A novel montmorillonite-enwrapped scandium as a heterogeneous catalyst for Michael reaction

Treatment of a Na+-exchanged montmorillonite with an aqueous Sc(OTf)3 solution afforded a robust Sc3+ aqua complex enwrapped by the silicate layers of the montmorillonites (Sc3+-mont). The resulting Sc3+-mont showed outstanding catalytic activities for the Michael reaction of 1,3-dicarbonyls under aqueous and solvent-free conditions. Moreover, this heterogeneous catalyst had an advantage of a strikingly simple workup procedure over the Lewis acids reported to date and was reusable without any appreciable losses in its activity and selectivity.