On the Acidity and Reactivity of Highly Effective Chiral Brønsted Acid Catalysts: Establishment of an Acidity Scale

Abstract

Stronger acid, higher speed: The pKa values of a range of binol-derived Brønsted acids of three different types were measured and found to correlate directly with the catalytic properties of the acids: higher rate constants kI were observed for more acidic Brønsted acid catalysts (see plot; binol=1,1'-bi-2-naphthol).