Atropisomeric molecules are a privileged class of stereogenic material that have important applications in catalysis, materials science and medicines. To date, the majority of work has been focused upon biaryl and heterobiaryl scaffolds involving restricted rotation between a pair of cyclic fragments, but C–N atropisomeric molecules based upon amines and amides, where the nitrogen atom is not part of a ring system, are rapidly emerging as an important class of stereogenic molecules. This is the focus of this Short Review, which begins by discussing the factors which influence the configurational stability of such molecules and provides a historical background to their synthesis. This is followed by a detailed discussion of state-of-the-art catalytic asymmetric strategies that are now available to access C–Nacyclic atropisomers including carboxamides, sulfonamides, sulfinamides, phosphamides and diarylamines. A variety of different synthetic approaches are discussed, including kinetic resolution/desymmetrization, amination, C–H functionalization, N-functionalization, and annulation. 1 Introduction 2 Atropisomerism in Acyclic Amines and Amides 3 Synthesis Directed by a Chiral Auxiliary 4 Atropselective Synthesis 4.1 Kinetic Resolution and Desymmetrization 4.2 Electrophilic Amination 4.3 C–H Functionalization 4.4 N-Functionalization 4.5 Annulation 5 Conclusions and Outlook