• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.27 no.5
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• pp.490-494
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• 2016

This paper describes the very efficient and highly enantioselective ring opening of terminal epoxides with alkyl and arene sulfonic acid. The dinuclear chiral (salen) Co complexes bearing Lewis acids of Al, Ga and In catalyze the reaction enantioselectively in the presence of tetrabutylammonium chloride using tert-butyl methyl ether as a solvent. The variation of the anion of the tetra butyl ammonium salt has significant impact on the reactivity and selectivity of the asymmetric ring opening of phenyl glycidyl ether with p-toluenesulfonic acid. The order of reactivity and selectivity was found to be $Cl^-$ > $l^-$ > $Br^-$ > $OH^-$. Strong synergistic effects of the different Lewis acid centers of Co-Al, Co-Ga and Co-In complexes were observed in the catalytic process. The dinuclear chiral salen catalyst containing $AlCl_3$ was found to be most active and highly enantioselective (91% ee).

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.35 no.6
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• pp.1590-1600
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• 2014

Cinchona-based bifunctional catalysts have been extensively employed in the field of organocatalysis due to the incorporation of both hydrogen-bonding acceptors (quinuclidine) and hydrogen-bonding donors (e.g., alcohol, amide, (thio)urea and squaramide) in the molecule, which can simultaneously activate nucleophiles and electrophiles, respectively. Among them, cinchona-derived (thio)urea and squaramide catalysts have shown remarkable application potential by using their bifurcated hydrogen bonding donors in activating electrophilic carbonyls and imines. However, due to their bifunctional nature, they tend to aggregate via inter- and intramolecular acid-base interactions under certain conditions, which can lead to a decrease in the enantioselectivity of the reaction. To overcome this self-aggregation problem of bifunctional organocatalysts, we have successfully developed a series of sulfonamide-based organocatalysts, which do not aggregate under conventional reaction conditions. Herein, we summarize the recent applications of our cinchona-derived sulfonamide organocatalysts in highly enantioselective methanolytic desymmetrization and decarboxylative aldol reactions. Immobilization of sulfonamide-based catalysts onto solid supports allowed for unprecedented practical applications in the synthesis of valuable bioactive synthons with excellent enantioselectivities.