Recent Advances in Visible-Light Photocatalytic Asymmetric Synthesis Enabled by Chiral Lewis Acids

In recent years, visible-light photocatalytic asymmetric synthesis has shown considerable potential in the mild and rapid construction of optically active organic molecules with structural diversity.Chiral Lewis acids (CLA), including chiral borane compounds, lanthanum complexes, first-row transition metal complexes, and chiral-at-iridium or rhodium complexes, have been established as one class of the most effective catalysts being capable of controlling the stereochemistry in photo-induced chemical transformations.The recent advances in this emerging field were presented by classifying the reactions into bifunctional CLA photocatalytic reactions and reactions enabled by dual catalysis with a CLA catalyst and an external photosensitizer, expecting that these studies will stimulate progress in organic synthesis, photocatalysis and asymmetric catalysis.