Recent developments in enantioselective gold(I) catalysis

The use of gold(I) complexes as catalysts for organic transformations has become increasingly common over the past decade, leading to the development of a number of useful carbon-carbon and carbon-heteroatom bond-forming processes. In contrast, enantioselective catalysis employing gold(I) complexes was, until recently, exceedingly rare, due in large part to the pronounced tendency of gold(I) to form linear, two-coordinate complexes. However, new approaches and strategies have emerged over the past two years, leading to the development of a number of effective gold(I)-catalyzed enantioselective transformations, most notably the enantioselective hydrofunctionalization of allenes. Outlined herein is an overview of enantioselective gold(I) catalysis since 2005.