Abstract

Surfactant Aided Lewis Acids (LASCs) make an appearance as one of the efficient and substantial heterogeneous catalysts. Recently, various LASCs have been used as green and heterogeneous catalysts in organic synthesis due to their high water stability, recyclability, cost-effective nature and their ability to create stable colloidal dispersions. In the present review, we have discussed a variety of carbon-carbon bond forming, ring opening, addition and multi-component reactions for the synthesis of various biologically important heterocyclic compounds that have been successfully catalyzed by LASCs. In most cases, the catalytic activity of LASCs was found to be better in water in comparison to other organic solvents, which attracts special attention towards the present review.

Keywords: Heterogeneous catalyst, Lewis acid, multi-component-reactions, organic synthesis, surfactants, water.