A recyclable nanosize aminoarenethiolato copper(I) catalyst for C-C coupling reactions

An aminoarenethiolato copper(I) catalyst was attached to a carbosilane dendritic wedge, which had been prepared via a novel convergent synthetic method. Compared with the unsupported complex, this novel dendritic copper(I) catalyst is more robust towards hydrolysis and oxidation and has increased solubility in common organic solvents. The catalytic activity of the dendritic copper catalyst was tested in the 1,4-addition of Et₂Zn to 2-cyclohexenone. In both polar (Et₂O) and apolar (hexane) solvents excellent activity was observed. The fact that the catalytic copper site remains attached to the nanosize dendritic aminoarenethiolate ligand allows separation of this catalyst by means of nanofiltration.