Uses of the Chiral Sulfoxide Group in Asymmetric Synthesis

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to show how useful a chiral sulfoxide group can be in asymmetric synthesis. Only two kinds of reactions [1] will be described: aldol type condensation of ester enolates activated by a chiral sulfoxide group and reduction of β-ketosulfoxides. Furthermore several synthetic applications will be described, one of these being the access to optically active α-Tocopherol (vitamine E).