Advances in Asymmetric Hydrogenation. Catalytic Synthesis of Optically Active Hydroxy- and Amino-acids

In the present review an attempt is made to follow the general relations in the formation of optical isomers and to elucidate the optimum conditions for the reactions on the basis of an analysis of the available literature data on the catalytic synthesis of aminoacids with reference to data on the hydrogenation of C=C and C=O bonds in optically active compounds. The extremely interesting and promising field of asymmetric hydrogenation using dissymmetrical heterogeneous catalysts, which requires special treatment, has been dealt with in the review only in connection with the synthesis of aminoacids.
The bibliography includes 87 references.