Catalytic Tandem Reactions Triggered by the Introduction of a Carbonyl Function

Catalysis has played a prominent role in recent decades allowing chemists to develop novel and efficient reactions in almost every class of chemical transformation. With the tuning of the catalysts’ steric and electronic properties, sophisticated reactions have been discovered, sometimes featuring several individual steps and resulting in one-pot formation of complex chemical structures with high atom-economy. With the increasing recognition of the importance of green and sustainable chemistry, the concept of step-economy has gained traction and one-pot multistep reactions have been developed. Current research in this area now focuses on the use of multiple catalysts within the same reactor to convert simple and available substrates into complex and valuable products. In this chapter, we review a selection of examples of catalytic tandem reactions triggered by the introduction of a carbonyl function either formed by oxidation of alcohols, hydroformylation, isomerisation or carbonylation. In particular, we emphasize nanocatalysis, the use of metal nanoparticles as catalysts. The in situ formation of reactive carbonyl electrophiles opens a wide array of possible subsequent reactions as illustrated in the following pages.

Keywords: Biocatalysis, Dual catalysis, Fine chemicals, Green chemistry, Metal nanoparticles, Multicatalysis, Nanocatalysis, One-pot reactions, Organocatalysis, Orthogonal multicatalysis, Oxidation, Sustainable chemistry, Tandem reactions.