Vol. 1 contains a report by Stanley M. Roberts on the integration of biotransformations into the catalyst portfolio.
The procedure section contains a wide variety of synthetic protocols, such as epoxidations of unsaturated ketones and esters, asymmetric reductions of carbon-oxygen double bonds, asymmetric hydrogenations of carbon-carbon double bonds and other types of reaction.
The featured catalysts include a wide range of different materials such as poly-D-leucine, D-fructose-based dioxiranes, oxaborolidine borane, some important titanium and ruthenium complexes as well as baker's yeast. For each reaction there are one or several detailed protocols on how to prepare and employ the various catalysts.