Scandium trifluoromethanesulfonate (triflate), which is commercially available, is a practical and useful Lewis acid catalyst for acylation of alcohols with acid anhydrides or the esterification of alcohols by carboxylic acids in the presence of p-nitrobenzoic anhydrides. The remarkably high catalytic activity of scandium triflate can be used for assisting the acylation by acid anhydrides of not only primary alcohols but also sterically-hindered secondary or tertiary alcohols. The method presented is especially effective for selective macrolactonization of omega-hydroxy carboxylic acids.

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The palladium-catalyzed Suzuki-Miyaura reaction has been utilized as one of the most powerful methods for C-C bond formation. However, Suzuki reactions of electron-deficient 2-heterocyclic boronates generally give low conversions and remain challenging. The successful copper(I) facilitated Suzuki coupling of 2-heterocyclic boronates that is broad in scope is reported. Use of this methodology affords greatly enhanced yields of these notoriously difficult couplings. Furthermore, mechanistic investigations suggest a possible role of copper in the catalytic cycle.

Brønsted acid-assisted chiral Lewis acid (BLA) was highly effective as a chiral catalyst for the enantioselective Diels−Alder reaction of both α-substituted and α-unsubstituted α,β-enals with various dienes. Hydroxy groups in optically active binaphthol derivatives and boron reagents with electron-withdrawing substituents were used as Brønsted acids and Lewis acids, respectively. Intramolecular Brønsted acids in a chiral BLA catalyst played an important role in accelerating the rate of Diels−Alder reactions and in producing a high level of enantioselectivity. In particular, excellent enantioselectivity was achieved due to intramolecular hydrogen bonding interaction and attractive π−π donor−acceptor interaction in the transition-state assembly by hydroxy aromatic groups in a chiral BLA catalyst.

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