Outstanding organocatalysis: An article collection

A collection of high impact articles on organocatalysis from the RSC’s ChemComm, Catalysis Science & Technology Organic & Biomolecular Chemistry (OBC) and Chem Soc Rev.

Catalysts are key to some of the most important reactions on the planet; a world without the Haber process or catalysts to crack crude oil is difficult to imagine. Not to mention the enzymatic reactions that are crucial to all life on earth.

Organocatalysts are an important class of catalyst and consist of carbon-based molecules often functionalised with oxygen, sulfur, nitrogen or phosphorus. They have shown promise in a range of reactions including hydrogenation, Diels-Alder, Michael and Mannich reactions, and are of particular interest in asymmetric reactions.

To help keep you up-to-date with the latest in cutting-edge organocatalytic research we have made the following articles free to access until the 9th July. After reading all these there will be little you won’t know about the exciting world of organocatalysis!


Organocatalytic asymmetric transfer hydrogenation of imines, Johannes G. de Vries and Nataša Mršić, Catal. Sci. Technol., 2011, 1, 727-735

Asymmetric organocatalytic formation of protected and unprotected tetroses under potentially prebiotic conditions, Laurence Burroughs, Paul A. Clarke, Henrietta Forintos, James A. R. Gilks, Christopher J. Hayes, Matthew E. Vale, William Wade and Myriam Zbytniewski, Org. Biomol. Chem., 2012, 10, 1565-1570

Recent efforts directed to the development of more sustainable asymmetric organocatalysis, José G. Hernández and Eusebio Juaristi, Chem. Commun., 2012, 48, 5396-5409

Organocatalysis with dendrimers, Anne-Marie Caminade, Armelle Ouali, Michel Keller and Jean-Pierre Majoral, Chem. Soc. Rev., 2012, 41, 4113-4125

Highly efficient direct large-scale stoichiometric aldol reactions catalyzed by a new diamine salt in the presence of water, Jing Huang, Guodong Chen, Xiangkai Fu, Chao Li, Chuanlong Wu and Qiang Miao, Catal. Sci. Technol., 2012, 2, 547-553

Design, synthesis, and application of tartaric acid derived N-spiro quaternary ammonium salts as chiral phase-transfer catalysts, Mario Waser, Katharina Gratzer, Richard Herchl and Norbert Müller, Org. Biomol. Chem., 2012, 10, 251-254

Catalytic, enantio– and diastereoselective synthesis of γ-butyrolactones incorporating quaternary stereocentres, Francesco Manoni, Claudio Cornaggia, James Murray, Sean Tallon and Stephen J. Connon, Chem. Commun., 2012, Advance Article

Efficient organocatalysts derived from simple chiral acyclic amino acids in asymmetric catalysis, Zhuo Chai and Gang Zhao, Catal. Sci. Technol., 2012, 2, 29-41

Squaramide-catalyzed enantioselective Michael addition of malononitrile to chalcones, Wen Yang, Yang Jia and Da-Ming Du, Org. Biomol. Chem., 2012, 10, 332-338

Chiral proton catalysis of secondary nitroalkane additions to azomethine: synthesis of a potent GlyT1 inhibitor, Tyler A. Davis, Michael W. Danneman and Jeffrey N. Johnston, Chem. Commun., 2012, 48, 5578-5580

Organocatalytic umpolung: N-heterocyclic carbenes and beyond, Xavier Bugaut and Frank Glorius, Chem. Soc. Rev., 2012, 41, 3511-3522

Asymmetric organocatalytic reactions by bifunctional amine-thioureas, Woon-Yew Siau and Jian Wang, Catal. Sci. Technol., 2011, 1, 1298-1310

Organocatalytic asymmetric tandem condensation–intramolecular rearrangement–protonation: an approach to optically active α-amino thioester derivatives, Francesca Capitta, Angelo Frongia, Pier Paolo Piras, Patrizia Pitzanti and Francesco Secci, Org. Biomol. Chem., 2012, 10, 490-494

Direct asymmetric Mannich reaction of phthalides: facile access to chiral substituted isoquinolines and isoquinolinones, Jie Luo, Haifei Wang, Fangrui Zhong, Jacek Kwiatkowski, Li-Wen Xu and Yixin Lu, Chem. Commun., 2012, 48, 4707-4709

Synthesis, characterization and ethylene oligomerization behaviour of 8-(1-aryliminoethylidene)quinaldinylnickel dihalides, Shengju Song, Tianpengfei Xiao, Tongling Liang, Fosong Wang, Carl Redshaw and Wen-Hua Sun, Catal. Sci. Technol., 2011, 1, 69-75

Asymmetric organocascades involving the formation of two C–heteroatom bonds from two distinct heteroatoms, Damien Bonne, Thierry Constantieux, Yoann Coquerel and Jean Rodriguez, Org. Biomol. Chem., 2012, 10, 3969-3973

Poly(methylhydrosiloxane)-supported chiral imidazolinones: new versatile, highly efficient and recyclable organocatalysts for stereoselective Diels–Alder cycloaddition reactions, Stefania Guizzetti, Maurizio Benaglia and Jay S. Siegel, Chem. Commun., 2012, 48, 3188-3190

Recent advances in asymmetric catalysis with cinchona alkaloid-based primary amines, Lin Jiang and Ying-Chun Chen, Catal. Sci. Technol., 2011, 1, 354-365

Enantioselective synthesis of fluorene derivatives by chiral N-triflyl phosphoramide catalyzed double Friedel–Crafts alkylation reaction, Shou-Guo Wang, Long Han, Mi Zeng, Feng-Lai Sun, Wei Zhang and Shu-Li You, Org. Biomol. Chem., 2012, 10, 3202-3209

Dioxindole in asymmetric catalytic synthesis: direct access to 3-substituted 3-hydroxy-2-oxindoles via 1,4-additions to nitroalkenes, Michele Retini, Giulia Bergonzini and Paolo Melchiorre, Chem. Commun., 2012, 48, 3336-3338

Organocatalytic synthesis of carbohydrates, Jacek Mlynarski and Bartosz Gut, Chem. Soc. Rev., 2012, 41, 587-596

Tetraethylammonium 2-(N-hydroxycarbamoyl)benzoate: a powerful bifunctional metal-free catalyst for efficient and rapid cyanosilylation of carbonyl compounds under mild conditions, Mohammad G. Dekamin, Zahra Karimi and Mehdi Farahmand, Catal. Sci. Technol., 2012, Advance Article

Synthesis of symmetric anhydrides using visible light-mediated photoredox catalysis, Marlena D. Konieczynska, Chunhui Dai and Corey R. J. Stephenson, Org. Biomol. Chem., 2012, 10, 4509-4511

Catalytic enantioselective synthesis of β-trifluoromethyl pyrrolines, Hiroyuki Kawai, Takashi Kitayama, Etsuko Tokunaga, Takashi Matsumoto, Hiroyasu Sato, Motoo Shiro and Norio Shibata, Chem. Commun., 2012, 48, 4067-4069

Recent advances in cooperative ion pairing in asymmetric organocatalysis, Jean-François Brière, Sylvain Oudeyer, Vincent Dalla and Vincent Levacher, Chem. Soc. Rev., 2012, 41, 1696-1707

If you’ve enjoyed these articles make sure to take a look at the joint ChemCommOBC web themed issue, highlighting recent cutting-edge achievements in the field of organocatalysis.

Also check out ChemComm, Catalysis Science & Technology, Chem Soc Rev and OBC for more high impact research and reviews!

And keep up to date with the latest issue of any RSC journal by signing up to our e-alert service or follow your favourite publications on twitter!

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