A paper published by Prof. Pericàs group in Organic Letters has been highlighted in Synfacts, vol 12, issue 7 (756). Synfacts selects the most significant results on synthetic organic chemistry that appear in the literature considered as the future trends in synthetic chemistry.

The paper describes for the first time heterogenized versions of the second-generation MacMillan imidazolidin-4-one. This versatile organocatalyst has been supported on 1% DVB Merrifield resin and Fe₃O₄ magnetic nanoparticles through a copper-catalyzed alkyne–azide cycloaddition (CuAAC) reaction. The resulting catalytic materials have been successfully applied to the asymmetric Friedel–Crafts alkylation of indoles with α,β-unsaturated aldehydes. While both catalytic systems can be easily recovered and admit repeated recycling, the polystyrene-based catalyst shows higher stability and provides better stereoselectivities.

 

Polystyrene or Magnetic nanoparticles as Support in Enantioselective Organocatalysis? A Case Study in Friedel-Crafts Chemistry
S. Ranjbar, P. Riente, C. Rodríguez-Escrich, J. Yadav, K. Ramineni, M. A. Pericàs
Org. Lett., 2016, 18 (7), 1602-1605