Soluble Polymer-Supported Homogeneous Catalysts

Immobilization of a homogeneous catalyst can in principle facilitate its separation and recycling, and therefore is of considerable interest to both academia and industry. Soluble polymers, in particular dendrimers as an alternative catalyst supports have received increasing attention in recent years. This strategy allows a catalytic reaction to be carried out under homogeneous conditions. At the end of reaction, the immobilized catalysts could be easily separated and recycled through solvent precipitation and temperature-induced phase separation, or using membrane reactor. This paper reviews the progress in soluble polymer-supported catalysts, mainly including linear polymeric catalysts and dendrimeric catalysts which can be attached into polymeric support via covalent or noncovalent interactions, focusing on polymer-supported chiral catalysts and their use in asymmetric catalytic reactions.