Microwave Specific Effect on Catalytic Enantioselective Reactions

The microwave specific effect was investigated on the catalytic enantioselective reactions; atropo-enantiveselective ring-opening reaction of biaryl lactones and enantioselective Claisen rearrangement reaction. These reactions were efficiently enhanced with microwave irradiation under reaction temperature control, thought any loss of the enantioselectivities were not detected. It was also found that the racemization rate of the atropo-optically active biaryl lactone was enhanced by microwave irradiation. As these observations could not be explained by the simple thermal effect, microwave specific effect should be considered.