Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jan 24, 2026

Enzymatic Cascade Reactions for the Synthesis of Chiral Amino Alcohols from L-lysine
Published on: February 16, 2018
Kinetically controlled asymmetric synthesis of silicon-stereogenic methoxy silanes using a planar chiral ferrocene
Eva R Barth1, Anna Krupp, Felix Langenohl
1Institute for Inorganic Chemistry, Technical University Dortmund, University, Otto-Hahn-Straße 6, 44227 Dortmund, Germany. carsten.strohmann@tu-dortmund.de.
Abstract:
We present a mechanistic proposal for the desymmetrisation of dimethoxy silanes with alkyllithiums. The stereochemical pathway is highly defined by the coordination of the metal lithium, which suppresses the reversible interconversion of the various pentavalent intermediates. The predicted kinetic control of the stereoinduction is verified by the experiments using a planar chiral ferrocene backbone.
Related Concept Videos
Chirality
Chiral objects exhibit a sense of handedness when they interact with another chiral object. For example, our left foot can only fit in the left shoe and not in the right shoe. Achiral objects — objects that have...
Chirality in Nature
Crystal Field Theory - Tetrahedral and Square Planar Complexes
Crystal field theory (CFT) is applicable to molecules in geometries other than octahedral. In octahedral complexes, the lobes of the dx2−y2 and dz2 orbitals point directly at the ligands. For tetrahedral complexes, the d orbitals remain in place, but with only four ligands located between the axes. None of the orbitals points directly at the tetrahedral ligands. However, the dx2−y2 and dz2 orbitals (along the Cartesian axes) overlap with the ligands less than the dxy,...
Kinetic Energy
Enzyme Kinetics
Scientists typically study enzyme kinetics with a fixed amount of enzyme in the controlled environment of a test tube. When more reactant, or substrate, is...
Kinetic Molecular Theory: Molecular Velocities, Temperature, and Kinetic Energy

