Arjan Kleij research group works on the synthesis of metallosalens, which are powerful supramolecular synthons with great application potential in catalysis, CO₂ fixation chemistry and the design of new nanomaterials.

In this hot paper, published in Dalton Transactions, they incorporate another scaffold into the synthetic structure: a triptycene. In this way, they obtain new catalytic materials, triptycene based trinuclear salphen derivatives, for the synthesis of cyclic carbonates.

The most interesting feature of these novel catalysts is their recyclability through supramolecular aggregation, which emerges as an efficient recycling strategy in homogeneous catalysis.

The paper is described as very interesting by the referees and it is free to access until 22nd April.