New Hot Paper Comment by Hisashi Yamamoto

Hisashi Yamamoto answers a few questions about this month's new hot paper in the field of Chemistry.

From •>>January 2006

Field: Chemistry
Article Title: Asymmetric direct aldol reaction assisted by water and a proline-derived tetrazole catalyst
Authors: Torii, H;Nakadai, M;Ishihara, K;Saito, S;Yamamoto, H
Journal: ANGEW CHEM INT ED
Volume: 43 (15)
Page: 1983-1986
Year: 2004
* Nagoya Univ, Inst Adv Res, Nagoya, Aichi 4648602, Japan.
* Nagoya Univ, Inst Adv Res, Nagoya, Aichi 4648602, Japan.
* Nagoya Univ, Grad Sch Sci, Nagoya, Aichi 4648602, Japan.
* Univ Chicago, Dept Chem, Chicago, IL 60637 USA.
* Nagoya Univ, Grad Sch Engn, Nagoya, Aichi 4648603, Japan.

Why do you think your paper is highly cited?

Asymmetric direct aldol reaction is the most important target in modern organic synthesis. This paper describes an efficient catalyst for this transformation.

Does it describe a new discovery or a new methodology that's useful to others?

Proline tetrazole is the similar reactivity of proline, known as a "mini" aldol enzyme. However, this molecule has better solubility and can accelerate the reaction significantly. Our proposed proline tetrazole catalyst is an exceedingly efficient catalyst and will be widely used in the future.

Could you summarize the significance of your paper in layman's terms?

An especially important finding is that this reaction can be accelerated in the presence of water. This is a significant observation which was never observed previously.

Hisashi Yamamoto, Ph.D.
Professor, Department of Chemistry
Senior Researcher, the Yamamoto Group
University of Chicago
Chicago, IL, USA

Read the Special Topic of Asymmetric Catalysis

ESI Special Topics, January 2006
Citing URL - http://www.esi-topics.com/nhp/2006/january-06-HisashiYamamoto.html