Book excerpt: Asymmetric Synthesis, Volume 4: The Chiral Carbon Pool and Chiral Sulfur, Nitrogen, Phosphorus, and Silicon Centers describes the practical methods of obtaining chiral fragments. Divided into five chapters, this book specifically examines initial chiral transmission and extension. The opening chapter describes the so-called chiral carbon pool, the readily available chiral carbon fragments used as building blocks in synthesis. This chapter also provides a list of 375 chiral building blocks, along with their commercial sources, approximate prices, and methods of synthesis. Schemes involving almo ...