According to the Royal Society of Chemistry, scientists led by Paul Taylor at the University of Warwick and Andrew Livingston at Imperial College London used a membrane that ensured two different catalysts in a tandem catalytic process were each maintained in an environment where they worked best.

It is hoped that the new approach will help to combat the problems of using catalysts which occur because of the differing conditions in which they operate best.

Jonathan Williams, professor of organic chemistry at the University of Bath, explained: "These researchers have provided an elegant solution to this problem by using a membrane to retain an enzyme catalyst in a lower temperature vessel whilst metal-catalysed racemisation occurs in a higher temperature vessel, leading to an effective dynamic kinetic resolution process."

The metal-catalysed racemisation process uses Shvo's diruthenium complex.

Source:

Membranes do the trick, 20/09/07
http://www.rsc.org/Publishing/ChemTech/Volume/2007/10/Membrane_trick.asp

Ÿ Adfero Ltd