Feng chiral N,N′-dioxide ligands: uniqueness and impacts

From the historical perspective, all widely accepted privileged chiral ligands tune the catalytic activity of the metal complexes that they form and impart stereoselectivity to asymmetric reactions exclusively relying on the coordination with phosphorus, nitrogen or hetero-atom hybrids. Nowadays, works with N,N’-dioxide amides, i.e., Feng ligands, break with this tradition and have shown that oxygen-coordinated ligands can also be privileged, allowing for the proliferation of chiral metal catalysts and highly enantioselective transformations.