Page 13 - Catalysts for Fine Chemical Synthesis Vol 1 - Robert & Poignant

Catalysts for Fine Chemical

Synthesis

Series Preface

During the early-to-mid 1990s we published a wide range of protocols, detailing
the use of biotransformations in synthetic organic chemistry. The procedures
were first published in the form of a loose-leaf laboratory manual and, recently,
all the protocols have been collected together and published in book form
(Preparative Biotransformations, Wiley-VCH, 1999).
Over the past few years the employment of enzymes and whole cells to carry
out selected organic reactions has become much more commonplace. Very few
research groups would now have any reservations about using commercially
available biocatalysts such as lipases. Biotransformations have become accepted
as powerful methodologies in synthetic organic chemistry.
Perhaps less clear to a newcomer to a particular area of chemistry is when to
use biocatalysis as a key step in a synthesis, and when it is better to use one of
the alternative non-natural catalysts that may be available. Therefore we set out
to extend the objective of Preparative Biotransformations, so as to cover the
whole panoply of catalytic methods available to the synthetic chemist, incorp-
orating biocatalytic procedures where appropriate.
In keeping with the earlier format we aim to provide the readership with
sufficient practical details for the preparation and successful use of the relevant
catalyst. Coupled with these specific examples, a selection of the products that
may be obtained by a particular technology will be reviewed.
In the different volumes of this new series we will feature catalysts
for oxidation and reduction reactions, hydrolysis protocols and catalytic
systems for carbon±carbon bond formation inter alia. Many of the catalysts
featured will be chiral, given the present day interest in the preparation of
single-enantiomer fine chemicals. When appropriate, a catalyst type that is
capable of a wide range of transformations will be featured. In these
volumes the amount of practical data that is described will be proportionately
less, and attention will be focused on the past uses of the system and its future
potential.