Doped sol-gel materials as heterogeneous reagents for organic synthesis

We advance the use of reactive doped sol-gel materials as heterogeneous reagents for organic-chemistry synthesis. Three approaches were demonstrated with SiO₂-based materials: Direct physical entrapment of the organic reagent; in-situ generation of an inorganic reagent within the matrix; and covalent attachment of the reagent to the matrix. With the first, entrapped p-toluenesulfonic acid facilitated the 100% yield esterification of benzoic acid with 1-pentanol, and the 100% dehydration of 1-tetralol to 1,2-dihydronaphthalene; with the second approach, a sol-gel oxidant, SiO₂/MnO₂ was used to convert benzyl alcohol to benzaldehyde and 1-tetralol to 1-tetralone; and with the third, anchored propylamine facilitated dehydrobromination reactions resulting in double-bond formation. Several other reactions with these reagents are described, and their reactivities analyzed.