Studies on the catalytic activity of novel hybridized chiral organo-inorganic catalysts for epoxidation and alkylation reactions

Novel functionalized organo-inorganic chiral catalysts have been prepared in two steps from activated silica gel and chiral organic auxiliaries, such as (+)-cinchonine or (S)-(−)-nicotine. These new catalysts have been tested in a solid–liquid–liquid three-phase system for the asymmetric epoxidation of α,β-enones and the asymmetric alkylation reactions of glycine derivatives. The obtained stereoselectivities are negligible for the first case (ee <2%) and appreciable (ee 25–55%) for the second one.