Epoxides and water mix well together. The use of water represents an intriguing alternative to organic solvents, not only for developing green processes but also for exploring a totally new and peculiar reactivity. Epoxides react very efficiently in water with several nucleophiles, and several ex-

This report concerns Lewis acid catalyzed enantioselective sulfa-Michael addition in neutral water by using a very efficient Sc(OTf)(3)/bipyridine 1 catalytic system. It is noteworthy that the protocol presented employs water as a reaction medium and allows us to obtain very high stereoselectivity and satisfactory yields for β-keto sulphides deriving from aliphatic thiols. The recovery and reuse of both the aqueous medium and the catalytic system is also reported.

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2-tert-Butylimino-2-diethylamino-1,3-dimethylperhydro-1,3,2-diazaphosphorine supported on polystyrene (PS-BEMP) is an efficient catalyst for the ring-opening of epoxides with phenols (1.0 equiv.). Excellent yields have been obtained and in most of the cases the final products have been isolated in pure form without any additional purification step. E-factors associated to this protocol are small and further improvements were obtained by setting a cyclic continuous-flow reactor operating under solvent-free conditions (SolFC) that allowed us to minimize waste and reduce the E-factor by 95% compared to batch conditions. In addition the representative synthesis of a 2,3-dihydrobenzo-]dioxepin-5-one has been realized. Optimization of this process was achieved by setting up an automated multi-step continuous-flow reactor based on a phenolysis process and a subsequent lactonization by thermal treatment of the reaction mixture. 3-Phen-]dioxepin-5-one was isolated in pure form and on a multi-gram scale in a very satisfactory 86% overall yield and an Efactor of 1.47.

This contribution reports the preparation and use of a new immobilized catalyst, PS-DABCOF (9), which has been specifically designed to access for the first time the efficient β-azidation of α,β-unsaturated carboxylic acids.