The potential use of volatile methylsiloxanes (VMSs) as solvents for chemicals synthesis has been explored.Assessment of the environmental impact of these VMS solvents is made and found to be significantly lower than those of the non-polar organic solvents that they have the potential to replace. The polarities of the VMSs, as expressed by empirical polarity measurements, and miscibilities with other liquids are found to be similar to those of alkane solvents. Finally, some uses of VMSs as solvents for both organic and inorganic transformations are described. The VMSs provide environmentally more sustainable (greener) alternatives to the nonpolar solvents that they have the potential to replace. † Electronic supplementary information (ESI) available. See

Enantiomer on demand: tropos ligand BIPHEP and chiral selector (S)-proline methyl ester allow enantiodivergent Rh-catalysed hydrogenation and asymmetric styrene hydroboration.

Maleimidoalkanoic acids and their activated derivatives, such as their N-hydroxysuccinimide esters, are important, though expensive, linkers for the conjugation of biomolecules. During our synthesis of UCS1025A, we have developed a chromatography-free preparation of 4-maleimidobutyric acid on a one-mole scale.