Abstract
Background: Since 1960s, vitamin B1 has been used as a catalyst in biochemical process and serves as a coenzyme for important types of transformations. The term “organocatalyst” is a concatenation of the words “organic” and “catalyst.” Vitamin B1 is an organocatalysis and structure of vitamin B1 contains a pyrimidine ring and a thiazole ring linked by a methylene bridge. Vitamin B1 is a nonflammable, water soluble, inexpensive, and non-toxic green organocatalyst.
Methods: Nowadays focus of chemists are shifting towards finding catalysts that will enable industrial processes to be less polluting, to operate with better atom economy and produce purer products which last longer.
Results: Vitamin B1 is used as a catalyst in the synthesis of various biological heterocyclic compounds and other reactions without using any toxic volatile and hazardous acid and basic catalyst. In most of the cases, good yield of desired products was obtained in short time using vitamin B1 as a catalyst.
Conclusion: The present review highlights the catalytic potential of vitamin B1 as a catalyst in the construction of various biologically active heterocycles as well as other organic transformations that have been made in the last few decades. The high catalytic activity, its selectivity, recyclability, its superior chemical and thermal stability and ease of separation make it an attractive and a promising organocatalyst for future.
Keywords: Basic catalyst, green catalyst, organic, organic synthesis, organocatalyst, Vitamin B1.
Graphical Abstract