Organic chemical synthesis trends

A. Archelas, R. Furstoss, Epoxide Hydrolases. New Tools for the Synthesis of Fine Organic Chemicals , Trends Biotechnol. 1998, 16, 108 - 116. 

Although many of the early experiments in microwave-assisted organic synthesis have been carried out in domestic microwave ovens, the current trend clearly is to use specialized instruments for this type of chemical synthesis. Experiments carried out in domestic ovens have been found to be difficult to reproduce, owing to the lack of temperature and pressure control, pulsed irradiation, uneven electromagnetic field distributions, and the unpredictable formation of hotspots. 

Archelas A, Furstoss R (1998) Epoxide hydrolases New tools for the synthesis of fine organic chemicals. Trends Biotechnol 16 108-116... 

All these aspects were thoroughly discussed by lecturers and participants during the round table organized during the Poitiers School on The Future Trends in Zeolite Applications . Special emphasis was placed on the role played by the sites at the external surface (pockets, etc.) or at the pore mouth, by mesopores, extraframework aluminum species, as well as by the polarity of reactant and product molecules. Other important topics dealt with the remarkable catalytic properties of BEA zeolites for fine chemical synthesis, the potential of mesoporous molecular sieves, zeolitic membranes and the role of combinatorial catalysis in the development of zeolite catalysts. It is our hope that the fruits of these discussions will appear in the literature or even better as new and environmentally friendly products or processes. 

This chapter is not intended to be the exhaustive survey of the literature, as many excellent reviews [1-7] have been written on the various aspects of this subject. The author has taken liberty to include only selected examples from the important contributions to highlight a general chemical reaction trend in order to encourage practicing organic chemists to use this emerging concept frequently for selective transformations during complex molecule synthesis. 

The presented catalytic results support their unique behavior in a broad area of organic reactions as, for example, biochemical synthesis from renewable raw materials or fine chemical synthesis. Irrespective of the synthesis approach, the use of nanoscopic fluorides as catalysts or catalytically functional support offers not only improved efficiency but also additional green elements in complete agreement with the current trends of the twenty-first-century chemistry. 

Kashimura S, Ishifune M, Shono T (1995) Electroreduction of organic compounds using chemically reactive Mg electrode. In Torii S (ed) Novel trends in electroorganic synthesis. Kodansha, Tokyo, p 213... 

The following new trends in enzymatic synthesis can be delineated the development of new enzymatic reactions enzyme immobilization and stabilization the use of organic solvents and two phase systems site-directed mutagenesis chemical modification of enzymes antibody catalysis catalysis by RNA and DNA de novo design ofbiocatalists employment of recombinant DNA for production of enzymes and use computational and combinatorial methods... 

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