Chemists have been learning and mimicking enzymatic catalysis in various aspects of organic synthesis. One of the major goals is to develop versatile catalysts that inherit the high catalytic efficiency of enzymatic processes, while being effective for a broad scope of substrates. In this field, the study of aldehyde catalysts has achieved significant progress. This review summarizes the application of aldehydes as sustainable and effective catalysts in different reactions. The fields, in which the aldehydes successfully mimic enzymatic systems, include light energy absorption/transfer, intramolecularity introduction through tether formation, metal binding for activation/orientation and substrate activation via aldimine formation. Enantioselective aldehyde catalysis has been achieved with the development of chiral aldehyde catalysts. Direct simplification of aldehyde-dependent enzymes has also been investigated for the synthesis of noncanonical chiral amino acids. Further development in aldehyde catalysis is expected, which might also promote exploration in fields related to prebiotic chemistry, early enzyme evolution, etc.

中文翻译：

---

醛催化——从简单醛到人工酶

化学家一直在有机合成的各个方面学习和模仿酶催化。主要目标之一是开发多功能催化剂，继承酶促过程的高催化效率，同时对广泛的底物有效。在这一领域，醛类催化剂的研究取得了重大进展。本综述总结了醛作为可持续且有效的催化剂在不同反应中的应用。醛成功模拟酶系统的领域包括光能吸收/转移、通过系链形成的分子内引入、用于活化/定向的金属结合以及通过醛亚胺形成的底物活化。随着手性醛催化剂的发展，已经实现了对映选择性醛催化。还研究了醛依赖性酶的直接简化来合成非规范手性氨基酸。醛催化有望进一步发展，这也可能促进生命起源化学、早期酶进化等相关领域的探索。