Supramolecular catalysis

The deep active site pockets provided by the artificial catalytic cavities will induce a dramatically improvement of the substrate- chemio- regio- and stereo-selectivity. For the organocatalysis and organometallic catalysis we will focus on proton transfer (acide-base reactions) and electron transfer (oxydoreduction reactions) respectively. The closed environment induced by the cage around the active site will be particularly relevant to increase the selectivity in the transfer of such small entities. Our strategy involving the encapsulation of the active catalyst in a deep compact pocket will benefit from local skills: our team is pioneer and world leader in the chemistry of hemicryptophanes. This class of host compounds presents a remarkable feature: the possibility to achieve the endohedral functionalization of their molecular cavity. We have demonstrated that once encaged in the tight space of a hemicryptophane cage, the catalyst can display higher stability, activity or selectivity. Based on these results we aimed to explore further the high potential of this encaged catalysts by designing tailor-made confined medium nanoreactors for efficient and highly selective catalysis. 

Collaboration with  A. Martinez