Source: Vy M. Dong and Faben Cruz, Department of Chemistry, University of California, Irvine, CA

This experiment will demonstrate the concept of organocatalysis by illustrating the proper setup of a reaction that utilizes enamine catalysis. Organocatalysis is a form of catalysis that uses substoichiometric amounts of small organic molecules to accelerate reactions. This type of catalysis is complementary to other forms of catalysis such as transition metal or biocatalysis. Transition metal catalysis involves transition metals as catalysts and biocatalysis uses enzymes as catalysts. Some advantages of organocatalysis include the low toxicity and cost of the organocatalysts in comparison to many metal catalysts. In addition, most organocatalysts are not sensitive to air and moisture, unlike metal catalysts. In contrast to enzymes found in living organisms, the small molecules that act as organocatalysts are typically easy to access. Furthermore, organocatalysis offers complementary and new reactivity not observed with other forms of catalysis.