Chiral mesoporous organosilica nanospheres: effect of pore structure on the performance in asymmetric catalysis

(R)-(+)-1,1'-Bi-2-naphthol ((R)-(+)-Binol)-functionalized (Binol=2,2'-dihydroxy-1,1'-binaphthyl) chiral mesoporous organosilica nanospheres with uniform particle size (100 to 300 nm) have been synthesized by co-condensation of tetraethoxysilane and (R)-2,2'-di(methoxymethyl)oxy-6,6'-di(1-propyl trimethoxysilyl)-1,1'-binaphthyl in a basic medium with cetyltrimethylammonium bromide as the template. Nanospheres with a radiative 2D hexagonal channel arrangement exhibit higher enantioselectivity and turnover frequency than those with a penetrating 2D hexagonal channel arrangement (94 versus 88 % and 43 versus 15 h(-1), respectively) in the asymmetric addition of diethylzinc to aldehydes. In addition, under similar conditions, the enantioselectivity of the nanospheres can be greatly improved as the structural order of the framework increases. These results clearly show that the structural order of nanospheres affects enantioselective reactions. The enantioselectivity of the nanospheres synthesized by the co-condensation method is higher than that of nanospheres prepared by a grafting method and even higher than that of their homogeneous counterpart. These results indicate that the bite angle of (R)-(+)-Binol bridging in a more rigid porous network is in a more favorable position for achieving higher enantioselectivity. The efficiency of a co-condensation method for the synthesis of high-performance heterogeneous asymmetric catalysts is also reported.