Cover Feature: Impact of Catalyst Deuteration on the Reactivity of Chiral Phase‐Transfer Organocatalysts (Chem. Eur. J. 53/2023)

Abstract

Incorporating deuteriums into the correct positions of organocatalysts increases their stability and robustness, just like the story of “The Three Little Pigs”: the first two pigs hastily construct houses made of straw and sticks (non‐deuterated and dideuterated catalysts), but they were quickly destroyed by the wolf′s huffing and puffing (OH−). In contrast, the third pig took time to build a sturdy house made of bricks (tetradeuterated catalyst), and the brick house remained intact. More information can be found in the Research Article by Y. Liu, H. Naka, K. Maruoka and co‐workers. (DOI: 10.1002/chem.202301866).