Catalytic asymmetric olefin isomerization: Facile access to chiral carbon-stereogenic olefinic compounds

Catalytic asymmetric olefin isomerization is a reaction of both academic and industrial relevance. This reaction has emerged as a highly efficient and atom-economic strategy for the synthesis of enantioenriched olefinic compounds that are ubiquitously found in natural products, bioactive molecules, and pharmaceutical agents. Highly enantioselective methods have been developed using transition metal catalysis, or organocatalysis, providing facile access to a diverse range of synthetically challenging chiral olefins from readily available starting materials. This perspective summarizes the major advances in catalytic asymmetric olefin isomerization categorized according to different reaction types, and it discusses the scope and limitations, plausible mechanisms and experimental probes, and the opportunities for further development.