Functionalized organocatalytic nanoreactors : hydrophobic pockets for acylation reactions in water

Abstract

The effect of covalently attaching 4-(dimethylamino)pyridine (DMAP) functionality to the hydrophobic core of a polymeric micelle in water has been investigated in the context of acylation reactions employing non-water-soluble substrates. For this purpose a novel temperature-responsive polymeric micelle has been synthesized using reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) polymerization techniques. The reactivity of the tethered organocatalyst within the nanostructure was found to be extremely high, improving in some cases the acylation rates up to 100 times compared to those for unsupported DMAP in organic solvents. Moreover, the catalytic nanoreactors have been demonstrated to be capable of reuse up to 6 times while maintaining high activity. © 2012 American Chemical Society