Chiral metal nanoparticle-catalyzed asymmetric C-C bond formation reactions

Catalytic hydrogenation of alkenes is a transition-metal catalyzed reduction of the double bond using molecular hydrogen to give alkanes. The mode of hydrogen addition follows syn stereochemistry.
The metal catalyst used can be either heterogeneous or homogeneous. When hydrogenation of an alkene generates a chiral center, a pair of enantiomeric products is expected to form. However, an enantiomeric excess of one of the products can be facilitated using an enantioselective reaction or an...

The rate of acid-catalyzed hydration of alkenes depends on the alkene's structure, as the presence of alkyl substituents at the double bond can significantly influence the rate.

The concept of prochirality leads to the nomenclature of the individual faces of a molecule and plays a crucial role in the enantioselective reaction. It is a concept where two or more achiral molecules react to produce chiral products. A typical process is the reaction of an achiral ketone to generate a chiral alcohol. Here, the achiral reactant reacts with an achiral reducing agent, sodium borohydride, to generate an equimolar mixture of the chiral enantiomers of the product. For example, an...

Introduction
Like alkenes, alkynes can be reduced to alkanes in the presence of transition metal catalysts such as Pt, Pd, or Ni. The reaction involves two sequential syn additions of hydrogen via a cis-alkene intermediate.

Cyanohydrins are compounds that contain –CN and –OH groups on the same carbon atom. They are formed by the nucleophilic addition of the cyanide ions to the carbonyl group. Cyanide ions are highly basic and nucleophilic and can be generated from HCN under aqueous conditions. However, since HCN is a weak acid, the number of cyanide ions generated is very small. Hence, a small amount of base or KCN/NaCN is added to HCN to increase the concentration of the cyanide ions in the reaction...

In an SN2 reaction, the nucleophilic attack on the substrate and departure of the leaving group occurs simultaneously through a transition state. As the nucleophile approaches the substrate from the back-side, the configuration of the substrate carbon changes from tetrahedral to trigonal bipyramidal and then back to tetrahedral, leading to an inversion in the configuration of the product.
If the substrate is an achiral molecule at the α-carbon, the inversion of configuration is not...