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Updated: Feb 3, 2026

Development of Heterogeneous Enantioselective Catalysts using Chiral Metal-Organic Frameworks MOFs
Published on: January 17, 2020
Enantioselective Vanadium-Catalyzed Oxidative Coupling: Development and Mechanistic Insights
Houng Kang1, Madison R Herling1, Kyle A Niederer1
1Department of Chemistry, Roy and Diana Vagelos Laboratories , University of Pennsylvania , Philadelphia , Pennsylvania 19104 , United States.
Abstract:
The evolution of a more reactive chiral vanadium catalyst for enantioselective oxidative coupling of phenols is reported, ultimately resulting in a simple monomeric vanadium species combined with a Brønsted or Lewis acid additive. The resultant vanadium complex is found to effect the asymmetric oxidative ortho-ortho coupling of simple phenols and 2-hydroxycarbazoles with good to excellent levels of enantioselectivity. Experimental and quantum mechanical studies of the mechanism indicate that the additives aggregate the vanadium monomers. In addition, a singlet to triplet crossover is implicated prior to carbon-carbon bond formation. The two lowest energy diastereomeric transition states leading to the enantiomeric products differ substantially with the path to the minor enantiomer involving greater torsional strain between the two phenol moieties.
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