Recent Advances in Catalytic Asymmetric C–C Bond-Forming Reactions to Ketimines Promoted by Metal-Based Catalysts

Recent progress (post-2010) in the field of metal-catalyzed asymmetric C–C bond-forming reactions using ketimines as electrophiles is reviewed. Compared with the corresponding aldimines, ketimines generally display less inherent reactivity and the two substituents on the imine carbon hamper prochiral-face-selection for enantioselective reactions. Recent advances with newly developed catalytic systems have resulted in several solutions to these long-standing problems. The construction of tetrasubstituted stereogenic centers is a crucial topic of asymmetric catalysis in the 21st century, and it is becoming increasingly clear that reactions using ketimines as electrophiles become one of the most important routes to access such chemical entities.