Some New Trends and Recent Progress Towards Environmentally Benign Synthesis

With the advent of green chemistry, the importance of environmentally benign synthesis has been increasingly recognized. This review summarizes recent progresses in this field, covering mainly the organocatalysis, lanthanide triflate catalysis, and our recent related works. Emphasis will be paid on synthetic applications and their significance to green technology by using environmentally friendly reagents and solvents such as water and ionic liquids. In addition, some new trends in the related areas such as chemoenzymatic catalysis and organic synthesis in ionic liquid will be discussed.