Rhodium-catalysed asymmetric hydrogenation of alkenes is a powerful synthetic tool in the pharmaceutical industry for the development of chiral drugs, drug candidates for clinical trials and major synthetic precursors of drugs.

Anton Vidal and Pablo Etayo published a comprehensive review in Chem.Soc.Rev. that provides an updated overview of the most striking contributions in this field.

This review, highlighted in Organic Process Research & Development, is organised according to substrate class: acrylate derivatives, itaconate derivatives, a-substituted enamides, a-arylenol acetates and minimally functionalised olefins.

Organic Process Research & Development aims to cover R&D in the fine organic chemicals and speciality chemicals industry. The highlight on this article appears in the ‘items of interest to process R&D Chemists ad Engineers’ section.

Pablo Etayo and Anton Vidal-Ferran

Chem. Soc. Rev., 2013, 42, 728-754