Asymmetric catalysis

Asymmetric catalysis uses a chiral catalyst to favor formation of one enantiomer over the other in a chemical reaction.

Enantioselectivity: The preferential formation of one enantiomer over another in a chemical process. It measures the product bias that asymmetric catalysis is designed to produce.
Chirality (chemistry): The property of an object or molecule that makes it nonsuperimposable on its mirror image. A chiral reaction environment is the source of asymmetric discrimination.
William S. Knowles: An American chemist who developed an industrial asymmetric hydrogenation catalyst for the synthesis of L-DOPA. His rhodium catalyst demonstrated that chiral metal complexes could deliver useful enantioselectivity.
L-DOPA: A drug used to treat Parkinson's disease and a precursor to the neurotransmitter dopamine. An asymmetric hydrogenation route enabled industrial production of its desired enantiomer.
Chiral-at-metal catalyst: A catalyst whose chirality arises from the spatial arrangement of ligands around its metal center. It contrasts with systems where a chiral ligand, rather than the metal-centered arrangement, chiefly supplies chirality.
Chiral ligand: A ligand whose structure is not superimposable on its mirror image, often bound to a metal center. Its three-dimensional shape helps make the catalyst's reaction environment asymmetric.
Stereochemistry: The study of the three-dimensional arrangement of atoms in molecules and its chemical consequences. Asymmetric catalysis controls a reaction's three-dimensional product arrangement.
Ryoji Noyori: A Japanese chemist known for developing highly effective asymmetric hydrogenation catalysts. His work made asymmetric hydrogenation broadly powerful in laboratory and industrial synthesis.
Sitagliptin: A medication for type 2 diabetes that inhibits the enzyme dipeptidyl peptidase-4. An engineered asymmetric hydrogenation helped manufacture its chiral amine efficiently.
Enzyme: A biological catalyst, usually a protein, that accelerates specific chemical reactions. Enzymes can be highly stereoselective without relying on the synthetic catalyst designs used in many reactions.

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