Micellar catalysis is nowadays a well established approach to convert traditional catalytic reactions commonly run in organic solvents into more efficient, selective, recyclable green catalytic reactions.

The encapsulation of a Au(I) catalyst within a self-assembled, hydrogen bonded, hexameric capsule dramatically changes its catalytic activity, leading to unusual products due to the steric requirements of the host's cavity.

The reversible encapsulation of a series of normal alkane guests in a cylindrical host was studied by NMR methods. For small hydrocarbons such as n-pentane or n-hexane, two guests enter the host, and they move freely within. With n-heptane no encapsulation takes place. For longer alkanes such as n-decane, a single guest enters and the aromatic walls of the host are seen to twist to avoid empty spaces and increase favorable interactions with the hydrocarbon. The best guest (n-undecane) adopts a conformation with minimal gauche interactions. The longest alkane accommodated, n-tetradecane, adopts a helical conformation to fit in the cavity, a shape that maximizes CH/pi interactions with the aromatic walls of the receptor. These reciprocal conformational changes are discussed in terms of optimal host/guest interactions.

Terminal alkene isomerization reactions are efficiently catalyzed by PtII complexes with E/Z selectivity as high as 98:2 and can be fruitfully applied to the preparation of some fragrances derived by isomerization of substituted allylbenzene derivatives. The involvement of agostic Pt···H intermediate species derived by insertion of the substrate into the Pt−aryl bond followed by β-hydride elimination is demonstrated, while kinetic studies and DFT calculations enable the formulation of a possible catalytic mechanis