Testing the veracity of claims of Lewis acid catalysis

• Main Authors: Šolić, Ivan, Lin, Hong Xuan, Bates, Roderick Wayland
• Other Authors: School of Physical and Mathematical Sciences
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: 2019
• Subjects: Brønsted; Lewis; Science::Chemistry::Organic chemistry
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/83269; http://hdl.handle.net/10220/50080
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Are reactions employing Lewis acids really catalysed by those Lewis acids, or by “hidden Brønsted acids”, i.e. Brønsted acids generated in situ by hydrolysis? Testing of a series of reactions using Sc(III), Fe(III), In(III) and Y(III) by addition of 2,6-di-t-butyl-4-methylpyridine reveal that all ar...