Chiral Synthesis on Catalysts Immobilized in Microporous and Mesoporous Materials

Abstract This paper reviews the recent progress made in the asymmetric synthesis on chiral catalysts in porous materials and discusses the effects of surface and pores on enantioselectivity (confinement effect). This paper also summarizes various approaches of immobilization of the chiral catalysts onto surfaces and into pores of solid inorganic supports such as microporous and mesoporous materials. The most important reactions surveyed for the chiral synthesis in porous materials include epoxidation, hydrogenation, hydroformylation, Aldol and Diels‐Alder reactions, etc. The confinement effect originated from the surfaces and the pores turns out to be a general phenomenon, which may make the enantioselectivity increase (positive effect) or decrease (negative effect). The confinement effect becomes more pronounced particularly when the bonding between the catalyst and the surface is more rigid and the pore size is tuned to a suitable range. It is proposed that the confinement in chiral synthesis is essentially a consequence of subtle change in transition states induced by weak interaction in pores or on surfaces. It is also anticipated that the enantioselectivity could be improved by tuning the confinement effect based on the molecular designing of the pore/surface and the immobilized catalysts according to the requirements of chiral reactions.