4. Catalytic applications of polyHIPE materials

The development of polymer-supported reagents and catalysts, and their use in continuous reactors, is a major feature of the evolution of modern organic synthesis. The organic supports generally used in these applications are functionalized S/DVB beads. The use of this type of support can prove problematic in continuous flow devices, due to their low permeability to reaction solvents, leading to high pressure drops. An alternative approach is to use microcellular polymer materials with high solvent permeability, enabling them to be used under low pressure drop conditions. PolyHIPEs appear to be well suited to this approach.

In this section, we present two typical applications for polyHIPEs as catalyst supports. Other examples can be found in the literature