Organocatalyzed Asymmetric Friedel-Crafts Reactions: An Update

The Friedel-Crafts alkylation (F-CA) reaction is a special kind of carbon-carbon bond formations, which is frequently being used for the formation of such bond in some aromatic rings in organic synthesis. Its asymmetric variant gives enantiorich products. Commonly, an in situ organocatalyzed asymmetric Friedel-Crafts alkylation (AF-CA) proceeds via generation of an enamine as an intermediate. The organocatalyzed-AF-CA was discovered and established in the mid-1980s and reviewed comprehensively in 2010. In this report, we are trying to update the applications of novel organocatalysts in the AF-CA as a versatile synthetic strategy, which is frequently used in the effective asymmetric synthesis of complex molecules, pharmaceutically important compounds and most importantly in the total synthesis of biologically active natural products.