Molecular Lamps and Molecular Golf Balls

The concave shielding of the active site of enzymes has been transferred to standard reagents of organic chemistry and concave reagents have been synthesized which possess a lamp-like geometry (concave 1,10-phenanthrolines 1–2, concave pyridines 3). The special concave geometry of these reagents is responsible for their selectivity in metal ion catalyzed (Pd-catalyzed allylations, Cu(I)-catalyzed cyclopropanations) and base catalyzed (acylation of alcohols by ketenes) reactions. For an easier recovery, these reagents have been attached to Merrifield polymers and to dendrimers. Higher generations of dendrimers loaded with concave reagents will possess a golf ball geometry.