A series of azobenzene-based thiourea catalysts have been developed with the aim of achieving control over the catalytic activity by the use of light. The conceptual design of these systems relies on the inactivation by means of intramolecular hydrogen bonding, only likely to take place in one of their isomeric forms. After fine structure modulation of the catalyst a substantial difference in activity has been observed between the irradiated and the nonirradiated reaction. Furthermore, the system allowed in situ manipulation of the catalyst activity during the course of a given experiment.

A polystyrene-supported 1,1'-bi-2-naphthol derived phosphoric acid has been synthesized and applied in the enantioselective Friedel-Crafts reaction of indoles and sulfonylimines. The immobilized catalyst was highly active and selective, and gave rise to a broad range of 3-indolylmethanamines (19 examples) in high yields and excellent enantioselectivities (up to 98 % enantiomeric excess) after short reaction times under very convenient reaction conditions (RT in dichloromethane). Moreover, repeated recycling (14 cycles) was possible with no substantial loss in catalytic performance and the system could be adapted to a continuous-flow operation (6 h). Finally, the applicability of the system was further confirmed by rapid access to a library of compounds with three points of diversity in a single continuous-flow experiment that involved sequential pumping of different substrate combinations.

The widely applicable TRIP phosphoric acid catalyst has been immobilized on polystyrene using a copolymerization-based strategy. The resin (PS-TRIP) has proven to be highly active and enantioselective in the asymmetric allylboration of aldehydes. Moreover, it has shown to be extremely robust, as it can be reused for 18 times, after which it still retained its activity. Lastly, to further prove the benefits of the immobilization, a continuous flow experiment spanning 28 h has been carried out with very high yields and ee's.

The light-induced trans-to-cis-isomerization of a single azobenzene moiety triggers the disintegration of a dimeric tetraurea calix[4]pyrrole capsule.