The invention entails the combination of basic catalysts, specifically guanidine-based catalysts, such as TBD, in conjunction with functionalized amines having a hydrogen bond donating or accepting functionality, to facilitate the accelerated transamidation of polymer compounds with non-activated ester side chains.

The present invention relates to a bifunctional chiral organocatalytic compound having excellent enantioselectivity, a preparation method therefor, and a method for producing a non-natural gamma amino acid from a nitro compound by using the chiral organocatalytic compound. According to the present invention, the bifunctional chiral organocatalytic compound having excellent enantioselectivity can be easily synthesized, gamma-amino acids with high optical selectivity can be obtained at a high yield by an economical and convenient method using the chiral organocatalytic compound, and various (R)-configuration gamma-amino acids, which are not present in nature, can be produced with high optical purity in large quantities by using a small amount of a catalyst, and therefore, the present invention can be widely utilized in various industrial fields including the pharmaceutical industry.

A blocking agent dissociation catalyst for blocked isocyanates comprising a nitrogen-containing compound represented by Formula (1a):

##STR00001##

wherein D is represented by Formula (2):

##STR00002##

wherein R.sup.1, R.sup.2, R.sup.3, R.sup.4, and a are as described in the specification.

The present invention relates to a catalyst containing an active cobalt phase, deposited on a support comprising alumina, silica or silica-alumina, said support containing a mixed oxide phase containing cobalt and/or nickel, said catalyst has been prepared by introducing at least one organic compound of the family of carboxyanhydrides. The invention also relates to the process for the preparation thereof, and to the use thereof in the field of Fischer-Tropsch synthesis processes.

Carbonate esters of Formula (I): (R.sup.1)(R.sup.2)(R.sup.3)SiR.sup.4OC(O)OR.sup.4Si(R.sup.1)(R.sup.2)(R.sup.3) are prepared by reaction of a silyl-substituted alcohol of Formula (II): (R.sup.1)(R.sup.2)(R.sup.3)SiR.sup.4OH with an activated carbonyl compound of Formula (III): C(O)Z.sub.2 in the presence of a catalyst (e.g., an bicyclic amidine, a bicyclic guanidine, or a phosphazene) in an aprotic solvent. In Formulas (I) and (II) each of R.sup.1 and R.sup.2 independently is alkyl; R.sup.3 is alkyl or X.sup.1Si(R.sup.5)(R.sup.6)(R.sup.7); X.sup.1 is O or alkylene; R.sup.4 is alkylene; and each R.sup.5, R.sup.6, and R.sup.7 independently is alkyl. In Formula (III), Z is 1-N-imidazolyl or 1-N-succinimidyl. In some embodiments, the catalyst used in the methods described herein comprises at least one base selected from the group consisting of a bicyclic amidine and a bicyclic guanidine. The reaction proceeds readily under both bulk and continuous flow reactor conditions.

A polymerizable composition comprising a) a cyclic amide formed from a mixture of laurolactam and caprolactam, where the amount of laurolactam is 10% to 35% by weight, based on the total amount of cyclic amide, b) at least one activator, and c) at least one catalyst for polymerization of the cyclic amides.

The present invention describes a process to prepare catalyst systems based on metal salts, supported on natural polymers and co-catalyzed by organic bases, for the catalytic transformation of carbon dioxide to organic carbonates through cycloaddition reactions to epoxides. The advantages of the presented system can be summarized on the use of raw materials of low cost for the preparation of the catalyst system, minimal environmental risk due to the low toxicity of the materials used, in some cases biodegradable such as the natural polymers, as well as high catalytic efficiency, reaching selectivities up to 100% and in some cases quantitative yields.

A process for the transformation of a feed of at least one sugar into 5-hydroxymethylfurfural, contacting the feed with one or more organic catalysts in the presence of at least one solvent, said solvent being water or an organic solvent, alone or as a mixture, at a temperature in the range 30 C. to 200 C., and at a pressure in the range 0.1 MPa to 10 MPa, in which said organic catalysts are selected from compounds from the thiourea family with general formula R1NHC(S)NHR2, in which the groups R1 and R2 are aromatic groups optionally having a heteroatom, linear or branched alkyl groups, which may or may not be cyclic, and alkyl groups with at least one heteroatom, which may be linear or branched, which may or may not be cyclic, said groups R1 and R2 possibly being substituted or unsubstituted and which may be identical or different.

A process for the transformation of a feed of at least one sugar into 5-hydroxymethylfurfural, contacting the feed with one or more organic catalysts in the presence of at least one solvent, said solvent being water or an organic solvent, alone or as a mixture, at a temperature in the range 30 C. to 200 C., and at a pressure in the range 0.1 MPa to 10 MPa, in which said organic catalysts are selected from compounds from the thiourea family with general formula R1NHC(S)NHR2, in which the groups R1 and R2 are aromatic groups optionally having a heteroatom, linear or branched alkyl groups, which may or may not be cyclic, and alkyl groups with at least one heteroatom, which may be linear or branched, which may or may not be cyclic, said groups R1 and R2 possibly being substituted or unsubstituted and which may be identical or different.

This invention is directed to asymmetric synthesis of funapide, which is useful for the treatment and/or prevention of sodium channel-mediated diseases or conditions, such as pain.