Bifunctional catalysis

• Darren J. Dixon

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2016, 12, 1079–1080, doi:10.3762/bjoc.12.102

• Darren J. Dixon Chemistry Research Laboratory, University of Oxford, Mansfield Road, Oxford OX1 3TA, UK, Tel: +44 (0)1865 275648; Fax: +44 (0)1865 285002 10.3762/bjoc.12.102 Keywords: bifunctional catalysis; Bifunctional catalysis concerns the use of low molecular weight, structurally defined

• , stereochemically defined products through the action of the bifunctional catalyst system. Many bifunctional catalysts possess either Lewis or Brønsted basic functionality and a hydrogen-bond donor group suitably positioned over a chiral scaffold. Compared to single functional group catalysts, the cooperative

• reactivity and selectivity in synthetically relevant reactions. Furthermore, owing to the great number of pronucleophiles and electrophiles that are available, the number of polar addition reactions that are amenable to catalysis through the action of bifunctional catalysts is enormous, and consequently, the

Catalytic asymmetric synthesis of biologically important 3-hydroxyoxindoles: an update

• Bin Yu,
• Hui Xing,
• De-Quan Yu and
• Hong-Min Liu

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2016, 12, 1000–1039, doi:10.3762/bjoc.12.98

• state for the observed stereoselectivity. Pyrrole attacked the ketone from the Si face to generate (R)-3-pyrrolyl-3-hydroxyoxindoles. Very recently, Feng et al. revealed that the bifunctional guanidine (L3)/CuI catalyst can catalyze asymmetric alkynylation of isatins with terminal alkynes, affording

• ). Interestingly, a satisfactory result (89% yield and >99% ee) was also obtained when the reaction was performed on a 7.0 mmol scale using 15% of catalyst loading. Similarly, Chen and co-workers reported that β-ICD, as a bifunctional catalyst, can also efficiently catalyze the MBH reactions of 7-azaisatins with

• of the bifunctional thiourea catalyst (cat. 24, 10 mol %), affording the E-adducts in high yields (up to 95%) and with moderate to good enantioselectivities (up to 99% ee). Different allyl ketones were examined under these conditions, affording the corresponding products in good yields, especially

1H-Imidazol-4(5H)-ones and thiazol-4(5H)-ones as emerging pronucleophiles in asymmetric catalysis

• Antonia Mielgo and
• Claudio Palomo

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2016, 12, 918–936, doi:10.3762/bjoc.12.90

• reactions. Keywords: asymmetric catalysis; bifunctional catalysts; 1H-imidazol-4(5H)-ones; pronucleophiles; thiazol-4(5H)-ones; Introduction Asymmetric catalysis [1][2][3] constitutes a very powerful tool for the preparation of enantiomerically pure compounds [4]. Recent efforts in the field have been

• acceptors in reactions promoted by bifunctional Brønsted bases. 1.2.1 Nitroalkenes as acceptors. Investigation of the base-catalyzed Michael addition reaction of 2-thio-1H-imidazol-4(5H)-ones 4 to nitroalkenes 5 [55] revealed that cinchona alkaloids such as quinine, (DHQ)2Pyr or even thiourea tertiary amine

• an heuristic model (Figure 3) to account for the experimentally encountered selectivity where the catalyst is proposed to act in a bifunctional way. In this proposal the imidazolone would be coordinated to the two NH bonds of the squaramide and the ortho-ArH in C1, whilst the nitroalkene would form a

Asymmetric α-amination of 3-substituted oxindoles using chiral bifunctional phosphine catalysts

• Qiao-Wen Jin,
• Zhuo Chai,
• You-Ming Huang,
• Gang Zou and
• Gang Zhao

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2016, 12, 725–731, doi:10.3762/bjoc.12.72

• novel amino acid-derived chiral bifunctional organophosphine catalysts, which have successfully applied to catalyze various asymmetric reactions [40][41]. As a general concept, a tertiary phosphine adds to an electrophilic reactant to form a zwitterion which serves as either a nucleophile or a Bronsted

• (diethyl azodicarboxylate, 2a) was selected as the model reaction for the evaluation of chiral phosphine catalysts (Table 1). Using bifunctional thiourea catalysts 4a and 4b, the reaction proceeded smoothly at room temperature to afford the product 3a in good yields, albeit with low enantiomeric excesses

• face of the enolate, driving the electrophile to attack from the Si face. Conclusion In summary, we have realized enantioselective α-aminations of 3-substitued oxindoles with azodicarboxylates by using amino acid-derived bifunctional phosphine catalysts. These reactions afford a variety of chiral 2

Stereoselective amine-thiourea-catalysed sulfa-Michael/nitroaldol cascade approach to 3,4,5-substituted tetrahydrothiophenes bearing a quaternary stereocenter

• Sara Meninno,
• Chiara Volpe,
• Giorgio Della Sala,
• Amedeo Capobianco and
• Alessandra Lattanzi

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2016, 12, 643–647, doi:10.3762/bjoc.12.63

• [22] with 1,4-dithiane-2,5-diol. Based on all above considerations and prompted by our interest in asymmetric synthesis of functionalized tetrahydrothiophenes [14], we wondered whether we could use bifunctional organocatalysts to develop a diastereo- and enantioselective cascade sulfa-Michael

• -dithiane-2,5-diol as precursor of mercaptoacetaldehyde, using 10 mol % loading of different bifunctional organocatalysts (Scheme 1, Table 1). In the case of trans-β-nitrostyrene (1), a mixture of diastereoisomers 5 and 6 were rapidly formed, irrespective of the catalyst used, with a poor level of diastereo

• increased to 50% ee for diastereoisomer 7a when using chlorobenzene as the solvent at room temperature (Table 2, entry 5). It is worth noting that bifunctional organocatalyst VII appears to be more effective in terms of diastereocontrol than previously employed Brønsted base/Lewis acid system TMG/ZnI2

Supported bifunctional thioureas as recoverable and reusable catalysts for enantioselective nitro-Michael reactions

• José M. Andrés,
• Miriam Ceballos,
• Alicia Maestro,
• Isabel Sanz and
• Rafael Pedrosa

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2016, 12, 628–635, doi:10.3762/bjoc.12.61

• bifunctional thioureas on sulfonylpolystyrene resins has been studied in the nitro-Michael addition of different nucleophiles to trans-β-nitrostyrene derivatives. The activity of the catalysts depends on the length of the tether linking the chiral thiourea to the polymer. The best results were obtained with

• the thiourea derived from (L)-valine and 1,6-hexanediamine. The catalysts can be used in only 2 mol % loading, and reused for at least four cycles in neat conditions. The ball milling promoted additions also worked very well. Keywords: bifunctional organocatalysts; organocatalysis; stereoselective

• nitro-Michael addition; supported catalysts; thioureas; Introduction The use of chiral bifunctional thioureas that allow the simultaneous activation of a electrophile, by hydrogen bonding, and a nucleophile, by deprotonation, plays a major role in the stereoselective formation of C–C bonds in different

The aminoindanol core as a key scaffold in bifunctional organocatalysts

• Isaac G. Sonsona,
• Eugenia Marqués-López and
• Raquel P. Herrera

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2016, 12, 505–523, doi:10.3762/bjoc.12.50

• The 1,2-aminoindanol scaffold has been found to be very efficient, enhancing the enantioselectivity when present in organocatalysts. This may be explained by its ability to induce a bifunctional activation of the substrates involved in the reaction. Thus, it is easy to find hydrogen-bonding

• ; bifunctional; organocatalysis; hydrogen bonding; Introduction The structural and chemical properties of the 1,2-aminoindanol scaffold 1 have transformed aminoindanol derivatives into versatile building blocks for the construction of catalysts and the efficient induction of chirality in asymmetric processes

• disulfides and sulfides, which are involved in the synthesis of ligands and pharmaceutical chiral synthetic precursors [1][2] and in (b) the transfer-hydrogenation reaction catalyzed by bifunctional chiral ruthenium complexes, employed in the synthesis of peptide mimics with an interesting

(Thio)urea-mediated synthesis of functionalized six-membered rings with multiple chiral centers

• Giorgos Koutoulogenis,
• Nikolaos Kaplaneris and
• Christoforos G. Kokotos

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2016, 12, 462–495, doi:10.3762/bjoc.12.48

• main tools a synthetic chemist has to perform asymmetric catalysis. In this review the synthesis of six-membered rings, that contain multiple chiral centers, either by a ring closing process or by a functionalization reaction on an already existing six-membered ring, utilizing bifunctional (thio)ureas

• involves hydrogen bonding, which is also postulated to be present in enzymatic reactions. (Thio)urea moieties have been employed in order to activate electrophiles and in order to allign them, in a specific manner, so as to react with nucleophiles (Scheme 3) [6][7]. In addition, many bifunctional (thio

• of a bifunctional catalyst. The first family of these bifunctional catalysts, that are going to be discussed, are the "primary amine-thioureas". Initially, catalyst 4 was studied as an organocatalyst in the addition of isobutyraldehyde (1) to (E)-methyl 2-oxo-4-phenylbut-3-enoate (2) for the

Recent advances in N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC)-catalysed benzoin reactions

• Rajeev S. Menon,
• Akkattu T. Biju and
• Vijay Nair

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2016, 12, 444–461, doi:10.3762/bjoc.12.47

• developed the pyroglutamic acid-derived triazolium salt 10 which mediated benzoin reactions in similar enantioselectivities [14]. The chiral triazolium catalyst 11 transfers chiral information to the benzoin products by engaging in hydrogen-bonding interactions [15]. Waser’s chiral bifunctional (thio)urea

Cupreines and cupreidines: an established class of bifunctional cinchona organocatalysts

• Laura A. Bryant,
• Rossana Fanelli and
• Alexander J. A. Cobb

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2016, 12, 429–443, doi:10.3762/bjoc.12.46

• asymmetric organocatalysis. This fascinating class of bifunctional catalyst offers a genuine alternative to the more commonly used thiourea systems and because of the different spacing between the functional groups, can control enantioselectivity where other organocatalysts have failed. In the main, this

• . Keywords: bifunctional; cupreidine; cinchona; cupreine; organocatalysis; Introduction The cinchona alkaloids, comprising quinine (QN), quinidine (QD), cinchonidine (CD), cinchonine (CN, Figure 1), and their derivatives have revolutionized asymmetric catalysis owing to their privileged structures. The

• optimize their stereoselective behaviour has seen their utility burgeon dramatically over the last decade. Of particular note is the use of these cinchona systems within bifunctional thiourea catalysis [3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12]. Cupreine (CPN) and cupreidine (CPD), the non-natural demethylated

Enantioselective [3 + 2] annulation of α-substituted allenoates with β,γ-unsaturated N-sulfonylimines catalyzed by a bifunctional dipeptide phosphine

• Huanzhen Ni,
• Weijun Yao and
• Yixin Lu

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2016, 12, 343–348, doi:10.3762/bjoc.12.37

• -sulfonylimines proceeded in an unexpected [3 + 2] annulation mode to afford a cyclopentene ring with an all-carbon quaternary center (Scheme 1) [48]. In recent years our group has developed a family of amino acid-derived bifunctional phosphines and has intensively investigated related asymmetric transformations

• [49][50][51][52][53][54][55][56][57][58][59][60][61][62][63]. We became interested in developing an asymmetric variant of the above transformation by utilizing our amino acid-derived bifunctional phosphine catalysts. Results and Discussion We chose the [3 + 2] annulation between α-benzyl-substituted

• allenoate 1a and β,γ-unsaturated N-sulfonylimine 2a as a model reaction and evaluated a number of amino acid based bifunctional phosphines as catalyst. As shown in Table 1, simple L-valine-derived phosphines 3a–c were found to be effective in promoting the reaction, and products were obtained in moderate to

Application of 7-azaisatins in enantioselective Morita–Baylis–Hillman reaction

• Qing He,
• Gu Zhan,
• Wei Du and
• Ying-Chun Chen

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2016, 12, 309–313, doi:10.3762/bjoc.12.33

• in diverse biologically active substances. Here 7-azaisatins turned out to be more efficient electrophiles than the analogous isatins in the enantioselective Morita–Baylis–Hillman (MBH) reactions with maleimides using a bifunctional tertiary amine, β-isocupreidine (β-ICD), as the catalyst. This route

• allows a convenient approach to access multifunctional 3-hydroxy-7-aza-2-oxindoles with high enantiopurity (up to 94% ee). Other types of activated alkenes, such as acrylates and acrolein, could also be efficiently utilized. Keywords: 7-azaisatins; β-isocupreidine; bifunctional catalysis; maleimide; MBH

• the identical catalytic conditions [14]. Remarkably, these reactions were usually promoted by bifunctional catalysts, such as β-ICD, whose C6’-OH group served as a H-bond donor to facilitate the proton-transfer step and to stabilize the transition state in MBH reactions [11][12][13][14]. Nevertheless

Organocatalytic asymmetric Henry reaction of 1H-pyrrole-2,3-diones with bifunctional amine-thiourea catalysts bearing multiple hydrogen-bond donors

• Ming-Liang Zhang,
• Deng-Feng Yue,
• Zhen-Hua Wang,
• Yuan Luo,
• Xiao-Ying Xu,
• Xiao-Mei Zhang and
• Wei-Cheng Yuan

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2016, 12, 295–300, doi:10.3762/bjoc.12.31

• 100049, China 10.3762/bjoc.12.31 Abstract For the first time, a catalytic asymmetric Henry reaction of 1H-pyrrole-2,3-diones was achieved with a chiral bifunctional amine-thiourea as a catalyst possessing multiple hydrogen-bond donors. With this developed method, a range of 3-hydroxy-3-nitromethyl-1H

• -pyrrol-2(3H)-ones bearing quaternary stereocenters were obtained in acceptable yield (up to 75%) and enantioselectivity (up to 73% ee). Keywords: asymmetric catalysis; bifunctional catalysts; Henry reaction; organocatalysis; 1H-pyrrole-2,3-diones; Introduction Asymmetric organocatalysis has been

• demonstrated to be an effective and versatile strategy in facilitating a variety of organic transformations over the past decade, and numerous catalytic asymmetric reactions have been developed with various activation modes [1][2][3][4][5][6]. In this realm, chiral bifunctional catalysts, possessing two active

Highly stable and reusable immobilized formate dehydrogenases: Promising biocatalysts for in situ regeneration of NADH

• Barış Binay,
• Dilek Alagöz,
• Deniz Yildirim,
• Ayhan Çelik and
• S. Seyhan Tükel

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2016, 12, 271–277, doi:10.3762/bjoc.12.29

• initial loading protein per gram of Immobead 150 support and the immobilized FDH (FDHI150) showed 31% activity of the free FDH upon immobilization. Another commonly used strategy to covalently immobilize enzyme is using a bifunctional reagent glutaraldehyde. A Schiff base is formed between the carbonyl

A quadruple cascade protocol for the one-pot synthesis of fully-substituted hexahydroisoindolinones from simple substrates

• Hong-Bo Zhang,
• Yong-Chun Luo,
• Xiu-Qin Hu,
• Yong-Min Liang and
• Peng-Fei Xu

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2016, 12, 253–259, doi:10.3762/bjoc.12.27

• -substituted hexahydroisoindolinones was developed by using bifunctional tertiary amine-thioureas as powerful catalysts. As far as we know, there is no efficient synthetic method developed toward fully-substituted hexahydroisoindolinones. The products were obtained in good yield and diastereoselectivity. The

• one-pot cascade quadruple protocol features readily available starting materials, simple manipulation, mild conditions and good atom economy. Keywords: bifunctional catalysis; hexahydroisoindolinones; one-pot synthesis; quadruple cascade; Introduction Isoindolines and their congeners are one kind of

• when K2CO3 was used as the catalyst (Table 1, entry 4). When thioureas were used as the catalysts, we also did not get the expected product (Table 1, entries 5 and 6). Since bifunctional tertiary amine-thioureas have been proved as powerful catalysts that can catalyze a variety of organocascade

Asymmetric α-amination of β-keto esters using a guanidine–bisurea bifunctional organocatalyst

• Minami Odagi,
• Yoshiharu Yamamoto and
• Kazuo Nagasawa

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2016, 12, 198–203, doi:10.3762/bjoc.12.22

• presence of a guanidine–bisurea bifunctional organocatalyst was investigated. The α-amination products were obtained in up to 99% yield with up to 94% ee. Keywords: α-amination; bifunctional catalyst; guanidine; hydrogen-bonding catalyst; urea; Introduction Asymmetric α-amination of β-keto esters is an

• particular, catalytic asymmetric α-amination of β-keto esters has been widely explored, using both metal catalysts and organocatalysts [5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18]. We have developed a series of guanidine–bis(thio)urea bifunctional organocatalysts, and have used them in a variety of

• asymmetric reactions [19][20]. Recently, we disclosed an α-hydroxylation of tetralone-derived β-keto esters 2 using guanidine–bisurea bifunctional organocatalyst 1a in the presence of cumene hydroperoxide (CHP) as an oxidant (Figure 1a) [21]. This reaction provides the corresponding α-hydroxylation products

Versatile deprotonated NHC: C,N-bridged dinuclear iridium and rhodium complexes

• Albert Poater

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2016, 12, 117–124, doi:10.3762/bjoc.12.13

• atom. Although most of the studies on NHCs together with metal moieties are based on the interaction of the carbene carbon of the NHC with the metal [23][24][25][26], the high instability due the NH group of the pNHCs can induce secondary interactions leading to bifunctional catalysis [27][28

Catalytic asymmetric formal synthesis of beraprost

• Yusuke Kobayashi,
• Ryuta Kuramoto and
• Yoshiji Takemoto

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2015, 11, 2654–2660, doi:10.3762/bjoc.11.285

• the tricyclic core were controlled via Rh-catalyzed stereoselective C–H insertion and the subsequent reduction from the convex face. Keywords: bifunctional catalysis; hydrogen bonding; organocatalyst; oxa-Michael; prostacyclin; Introduction Prostacyclin (PGI2, Figure 1) is a physiologically active

• nucleophile and relatively unreactive Michael acceptors [27][28][29][30][31][32][33]. We envisioned that our recently developed powerful hydrogen bond (HB)-donor bifunctional organocatalyst [33] could promote the desired reaction of 7 or 8, which can be synthesized from commercial sources 9 or 10. Overall

Bifunctional phase-transfer catalysis in the asymmetric synthesis of biologically active isoindolinones

• Antonia Di Mola,
• Maximilian Tiffner,
• Francesco Scorzelli,
• Laura Palombi,
• Rosanna Filosa,
• Paolo De Caprariis,
• Mario Waser and
• Antonio Massa

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2015, 11, 2591–2599, doi:10.3762/bjoc.11.279

• Salerno, Via Giovanni Paolo II, 132, 84084-Fisciano, SA, Italy Institute of Organic Chemistry, Johannes Kepler University Linz Altenbergerstraße 69, 4040 Linz, Austria Dipartimento di Medicina Sperimentale, Università di Napoli, Napoli, Italy 10.3762/bjoc.11.279 Abstract New bifunctional chiral ammonium

• cascade reaction, investigating novel trans-1,2-cyclohexane diamine-based bifunctional ammonium salts 8. These catalysts were recently introduced by our groups in a variety of different reactions [27][28][29], as exemplified by a related aldol-initiated cascade reaction of glycine Schiff base with 2

• already discussed [21][22][23], the bifunctional nature of organocatalysts plays an important role in this reaction to attain satisfactory levels of enantioselectivity. The presence of additional hydrogen donors such as urea groups positively affected the enantioselectivity both in the presence of chiral

Organocatalytic and enantioselective Michael reaction between α-nitroesters and nitroalkenes. Syn/anti-selectivity control using catalysts with the same absolute backbone chirality

• Jose I. Martínez,
• Uxue Uria,
• Maria Muñiz,
• Efraím Reyes,
• Luisa Carrillo and
• Jose L. Vicario

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2015, 11, 2577–2583, doi:10.3762/bjoc.11.277

• nitroalkenes has been studied in the presence of two bifunctional catalysts both containing the same absolute chirality at the carbon backbone. The reaction performed in similar conditions allows us to control the syn or anti selectivity of the Michael adduct obtaining good yields and high enantiocontrol in

• of bifunctional tertiary amine/squaramide catalysts [28][29][30][31][32] and, interestingly, we found that catalysts containing the same backbone chirality provided different diastereoisomers, thus allowing the development of a diastereodivergent process. In this report, we wish to present the

• facial stereoselection of those versions in which two stereocentres are generated in the reaction become of special utility to synthetic chemists. In this case, using two different bifunctional tertiary amine/squaramide organocatalysts [36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46][47][48][49][50][51][52

Synthesis of bi- and bis-1,2,3-triazoles by copper-catalyzed Huisgen cycloaddition: A family of valuable products by click chemistry

• Zhan-Jiang Zheng,
• Ding Wang,
• Zheng Xu and
• Li-Wen Xu

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2015, 11, 2557–2576, doi:10.3762/bjoc.11.276

• (OAc)2) could catalyze the Huisgen alkyne-azide cycloaddition reactions without the addition of the reducing agents and could be produced in high yield when the substrate contains the chelating azide group [67]. Then they synthesized the bifunctional compounds with chelating azide groups and

Recent highlights in biosynthesis research using stable isotopes

• Jan Rinkel and
• Jeroen S. Dickschat

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2015, 11, 2493–2508, doi:10.3762/bjoc.11.271

• sesterfisherol (59, Scheme 10), the product of a bifunctional sesterterpene cyclase (C25) from Neosartorya fischeri [69]. In this case, [1-13C,2H3]acetate was fed and the resulting labeling pattern of an epoxidation product was analyzed by 13C NMR, revealing a loss of deuterium from carbons C-2, C-6 and C-10 by

• signals mentioned above. To investigate the 1,5-hydride shift, (8,8-2H2)GGPP and IPP were used for an in vitro reaction with the recombinant terpene synthase, utilizing the bifunctional character of the enzyme to form (12,12-2H2)GFPP and its subsequent cyclization to (2H2)-59. NMR data of the obtained

Biocatalysis for the application of CO₂ as a chemical feedstock

• Apostolos Alissandratos and
• Christopher J. Easton

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2015, 11, 2370–2387, doi:10.3762/bjoc.11.259

• 10 is fed to central metabolism while the other is used in a subsequent cycle. As seen in Scheme 4, acetyl-CoA (10) is carboxylated by a bifunctional acetyl-CoA/propionyl-CoA carboxylase to malonyl-CoA (15) with HCO3− and hydrolysis of ATP. The malonate 15 is reduced to 3-hydroxypropionate (16), in

• two steps catalysed by NAD(P)H dependent dehydrogenases. Later in the pathway, propionyl-CoA (17) is the substrate for a second carboxylation with HCO3− to methylmalonyl-CoA (18), performed by the same ATP-dependent bifunctional carboxylase that carries out the first step [71][72]. Succinyl-CoA (5) is

• increased rates of carbon fixation under higher CO2 partial pressures [93][94]. Acyl-CoA carboxylases Though acetyl-CoA carboxylases are widely distributed in living organisms, the existence of bifunctional variants with a role in autotrophy has attracted further interest for their biotechnological

Cross metathesis of unsaturated epoxides for the synthesis of polyfunctional building blocks

• Meriem K. Abderrezak,
• Kristýna Šichová,
• Nancy Dominguez-Boblett,
• Antoine Dupé,
• Zahia Kabouche,
• Christian Bruneau and
• Cédric Fischmeister

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2015, 11, 1876–1880, doi:10.3762/bjoc.11.201

• performances (Table 1, entries 7 and 8). Similarly, the cross metathesis of 1 with acrylonitrile was conducted to furnish the bifunctional derivative 3 in 71% yield as a mixture of stereoisomers. In that case, high conversions and yields could only be obtained by means of slow addition of the catalyst and high

Robust bifunctional aluminium–salen catalysts for the preparation of cyclic carbonates from carbon dioxide and epoxides

• Yuri A. Rulev,
• Zalina Gugkaeva,
• Victor I. Maleev,
• Michael North and
• Yuri N. Belokon

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2015, 11, 1614–1623, doi:10.3762/bjoc.11.176

• efficient for polycarbonate production [12]. Further modification of the salen moiety by the introduction of basic or ammonium salts through alkyl spacers attached to the salen aromatic rings led to the formation of a family of bifunctional catalysts possessing both Lewis acid and nucleophilic catalysis

• of these catalysts was also greatly improved by the introduction of bifunctional versions of the catalyst system, combining an electrophilic aluminium centre with an ammonium cation/nucleophilic-counteranion combination within the framework of a single catalytic species as reported by North [15], Liu

• and Darensbourg [14], and Lu [16] (Figure 1). Unfortunately, the bifunctional derivatives with an alkyl spacer are not very stable at higher temperatures because of the well-known ammonium salt decomposition pathways including: Zaitsev and Hoffman type eliminations [17][18][19] and retro-Menschutkin