Central chirality of a metal atom and configurational relations in asymmetric reactions catalysed by metal complexes

Modern data on the dependence of the reaction product configuration on the structures of the metal complex catalyst (or the intermediate determining the asymmetric induction) in the asymmetric catalytic hydrogenation of acetophenone with hydrogen transfer, styrene hydroformylation, allylic alkylation of 1,3-diphenylprop-2-enyl acetate and alkylation of benzaldehyde with dialkylzinc are discussed systematically. The applicabilitied of the octant and quadrant pojections of the complexes are compared to elucidate the relationship between their structure and reactions enantioselectivity. The known mechanisms of the asymmetric induction in these reactions depending on either C-1 or C-2 symmetry of the catalytic compex are discussed. The reasons why hydrogen transfer hydrogenation, hydroformylation and alkylation with dialkylzinc [without Ti(OPri)(4)] are less enantioselective on complexes with chiral C-2-symmetric ligands than on complexes with asymmtric ligands are considered.