title: Dynamic covalent organocatalysts discovered from catalytic systems through rapid deconvolution screening.
abstract: The first example of a bifunctional organocatalyst assembled through dynamic covalent chemistry (DCC) is described. The catalyst is based on reversible imine chemistry and can catalyze the Morita-Baylis-Hillman (MBH) reaction of enones with aldehydes or N-tosyl imines. Furthermore, these dynamic catalysts were shown to be optimizable through a systemic screening approach, in which large mixtures of catalyst structures were generated, and the optimal catalyst could be directly identified by using dynamic deconvolution. This strategy allowed one-pot synthesis and in situ evaluation of several potential catalysts without the need to separate, characterize, and purify each individual structure. The systems were furthermore shown to catalyze and re-equilibrate their own formation through a previously unknown thiourea-catalyzed transimination process.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, KTH - Royal Institute of Technology, Teknikringen 30, 10044 Stockholm (Sweden).
authors.forename: Fredrik
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Schaufelberger
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, KTH - Royal Institute of Technology, Teknikringen 30, 10044 Stockholm (Sweden). ramstrom@kth.se.
authors.forename: Olof
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Ramström
keywords: Schiff bases; catalyst screening; dynamic covalent chemistry; organocatalysis; transimination