Self-Assembled Single-Walled Metal-Helical Nanotube (M-HN): Creation of Efficient Supramolecular Catalysts for Asymmetric Reaction

Ever since the axial chiral catalysts were developed for asymmetric reactions with excellent chiral discrimination and high efficiencies, the interest in the supramolecular catalyst has also been extensively investigated. Here, with a hint from the typical molecular catalyst, we developed a series of metal-coordinated nanotube (M-helical nanotube, M-HN) catalysts for asymmetric reactions. The M-HN catalyst was fabricated on the basis of the self-assembly of an l-glutamic acid terminated bolaamphiphile, which formed a single-walled nanotube. On one hand, through the coordination of transition metal ions with the carboxylic acid groups on the nanotube surface, a wide variety of single-walled M-HN catalysts could be fabricated, in which the coordination sites could serve as the catalytic sites. On the other hand, using a slight amount of these catalysts, significant reactivity and enantioselectivity were realized for certain asymmetric reactions under mild conditions. Remarkably, Bi(III)-HN could catalyze the asymmetric Mukaiyama aldol reaction with high enantioselectivity (up to 97% ee) in an aqueous system; Cu(II)-HN catalyzed the asymmetric Diels-Alder reaction with up to 91% ee within 60 min. It was suggested that a synergetic effect of the aligned multicatalytic sites and stereochemical selectivity of the M-HN lead to an excellent catalytic performance. Through this work, we proposed a new concept of a single-walled nanotube as catalyst and showed the first example of nanotube catalysts presenting high reactivity and enantioselectivity that rivaled a chiral molecular catalyst.