3. Applications in asymmetric catalysis

The notion of the chirality of molecules emerged with Louis Pasteur's discovery in 1848 of the asymmetry of the crystalline forms of tartaric acid. Since then, the stereochemistry of compounds has become a major preoccupation of modern organic chemistry, and there is a real challenge in the synthesis of chiral molecules for the pharmaceutical, agrochemical and perfume industries. Chirality is a fundamental concept in chemistry, and asymmetric synthesis is a specific field that has led to major innovations. Since it is now accepted that the enantiomers of a chiral compound do not have the same therapeutic effect, chemists are obliged to synthesize each of a molecule's enantiomers before bringing it to market. This imperative prevails in the pharmaceutical industry because the properties of enantiomers can differ dramatically, as in the case of thalidomide in the 1970s. Thalidomide is an analgesic...