Abstract

The progress of development in chiral Lewis acid catalyzed reaction in water is described. Lewis acid surfactant-combined catalyst and chiral bipyridine ligand complex realized catalytic asymmetric hydroxymethylation and ring-opening reaction in water successfully. Furthermore, silica-supported Lewis acid catalyst was applied for asymmetric hydroxylation in water.

Keywords: Aldol reaction, Chiral Lewis acid, Epoxide, Green chemistry, Lewis acid, Mannich reaction, Water, asymmetric, organic, solvents