REMOTEcat project

Breakthrough research of Knowles, Noyori and Sharpless positioned asymmetric catalysis as one of the most prominent methods for the synthesis of chiral compounds. The catalysts they used rely on (transition) metals. Metals offer a wide range of activity and selectivity in a vast range of chemical reactions. Despite of the fact that for decades, the generally accepted view has been that metals dominate the area there are also two classes of efficient asymmetric catalysts: enzymes (biocatalysis) and small organic molecules (organocatalysis). Together with metal catalysis constitute what is nowadays coined as the three pillars of asymmetric catalysis. Let us mimic the Mother Nature! Over millions of years of continuous evolution, Nature has perfected its machinery to a superb level. Many chemical reactions occur in living organisms in such precision that chemists have pursued the challenge of imitating Nature to carry out chemical reactions. Most biological molecules are chir...