Micellar-driven substrate selectivity in Cr(salen)Cl catalytic Diels–Alder reaction in water

A 3.5 increase in catalytic activity was observed in the Cr(III) (salen)Cl 3 catalyzed Diels–Alder reaction between cyclopentadiene 1 with the longer trans-2-decenal 2g compared to the shorter trans-2-butenal 2a dienophile under aqueous micellar conditions, while in chloroform the two substrates react with comparable activities.