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Phase Transfer Catalysis: History
Please note this is an old version of this entry, which may differ significantly from the current revision.
Subjects: Chemistry, Organic
Contributor: Helena Kang

Phase transfer catalysis is the transport of a reactant from one immiscible phase into another, where the desired transformation occurs, by a catalyst that shuttles the reactive ion or molecule across the phase boundary [1][2]. In advanced synthetic organic chemistry the concept is bounded by a biphasic (or interfacial) reaction medium and by a catalyst—commonly a quaternary ammonium or phosphonium salt, a crown ether, or a chiral ion-pairing species—that is not itself the stoichiometric nucleophile. Essential features are ion exchange or complexation that solubilizes an otherwise phase-restricted anion, and return of the catalyst to the source phase so that turnover is achieved. Enantioselective variants use a chiral quaternary ammonium cation to ion-pair with a prochiral enolate, most classically a glycine Schiff-base ester, and thereby differentiate the faces of alkylation [1][3][4]. Chiral anion phase-transfer catalysis inverts the ion-pairing logic: a chiral phosphate or related anion associates with a cationic reagent and delivers it enantioselectively [2]. The concept is distinguished from micellar catalysis, in which rate effects arise from compartmentalization within aggregates rather than from stoichiometric ion transport, and from homogeneous organocatalysis conducted in a single phase.

  • phase-transfer catalysis
  • ion pairing
  • quaternary ammonium salt
  • biphasic reaction

Advanced Synthetic Organic Chemistry • Organic Chemistry • Chemistry • Physical Sciences

References

  1. Keiji Maruoka; Takashi Ooi; Enantioselective Amino Acid Synthesis by Chiral Phase-Transfer Catalysis. Chem. Rev. 2003, 103, 3013-3028, 10.1021/cr020020e.
  2. Takashi Ooi; Keiji Maruoka; Recent Advances in Asymmetric Phase‐Transfer Catalysis. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2007, 46, 4222-4266, 10.1002/anie.200601737.
  3. Martin J. O'Donnell; The Enantioselective Synthesis of α-Amino Acids by Phase-Transfer Catalysis with Achiral Schiff Base Esters. Acc. Chem. Res. 2004, 37, 506-517, 10.1021/ar0300625.
  4. Barry Lygo; Benjamin I. Andrews; Asymmetric Phase-Transfer Catalysis Utilizing Chiral Quaternary Ammonium Salts: Asymmetric Alkylation of Glycine Imines. Acc. Chem. Res. 2004, 37, 518-525, 10.1021/ar030058t.
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