In the fields of medicinal and agricultural chemicals, a demand for optically active compounds has increased more than ever. Among a variety of methods available for preparing optically active compounds, intensive studies have increasingly been made on the utilization of asymmetric catalysts.

The present reagents 1 and 2 are ligands having both a chiral plane and a chiral center within their molecules and they form asymmetric catalysts having highly controlled configuration with transition metals. Furthermore, the dimethylamino group of reagents 1 and 2 can be easily converted to other functional groups.