Asymmetric aldol reactions are a powerful method for the construction of carbon–carbon
bonds in an enantioselective fashion. Historically this reaction has been performed in a
stoichiometric fashion to control the various aspects of chemo-, diastereo-, regio-and
enantioselectivity, however, a more atom economical approach would unite high selectivity
with the use of only a catalytic amount of a chiral promoter. This critical review documents
the development of direct catalytic asymmetric aldol methodologies, including …

In the synthesis of complex molecular targets, the ability to control the stereoselectivity of the
aldol reaction has raised this process to a level of prominence shared by few reactions. In
most cases, however, the stoichiometric transformation of the active methylene partner into
its enolate or an enol derivative is a drawback. Only recently have several reports addressed
simple aldol addition involving both chemo‐and enantioselectivity through use of catalysts.
This paper presents recent advances in the direct catalytic asymmetric aldol reaction with …