Recent trends and developments in the asymmetric synthesis of profens

The profens belong to a class of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), which exert significant anti-inflammatory, analgesic, antipyretic and other pharmacological effects. A considerable number of catalytic asymmetric strategies for the synthesis of enantioenriched profens have been introduced. Herein are outlined recent trends and developments of promising catalytic enantioselective systems for the generation of profens and their derivatives. According to the reaction type, we divided these transformations into three categories: Transition metal-catalyzed asymmetric hydrogenations, transition metal-catalyzed asymmetric cross-couplings and organocatalytic asymmetric transformations. Overviews of generic reaction mechanisms are presented. Ideally, this tutorial review will motivate further interest in the catalytic asymmetric synthesis of highly enantioenriched profens.