The reaction is autocatalytic and leads to rapidly increasing amounts of the same enantiomer of the product.
[3][4] For his work in "elucidating the origins of chirality and homochirality", Soai received the Chemical Society of Japan award in 2010.
[5] Other chiral additives can be used as the initial source of asymmetric induction, with the major product of that first reaction being rapidly amplified.
For example, Soai's group has demonstrated that even chiral quaternary hydrocarbons, which have no clear Lewis basic site for binding the nucleophile, are nonetheless capable of inducing asymmetric catalysis in the reaction.
[6] The chiral induction is believed to occur as a result of interactions between the C–H bonds of the alkane and the pi electrons of the aldehyde.