Chiral Ligands: Evolution of Ligand Libraries for Asymmetric Catalysis

Many new drugs on the market are chiral compounds, that is, they can exist in two non-superimposable mirror-image forms. Asymmetric catalysis encompasses a large variety of processes for obtaining such compounds. The performance of the catalyst in those processes largely depends on the ligand that makes up the catalyst. This book describes the most relevant ligand libraries for some key processes, including an overview of the state of art and the key mechanistic aspects that favor a high catalytic performance.

Key Features:

• The book presents historical content from the time of discovery for each family of ligands.
• Provides a description of the synthetic route and the ligand library’s application in various catalytic asymmetric reactions
• Suitable as supplementary reading for courses targeting the design, synthesis and application of chiral catalysts, asymmetric catalysis and sustainable production
• Edited by a distinguished scientist in the field, the book has a diverse audience including research groups in homogeneous catalysis, particularly asymmetric transformations

Montserrat Diéguez studied chemistry at the Rovira i Virgili University (URV)

in Tarragona (Spain), where she earned her Ph.D. in 1997, working in the group

of Prof. C. Claver. After completing a postdoctoral fellowship where she worked

with Prof. R.H. Crabtree at Yale University, in New Haven (USA), she returned to

Tarragona in 1999 and accepted a lectureship position at the URV, becoming part of

the permanent staff in 2002. In 2011 she was promoted to full Professor in Inorganic

Chemistry at the URV.

She has been involved in more than 60 research projects in the fields of organometallic

chemistry, steroselective synthesis, and asymmetric catalysis. She is the

author/co-author of more than 150 articles in SCI-indexed journals and book chapters,

and of several contributions to conferences. She received distinction from the

Generalitat de Catalunya for the promotion of University Research in 2004 and from

the URV in 2008. She has also been awarded the ICREA Academia Prize from

the Catalan Institution for Research and Advanced Studies 2009-14 and 2015-20,

for research excellence, facilitating research priority dedication. Her main research

interests are focused on the sustainable design, synthesis, and screening of highly

active and selective chiral catalysts for reactions of interest to the biological, pharmaceutical,

and organic nanotechnological industries. Her areas of interest include

organometallic chemistry, stereoselective synthesis, and asymmetric catalysis, using

combinatorial and biotechnological approaches.