Polyisobutylene (PIB) is a useful soluble polymer support that facilitates catalyst recovery and recycling in liquid-liquid biphasic systems because the long polyisobutylene chain confers high phase selective solubility in the nonpolar phase of polar-nonpolar liquid-liquid biphasic systems on groups attached to the polymer's terminus. This work shows that PIB-supports that are effective with metal catalysts can also facilitate synthesis and use of organocatalysts. This is demonstrated by the use of a PIB-supported pyridyl N-oxide to promote the allylation of several aromatic aldehydes with allyltrichlorosilane. These studies show that a PIB-supported pyridyl N-oxide is a very active recyclable catalyst that promotes the allylation of aromatic aldehydes in yields of up to 99% yield. These PIB-supported pyridyl N-oxide catalysts were recovered in the hexane phase of a hexane/90% EtOH-H2O solvent system and were successfully recycled through 5 cycles with little effect on catalyst efficiency. 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
