The atroposelective formation of C-N bonds has recently emerged within the field of amination reactions. On first sight, it may seem quite surprising that such an ancient class of organic coupling reactions (Gabriel, Ullmann, Goldberg, Buchwald, Hartwig and many others) has so few enantioselective solutions, and this in spite of asymmetric synthesis being now a mature concept and field. Why should enantioselective C-N bond formation be so difficult? This question and some of the first examples that promise an imminent change of paradigm are herein discussed.
Keywords: Buchwald-Hartwig; Chan-Lam; Ullmann-Goldberg; atroposelective amination; enantioselective amination.
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