Synthesis of organic compounds that has chirality is an important technique in the fields of pharmaceuticals, agrichemicals, health foods and the like. However, raw materials of a catalyst used for the synthesis of such compounds are expensive, and the synthesis needs many steps, so that it is difficult to reduce the cost. Linking a catalyst center to a polymer chain or a resin through an organic group enables to use the catalyst repeatedly and produce a chiral compound at low cost.

The invention provides novel compounds and methods that are useful in promoting reactions that proceed through an oxidative quenching pathway. In certain embodiments, the reactions comprise atom transfer radical polymerization.

The present invention relates to ligands based on calixarenes, metal complexes comprising such ligands and their use as homogeneous or heterogeneous catalysts.

The present invention relates to ligands based on calixarenes, metal complexes comprising such ligands and their use as homogeneous or heterogeneous catalysts.

The present invention is a method for producing a fluorohydrocarbon represented by a structural formula (3) comprising bringing a secondary or tertiary ether compound represented by a structural formula (1) into contact with an acid fluoride represented by a structural formula (2) in a hydrocarbon-based solvent in the presence of a boron trifluoride complex. (In structural formulae (1) to (3), each of R.sup.1 and R.sup.2 represents an alkyl group having 1 to 3 carbon atoms, R.sup.3 represents a hydrogen atom, a methyl group, or an ethyl group, and each of R.sup.4 and R.sup.5 represents a methyl group or an ethyl group, provided that R.sup.1 and R.sup.2 are optionally bonded to each other to form a ring structure.) ##STR00001##

The present invention is a method for producing a fluorohydrocarbon represented by a structural formula (3) comprising bringing a secondary or tertiary ether compound represented by a structural formula (1) into contact with an acid fluoride represented by a structural formula (2) in a hydrocarbon-based solvent in the presence of a boron trifluoride complex. (In structural formulae (1) to (3), each of R.sup.1 and R.sup.2 represents an alkyl group having 1 to 3 carbon atoms, R.sup.3 represents a hydrogen atom, a methyl group, or an ethyl group, and each of R.sup.4 and R.sup.5 represents a methyl group or an ethyl group, provided that R.sup.1 and R.sup.2 are optionally bonded to each other to form a ring structure.)

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A process of coupling aldehydes is disclosed. The process comprises passing an aldehyde stream and a catalyst stream comprising a homogeneous catalyst in an alcohol solution to a reactor. The aldehyde stream is mixed with the homogeneous catalyst in the alcohol solution. A furoin based molecule is precipitated from the solution in the reactor. A liquid stream comprising the homogeneous catalyst in the alcohol solution is recovered from the reactor. The liquid stream comprising the homogeneous catalyst in the alcohol solution is recycled to the reactor to couple the fresh supply of the aldehyde stream.

In one embodiment, the present application discloses mixtures comprising (a) water in an amount of at least 1% wt/wt of the mixture; (b) a transition metal catalyst; and (c) one or more solubilizing agents; and methods for using such mixtures for performing transition metal mediated bond formation reactions.

In one embodiment, the present application discloses mixtures comprising (a) water in an amount of at least 1% wt/wt of the mixture; (b) a transition metal catalyst; and (c) one or more solubilizing agents; and methods for using such mixtures for performing transition metal mediated bond formation reactions.

A series of ligands with site specific electron donating substituents that form a catalyst complex with a transition metal and are suitable for catalysis of atom transfer radical reactions, including ATRP are described. Faster catalysis rates were observed allowing for low catalyst concentrations and linear increases in molecular weight with monomer conversion, and narrow molecular weight distributions. Cyclic voltammetry revealed that increasing the strength and number of conjugated electron donating groups resulted in more stable complexes and larger ATRP equilibrium constants.