Chitosan aerogel: a recyclable, heterogeneous organocatalyst for the asymmetric direct aldol reaction in water

Alfredo Ricci (1) , Luca Bernardi (1) , Claudio Gioia (1) , Simone Vierucci (1) , Mike Robitzer (2) , Françoise Quignard (2)

1 Department of Organic Chemistry ‘‘A. Mangini''
2 ICGM ICMMM - Institut Charles Gerhardt Montpellier - Institut de Chimie Moléculaire et des Matériaux de Montpellier

Aerogel microspheres of chitosan, an abundant biopolymer obtained from marine crustaceans, have been successfully applied to catalyze the asymmetric aldol reaction in water, providing the products in high yields and with good stereoselectivity (up to 93% ee) and recyclability (up to 4 runs). Yields were favourably affected by additives such as DNP and stearic acid.

Mots clés: organocatalyst; chitosan; asymmetric direct aldol reaction

Domaines: Catalyse; Chimie organique; Matériaux

Alfredo Ricci, Luca Bernardi, Claudio Gioia, Simone Vierucci, Mike Robitzer, et al.. Chitosan aerogel: a recyclable, heterogeneous organocatalyst for the asymmetric direct aldol reaction in water. Chemical Communications, 2010, 46, pp.6288-6290. ⟨10.1039/C0CC01502D⟩. ⟨hal-00512826⟩