Materials with semiconducting properties are present in every microelectronic device and form the backbone of our information society. Commonly used inorganic semiconductors are poorly modular and their production is expensive and energetically demanding. Moreover, the use of metals and critical raw …

Michael additions of α-nitroesters with enones and α,β-unsaturated aldehydes result in quantitative conversions to the corresponding 1,4-adducts by performing the reactions in water in the presence of ytterbium triflate as water-tolerant Lewis acid.

In this article, we review the recent progress that has been made in the field of Lewis-acid catalysis of carbon carbon-bond-forming reactions in aqueous solution. Since water hampers the hard hard interactions between the catalyst and the reactant, it often complicates catalysis. However, once coordination …