Fluorous Catalysis

Fluorous catalysis is a well-established area and provides a complementary approach to aqueous and ionic-biphase catalysis. Fluorous transition metal catalysts can be prepared by combining fluorous-soluble ligands with appropriate transition metals. Most of the well-known organic soluble ligands can be converted to fluorous-soluble by introducing fluorophilic substituents to the ligand structure. The hydroformylation reaction leads to the formation of aldehydes by the reaction of a carbon-carbon double bond with carbon monoxide and hydrogen in the presence of a transition metal catalyst. Homogeneous catalytic hydrogenation by transition metal complexes refers to the addition of a hydrogen molecule to an unsaturated functional group of the substrate. The development of facile separation of the homogeneous catalysts from the products is crucial for their industrial applications. Transition metal catalyzed cross-coupling reactions are among the most prominent reaction types in contemporary synthetic organic chemistry. Fluorous organocatalysts can be prepared by attaching fluorous ponytails at an appropriate position to conventional organocatalysts.