Tandem catalysis in supramolecular cages

Chemical reactions can transform substrates to useful products. Many of these reactions require the use of a catalyst in order to lower the reaction temperature or pressure, and increase the selectivity of the reaction towards the desired products. Generally, the production of useful products requires more than one (catalytic) reaction step. In order to improve the ecological and economical footprint of synthetic chemistry, strategies to combine catalytic reactions into one synthetic operation have been developed. Combining two independent catalytic cycles that are operating simultaneously to sequentially modify a substrate into the desired product is known as orthogonal tandem catalysis. The combination of two catalytic cycles into a single reaction vessel comes with its own set of challenges, as compatibility of the reagents, catalysts and reaction conditions has to be achieved. The application of one of Nature’s strategies to overcome these incompatibilities has been investigated, which involves tandem catalysis making use of compartmentalization of one or both catalysts. This thesis aims to expand the understanding of the principles of encapsulation of catalysts in supramolecular cages and to apply this strategy for tandem catalysis. All systems that were studied within this thesis focus on gold catalyzed cyclization reactions.