Summarizing the emerging field of N-heterocyclic carbenes used in organocatalysis, this is an excellent overview of the synthesis and applications of NHCs focusing on carbon-carbon and carbon-heteroatom bond formation. Alongside comprehensive coverage of the synthesis, characteristics and applications, this handbook and ready reference also includes chapters on NHCs for polymerization reactions and natural product synthesis.

Since the 1990s the synthetic community has shown a growing interest in the development of catalytic reactions that employ entirely organic catalysts – so-called ‘organocatalysts’. With the current emphasis on green chemistry throughout the chemical industry, organocatalysis has become indispensible. In spite of this growth and recognition, there can be a misconception that organocatalysts are only based on nitrogen-containing functional groups (amines, ureas, and quaternary ammonium salts, for example), and are only useful for asymmetric reactions. Nonnitrogenous Organocatalysis shows that the umbrella of organocatalysis covers other main group elements besides nitrogen, and the coverage is not just limited to asymmetric methods. Many of the catalysts and mechanisms discussed may not have a viable asymmetric variant or cannot be rendered asymmetric at all. This does not make them any less useful, as illustrated in this book.

This first comprehensive presentation of this hot and important topic compiles the most up-to-date methods for chiral amine synthesis. The international list of authors reads like a "Who's Who" of the subject, providing a large array of highly practical information concentrated into the useful and essential methods. Following an introductory chapter devoted to helping readers quickly determine which strategies to choose for their investigation, this handbook and ready reference focuses on the examination of methods that are reliable and simultaneously efficient for the synthesis of structurally diverse aliphatic and aromatic chiral amines. Modern methods and applications found in (pharmaceutical) industry are also covered.

The aim of this book is to cover the very recent developments in asymmetric organocatalysis, focussing on those published since the beginning of 2008. The last decade has witnessed an explosive growth in the field of asymmetric organocatalysis with an impressive amount of new catalysts, novel methodologies, and applications in numerous reaction types, such as nucleophilic substitutions, addition reactions, as well as cycloadditions, oxidations, reductions, kinetic resolutions, and miscellaneous reactions. This very diverse and intensely developing field is too wide to cover in a single review. The timeliness of the book together with the expected impact is excellent, since nowadays asymmetric organocatalysis is arguably the most intensively developed field in organic chemistry. The book is designed to meet the demands of a postgraduate textbook,containing case studies and Q&A sections, as well as a practical book filled with facts and data useful as a working tool for the practitioner. The book is divided into ten sections, dealing successively with nucleophilic additions to electron-deficient C=C double bonds, nucleophilic additions to C=O double bonds, nucleophilic additions to C=N double bonds, nucleophilic additions to unsaturated nitrogen, nucleophilic substitutions at aliphatic carbon, cycloaddition reactions, oxidations, reductions, kinetic resolutions and desymmetrisations, and miscellaneous reactions.

Over the last three decades, more than 40 different classes of chiral (mirror-image) sulfur compounds have been described, and a number of useful procedures and applications have been developed for their use. Emphasizing modern methodologies, Chiral Sulfur Reagents demonstrates the great potential of enantionmerically pure sulfur reagents in transmitting chirality to other centers. Each chapter highlights the synthesis and synthetic uses of a particular class of chiral sulfur reagent, followed by examples of the most important experimental procedures.

Structured in three parts this manual recollects efficient organocatalytic transformations around clear principles that meet actual standard in asymmetric synthesis. Chapters were written by acknowledged leaders of the organocatalysis field, and are presented in a concise way. Volume 1: Privileged Catalysts gives insight to readers to the continuously increasing variety of catalysts, and the relatively complex interactions that make organocatalytic reactions selective. An appendix recollects catalyst structures with the adequate cross-references. Volume 2: Activations covers the fundamental activation types (non-covalent and covalent activations) and helps understanding the importance of physical parameters, and in particular, the role of water, that influences reactivity and selectivity. Volume 3: Reactions and Applications highlights transformations by reaction types. The final part of this volume is dedicated to application in multistep synthesis and industrial applications. Considering the ever increasing interest in the organocatalysis field, the book aims addressing to a large audience: to academic, and, industrial researchers, students and teachers who are interested in synthetic organic chemistry at advanced level. This book provides non-specialists with an introduction to the topic as well as serving as a valuable source for newcomers and researchers searching for an up-to-date and comprehensive overview of this promising area of synthetic organic chemistry.

In this book, the author focuses on exploring new organocatalytic transformations under operationally simple and environmentally friendly reaction conditions. Two new types of catalytic reactions promoted by N-heterocyclic carbenes (NHCs) are described. The oxa- and azacycle-forming reactions of sulfonylalkynols and sulfonylalkynamides are broadly considered to be a new type of activation mode in NHC chemistry, wherein the bond formation with internal O- and N-nucleophiles occurs at the γ-position of the propargyl sulfones with 1,2-sulfonyl migration. The resulting oxa- and azacycles are core structures in many biologically significant compounds and medicinally important agents. In addition, the book develops the chiral NHC-catalyzed kinetic resolution of α-hydroxy carboxylic acid derivatives based on chiral recognition of the substrate–cocatalyst complex. In this carboxylate cocatalyst-assisted chiral acylation, the reaction rate acceleration and selectivity enhancement are interpreted in terms of the reversible complexation of the substrate and carboxylate cocatalyst, which is verified by control experiments and measured using analytical methods. The findings described here reveal a promising new aspect of not only NHC catalysis but also identifying novel catalysis systems.