Oxidative coupling of aldehydes with alcohol for the synthesis of esters promoted by polystyrene-supported N-Heterocyclic Carbene: Unravelling the solvent effect on the catalyst behavior using NMR relaxation

Heterogeneous organocatalysts hold great potential as they offer practical advantages in terms of purification and reusability compared with the homogeneous counterpart. A puzzling aspect is the solvent effect on their catalytic performance. Here we propose a new approach whereby T1/T2 NMR relaxation measurements are used to evaluate the strength of solvent–surface interactions in the polystyrene-supported N-heterocyclic carbene-promoted oxidation of aldehydes. The results reveal that solvents with high surface affinity lead to a decrease in catalyst activity.