A Supramolecular Catalyst for Regioselective Hydroformylation of Unsaturated Carboxylic Acids

The quest to capture the catalytic power of enzymes is one of the great challenges of modern chemistry. A novel system inspired by the principles of enzymatic catalysis combines recognition of the substrate and transition-metal catalysis (see scheme; Do=donor, FG=functional group) and mimics enzyme properties—high efficiency, substrate selectivity, and reaction-site selectivity.