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β-Hydroxy esters are considered as potential building blocks for the production of fine chemicals and potential drug molecules in various industries. Developing an efficient and recyclable catalyst for the synthesis of β-hydroxy esters is challenging. Here we report the first ionic-liquid-based heterogenized cobalt catalyst, [imidazolium-CTF][Co(CO)4], for the direct ring-opening carbonylation of propylene oxide to methyl 3-hydroxybutyrate (MHB) with 86% selectivity (>99% conversion).

Difficulties in product separation and ineffective recycling of the homogenous catalyst deter the mass production of beta-lactones via carbonylation of epoxides. Herein, we address these issues, for the first time, using a recyclable heterogenized catalyst [bpy-CTF-Al(OTf)(2)][Co(CO)(4)] that efficiently converts propylene oxide (PO) to beta-butyrolactone with high selectivity.

Based on theoretical calculations on the effects of molecular orbital energy levels of amines on the fluorescence properties of the fluorophore, aniline-substituted BODIPY motif ( AnB ) with quenched fluorescence was developed as a ‘turn-on’ switch for the qualitative and quantitative detection of formaldehyde with the detection limit (LOD) of ca. 165 nM.