Asymmetric transition-metal-catalyzed allylic alkylations: Applications in total synthesis

Since the first realization of high enantioselectivity in transition-metal-catalyzed asymmetric allylic alkyllations nearly a decade ago, the use of this process became a vibrant area of study. Recently, both palladium- and molybdenum-catalyzed reactions have achieved dynamic kinetic asymmetric transformations of chiral racemic substrates to enantiopure products, without the 50% yield limitation that was inherent to kinetic resolutions or kinetic asymmetric transformations. The potential of the asymmetic alkylation reaction continues to grow with the development of new ligands, nucleophiles, and processes.