Asymmetric organocatalysis

Chemical synthesis is one of the key technologies underlying modern drug discovery and development. For the design and accessibility of novel structures and the rapid preparation of new test compounds and development candidates with often highly complex chemical architecture, it is essential to use state-of-theart chemical synthesis technologies. As the number of chiral drugs is increasing, asymmetric synthesis and efficient chiral separation technologies are steadily gaining importance. Regarding asymmetric catalysis, enzymatic transformations, and reactions employing metal, catalysts are important tools for organic syn-thesis and invaluable to pharmaceutical industry, Recent developments in the field of asymmetric catalysis point to a third class of catalysts besides the established enzymes and metal complexes, the so-called organocatalysts. In an effort to increase the awareness within the community of medicinal and process chemists as well as to learn more about recent developments in this rapidly evolving field, the Schering Foundation organized a symposium on "Organocatalysis", which took place in Berlin on April 18-20, 2007 This minireview summarizes some of the important results presented at the symposium.