Using chiral phosphoric acid catalysis, the Tan group achieved the first catalytic asymmetric Ugi four-component reaction, constructing chiral α-acylamino amide products in a single step from readily available starting materials. This overcame a challenge that had resisted asymmetric catalysis for nearly 60 years since the reaction was first proposed. The work was published in Science (2018, 361, eaas8707).
Paper link: http://science.sciencemag.org/content/361/6407/eaas8707