A Visible-Light-Powered Polymerization Method for the Immobilization of Enantioselective Organocatalysts into Microreactors

A versatile one-step photopolymerization approach for the immobilization of enantioselective organocatalysts is presented. Chiral organocatalyst-containing monoliths based on polystyrene divinylbenzene copolymer were generated inside channels of microfluidic chips. Exemplary performance tests were performed for the monolithic Hayashi-Jorgensen catalyst in continuous flow, which showed good results for the Michael addition of aldehydes to nitroalkenes in terms of stereoselectivity and catalyst stability with minimal consumption of reagents and solvents.