Stereoselective organic reactions promoted by immobilized chiral catalysts in continuous flow systems

The immobilization of the catalyst on a support with the aim of facilitating the separation of the product from the catalyst, and thus the recovery and recycling of the latter, can be regarded as an important improvement for a catalytic process. However, a system where a catalyst must not be removed from the reaction vessel is even more attractive: in continuous flow methods the immobilized catalyst permanently resides in the reactor where it transforms the entering starting materials into the desired products. The retention of the catalytic species inside the reaction vessel can be achieved by different techniques ranging from ultrafiltration through a MW-selective membrane to immobilization on different supports. In this review we will discuss the most significant examples of stereoselective reactions promoted by immobilized chiral catalysts and performed under continuous flow conditions, with particular attention to the more recent contributions of the last few years.