Example of Rational Catalyst Design Strategy

It was known that ruthenium complexes of BINAP were efficient homogeneous catalysts for the asymmetric reduction of dehydronaproxen (1) to naproxen (2) (see Eq. 1) [25, 26], 

This important and difficult reaction was used to test the design procedure. We followed the design steps listed in Table 4 except that initially we did not use ethylene glycol but rather water as the hydrophilic liquid for the immobilized film, i.e., an SAP-type catalyst. Implementation of the design sequence began by developing 

Asymmetric hydrogenation to produce naproxen by Ru-BINAP catalytic material. 

BINAP converted into sulfonated BINAP (BINAP-4S03Na). 

Ru-BINAP-4S03Na in ethylene glycol film on a controlled-pore glass support. 

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