Advances in Antibody Catalysis of Cycloaddition Reactions

Pericyclic cycloaddition reactions are among the most useful transformations available to the synthetic organic chemist. All are capable of simultaneously establishing multiple stereogenic centers with high levels of selectivity. Although many powerful chemical catalysts for these reactions exist, biological catalysts for these reactions are rare, and in most cases, non‐existent. With the advent of catalytic antibody technology, proteins have been developed that are capable of not only catalyzing the Diels−Alder reaction, but also hetero‐Diels−Alder, retro‐Diels−Alder, and 1,3‐dipolar cycloaddition reactions. This review will summarize the key developments in the use of catalytic antibodies as catalysts for these powerful cycloaddition reactions. 1 Introduction 2 Diels−Alder Cycloaddition Reactions 3 Hetero‐Diels−Alder Cycloaddition Reactions 4 Retro‐Diels−Alder Cycloaddition Reactions 5 1,3‐Dipolar Cycloaddition Reactions 6 Concluding Remarks