Heterogeneous Gold Catalyst: Synthesis, Characterization, and Application in 1,4-Addition of Boronic Acids to Enones

The new 1 wt % Au/TiO2–UVM-7 catalyst was prepared and fully characterized. This heterogeneous catalyst proved to be active, selective and recyclable for the unprecedented gold-catalyzed 1,4-addition of various functionalized arylboronic acids to 2-cyclohexen-1-one and other selected enones using toluene as a solvent. The gold-based catalyst was recycled two times and played an active role in this reaction, and the nature of the solvent determined a remarkable change in the products’ selectivities.