With increasing environmental concerns, the need for green organic synthesis has assumed significant importance. This talk will begin with an introduction to green chemistry, and bismuth compounds, and then focus on the utility of bismuth(III) compounds as Green Catalysts for organic synthesis. Bismuth compounds are attractive catalysts for use in organic synthesis because they are remarkably nontoxic, easy to handle, inexpensive and relatively insensitive to small amounts of moisture. The applications of bismuth(III) compounds as catalysts for a variety of organic transformations including epoxide rearrangements, protection-deprotection chemistry, and C-C bond formation reactions, in particular allylations, will be illustrated. More recently we have also explored the use of iron(III) based Lewis acids. Some of this chemistry will also be discussed briefly.

References:
(1) Bismuth (Featured Element) in Nature. Chem. 2010, 2, 336.

(2) Environmentally Friendly Organic Synthesis Using Bismuth(III) Compounds.
Krabbe, S. W. and Mohan, R. S. Topics in Current Chemistry 2011 (article in press).

Other More General References:

1. Green Chemistry: An Introductory Text. Mike Lancaster, Royal Society of Chemistry, Cambridge, UK. 2002.

2. Applications of bismuth(III) compounds in organic synthesis. Bothwell, J. M., Krabbe, S. W., Mohan, R. S. Chem. Soc. Rev., 2011, 40, 4649-4707