摘要：

Complex biologically active substances possessing an array of chiral centers within the same molecule continue to be challenging synthetic targets in organic chemistry. The synthesis of such complex compounds in optically active form has led to the concept of "the asymmetric reaction", a potentially direct and effective method for the construction of chiral framework. Herein, a historical review of new and useful highly selective asymmetric reactions developed in our laboratory, employing chiral diamines and amino alcohols derived easily from (S)-proline, is described. The high selectivity observed in these reactions is postulated to result from efficient non-covalent bonded interactions between organometallic reagent and chiral auxiliary, offering a conceptually new dimension to asymmetric synthesis. Application to the successful synthesis of several natural products is also illustrated.

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