Interesting ChemistryAsymmetric Catalytic SystemsBob HansonCatalysisJulia Contreras-GarciaChemical Sciences
Published in Henry Rzepa's Blog
Author Henry Rzepa
The Sharpless epoxidation of an allylic alcohol had a big impact on synthetic chemistry when it was introduced in the 1980s, and led the way for the discovery (design?) of many new asymmetric catalytic systems. Each achieves its chiral magic by control of the geometry at the transition state for the reaction, and the stabilizations (or destabilizations) that occur at that geometry.