Given the declining state of the natural environment, identifying green methodologies in synthetic chemistry is becoming paramount.  An unexplored area of green chemistry, is the use of catalytic systems in green solvents.  One interesting concept in green chemistry is the use of N-Heterocyclic Carbenes (NHC’s) as organocatalysts.  NHCs have shown to be very versatile in carbon-carbon bond forming reactions.  But to date, little research has been done exploring the use of NHCs in unconventional solvent systems.  Typical solvents of choice for reactions involving a homoenolate anion with a Michael acceptor include dichloromethane, tetrahydrofuran or alcohols.  Investigations into reactions regarding homoenolate anions with a Michael acceptor in newer green solvents has received little to no attention.  In our presentation we will describe our work on the reaction and stereoselectivity of the NHC homoenolate reactions in green solvents.

N-heterocyclic carbine-catalyzed synthesis of lactones via homoenolate anions in green solvents

251st National Meeting (2016)

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