Supramolecular asymmetric photoreactions

Asymmetric synthesis is currently one of the most vital areas of chemistry, in which a variety of catalytic and enzymatic methodologies have been developed in the last three decades [1-10], although until recently the photochemical branch has not been very extensively or intensively explored [11-16]. However, the photochemical approach to asymmetric synthesis possesses advantages over the thermal ones: as photoprocesses proceed through the electronically excited state, they often yield strained and/or thermally difficult-to-access products of unique structures in a single step [17]. Furthermore, photochemical reactions, being free from the fetter of activation energy, are run over a wide range of temperatures without an accompanying retardation of the reaction rate at lower temperatures or undesirable side reactions at elevated temperatures.