In a cyclic process, fed with external chemical energy generated by the transformation of a compound with high chemical potential to carbon dioxide, the undesired enantiomer from a catalytic asymmetric reaction is continuously recycled to starting reagent. This minor enantiomer recycling is characterized by gradually increasing yields and product enantiomeric ratios. The requirements for maintaining a cyclic procedure are discussed; the necessity of a coupled exergonic process is demonstrated experimentally.Recycling procedures have been invoked in several models for the emergence of homochirality in autocatalytic systems. [1][2][3] Whereas such procedures may be feasible in open systems, incorporation of reverse reactions in models describing closed systems has been subject to intense discussions.[4] As pointed out already by Onsager, in a triangle reaction involving A, B, and C, at equilibrium each transformation is just as likely as its reverse, that is, transformation of A to B takes place as often as transformation of B to A (Scheme 1 a).[5] As each forward and backward reaction must balance, net cycling is not possible; a unidirectional cycle would necessarily involve a thermodynamically uphill process. Continuous addition of a reagent may serve to push the equilibrium for a forward reaction, and consequently for the entire cycle, but this shift does not help the reverse reaction to climb the high energy barrier. However, if a chemical process is performed in a system open to mass flow and coupled to a thermodynamically downhill reaction by transformation of a sacrificial reagent to a by-product with lower chemical potential, a cyclic process operating out of equilibrium may be maintained, [6] in analogy to the way cellular work is powered by adenosine triphosphate through coupling of exergonic to endergonic reactions.Recycling of the undesired enantiomer to achiral starting material may also serve to improve the enantiomeric excess in catalytic reactions. Onsager's example describes an isomerization process, but an analogous situation applies to a reaction network involving an enantioselective reaction with recycling of the minor enantiomer. If the forward, product-forming reaction favors formation of the R enantiomer, the principle of microscopic reversibility states that the reverse reaction cannot favor the reaction of S. However, chemical energy input by influx of a sacrificial reagent (X) with high chemical energy and the removal of compounds (Y and/or Z) with lower energies may serve as the driving force for a cyclic process (Scheme 1 b). [6] For simplicity, it is assumed that the forward reaction of achiral reactant A with reagent X produces a racemic product, that is, k R = k S , in which k R and k S are the rate constants for formation of the R and S enantiomers, respectively, from A, and that the reverse reaction, which restores the starting reagent and produces by-products Y and Z, proceeds with high selectivity, such that k' R % 0, for which k' R is the rate constant for decomposition of the R ...