycloaddition process which is strictly suprafacial. The hydroxylation transform has elements of both substrate and mechanism control, as illustrated by the retrosynthetic conversion of 146 to 147. The validity of the retrosynthetic removal of both... 

Enantioselective processes involving chiral catalysts or reagents can provide sufficient spatial bias and transition state organization to obviate the need for control by substrate stereochemistry. Since such reactions do not require substrate spatial control, the corresponding transforms are easier to apply antithetically. The stereochemical information in the retron is used to determine which of the enantiomeric catalysts or reagents are appropriate and the transform is finally evaluated for chemical feasibility. Of course, such transforms are powerful because of their predictability and effectiveness in removing stereocenters from a target. 

Spatial and/or coordinative bias can be introduced into a reaction substrate by coupling it to an auxiliary or controller group, which may be achiral or chiral. The use of chiral controller groups is often used to generate enantioselectively the initial stereocenters in a multistep synthetic sequence leading to a stereochemically complex molecule. Some examples of the application of controller groups to achieve stereoselectivity are shown retrosynthetically in Chart 19. 

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