Rational design of diphosphorus ligands--a route to superior catalysts.

The development of catalytic chemical conversions owes its success to the procreation of ligand variety and parameter quantification. Rational ligand design can provide a powerful means to tune transition metal reactivity and reaction selectivity. In this review an attempt is made to describe the quantification of ligand parameters and to present examples of successful ligand design in several academically and industrially important catalytic systems.