Introduction

The field of asymmetric catalysis is currently one of the hottest areas in chemistry. This unique book focuses on the mechanism of enantioselectivity in asymmetric catalysis, rather than asymmetric catalysis from the synthetic view. It describes reliable, experimentally and computationally supported mechanisms, and discusses the danger of so-called "plausible" or "accepted" mechanisms leading to wrong conclusions. It draws parallels to enzymatic catalysis in biochemistry, and examines in detail the physico-chemical aspects of enantioselective catalysis.