Catalytic Kinetic Resolution

Despite the increased industrial demand for enantiomerically pure compounds, to date only a few catalytic asymmetric processes have found commercial application, among them, rare exceptions are catalytic kinetic resolutions. Indeed, kinetic resolution as one of the most powerful tools in asymmetric catalysis has found wide applications in both academies and industry, complementing approaches such as asymmetric synthesis and classical resolution. The use of enzymes for kinetic resolution of racemic substrates to afford enantiopure compounds in high enantioselectivities and good yields has long been a popular strategy in synthesis. However, transition-metal-mediated and more recently organocatalyzed kinetic resolutions have gained popularity within the synthetic community over the last two decades owing to the progress made in the development of chiral catalysts for asymmetric reactions. Many procedures of catalytic nonenzymatic kinetic resolution have been developed, providing high enantioselectivity and yield for both products and recovered starting materials. The goal of this chapter is to cover the principal developments of catalytic nonenzymatic kinetic resolution.