Chiral C2-symmetric vicinal diamines have emerged as powerful tools for the synthesis of enantiomerically pure compounds and are now commonly used as chiral auxiliaries or ligands for a wide array of asymmetric chemical transformations, with efficiencies comparable to those obtained with the closely related 1,2-diols. (1S,2S)- 1,2-Diaminocyclohexane (also named (IS,2S)-1,2-cyclohexanediamine), together with its (1R, 2R) enantiomer, allows excellent levels of asymmetric induction in many reactions, for which it has become the ligand of choice. Its applications in asymmetric synthesis and catalysis often involves the preparation of various N,N'-substituted derivatives.
