Chemically modified cyclodextrins: An attractive class of supramolecular hosts for the development of aqueous biphasic catalytic processes

Abstract

During these last years, cyclodextrins have contributed greatly to the development of catalytic processes in water. These cyclic oligosaccharides composed of 6(α), 7(β) or 8(γ) glucopyranose units improve the mass transfer in aqueous-organic two-phase systems and are useful compounds to design new catalysts. Thus, chemically modified cyclodextrins can be used to: (i) increase significantly the rate and selectivity of reactions catalyzed by water-soluble organometallic complexes, (ii) design new water-soluble ligands for aqueous organometallic catalysis, (iii) stabilize catalytically active noble metal nanoparticles in water and (iv) favour the dispersion and activation of the palladium on charcoal in water. © 2009 by the authors; licensee Molecular Diversity Preservation International, Basel, Switzerland.