Enantioselective organocatalytic processes have reached maturity in recent years with an impressive number of applications now available. The application of these advantageous methodologies to the construction of chiral alpha-hetereofunctionalised carbonyl compounds allows us to obtain important chiral building blocks, such as a-amino acids, alpha-amino alcohols, aziridines, epoxides, 1,2-diols and alpha-sulfenylated, selenenylated and halogenated carbonyl derivatives. Proline, imidazolidinone derivatives, cinchona alkaloids and their ammonium salts, as well as Bronsted acid derivatives, have been used as chiral catalysts for these purposes. A survey of contributions in this field will be discussed throughout this review. (c) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.