Asymmetric synthesis is an integral part of synthetic organic chemistry. Some of the reactions in this book were known prior to 1980, while several new ones, particularly catalytic asymmetric reactions, have been discovered in the recent years. The impact of this new class of reactions has been impressively extensive--both on organic and medicinal chemistry. These reactions have been accepted whole-heartedly by synthetic organic chemists in developing shorter routes for complex natural targets as well as in the manufacture of a wide range of drug intermediates.