Chiral Brønsted acid catalyzed Friedel–Crafts alkylation reactions

Abstract

The asymmetric Friedel–Crafts reaction is one of the most powerful methods to synthesize optically active aromatic compounds. Particularly, the Friedel–Crafts alkylation of arenes with unsaturated compounds activated by chiral Brønsted acids provides direct access to enantiopure aromatic derivatives with perfect atom economy. In this tutorial review, recent progress in the development of chiral Brønsted acid-catalyzed asymmetric Friedel–Crafts reactions is presented.