PEG for Chemical Synthesis

The application of PEG in chemical synthesis has a long history. It has been widely used in combinatorial chemistry and organic chemistry. It can provide homogeneous reaction conditions and has the advantages of easy purification and easy analysis. Therefore, using PEG as a solvent and/or catalyst has been increasingly applied in laboratory research and industrial production.

PEG as A Solvent

As a solvent, research in recent years tends to be "green" of PEG. With the excellent viscosity, low toxicity, thermal stability, low price, non-volatility, biodegradability, and environmentally friendly characteristics at both room temperature and high temperature, PEG has received more and more attention in synthetic chemistry and heterogeneous catalysis, such as Heck reaction, Suzuki coupling reaction, oxidation reaction, reduction reaction, addition reaction and asymmetric Aldo reaction.

Heck Reaction

Heck reaction refers to the reaction of halogenated hydrocarbons and activated unsaturated hydrocarbons to produce trans products under palladium catalysis. Using poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) with molecular weight 2000 (or lower) as an efficient reaction medium for Pd-catalyzed C-C bond formation is more rapid and high yielding, and the catalyst is easily recycled with high efficiency.

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