Two chiral Schiff-base complexes of copper(II) have been successfully encapsulated inside the cavity of zeolite-NaY via a "ship in a bottle" synthesis method. The presence of the two complexes inside the cages of zeolite-Y has been confirmed based on various spectrochemical and physicochemical techniques, viz. FTIR, UV-vis/DRS, ESR, XPS, CV, EDX, SEM, and TGA. Zeolite-encapsulated chiral copper(II) Schiff-base complexes are found to give a high-enantioselective (84% ee, R conformation) nitro-aldol product at -20 °C. The encapsulated copper complexes are found to show higher catalytic efficiency than their homogeneous counterparts under identical conditions. Density functional theory (DFT) calculation has been implemented to understand the effect of the zeolite matrix on structural, electronic, and reactivity properties of the synthesized complexes. Theoretical calculation predicts that upon encapsulation into the zeolite matrix the Cu center becomes more susceptible to nucleophilic attack, favoring a nitro-aldol reaction. A plausible mechanism is suggested based on the experimental and theoretical results. The structures of reaction intermediates and transition state(s) involved in the catalytic cycle are derived using DFT.

An efficient and mild one-pot, gold-catalyzed intramolecular cyclization of N-propargylic β-enaminones has been achieved for the generation of 1,4-oxazepine derivatives. This synthetic transformation tolerates a range of substituted N-propargylic β-enaminones in moderate to good yields.

An efficient gold-catalyzed synthesis of substituted 3-methylene-3,4-dihydrobenzo[b]oxepinones from ortho-O-propargyl substituted aryl enaminones has been achieved. In this transformation a new C-C bond formation occurred regioselectively via 7-exo-dig cyclization. Benzooxepinone derivatives were obtained in good to excellent yields in a one-pot synthesis at ambient temperature.