A series of enantiopure ligands based on the aminoindanol scaffold, but differing in regio- and stereochemistry has been synthesized. These ligands have been conveniently derivatized and their catalytic efficiency in different enantioselective reactions has been screened to determine privileged candidates with respect to regio- and stereochemistry for each considered process. The nature of the amino substituent has been optimized for specific applications and this has led to the development of an efficient method for the preparation of bulky bicyclic amines by reductive amination.