Use of dendrimeric-type macromolecules as catalysts or coadjuvants in phase transfer catalysis reactions

A process of carrying out a reaction that involves phase-transfer catalysis, wherein the improvement consists of using as a phase-transfer catalyst or as a coadjuvant a dendrimeric-type macromolecule of formula (I):

• A›G.sub.1.fwdarw.p !.sub.r (I)
• in which:
• A is a central nucleus, or core, derived from a polyvalent organic residue which can be an aliphatic open chain, branched or not, residue, or an alicyclic, or a heterocyclic residue containing N, 0 and/or S, or an aromatic or a heteroaromatic residue and which is characterized by the presence of r terminal residues to which the polyoxaalkylene chains of the first generation are attached,
• r is an integer from 2 to 10 representing the multiplicity of the core A,
• G.sub.1.fwdarw.p represents the branched structure of the macromolecule comprising p levels of generations g, from the first one (g.sub.1) to the last one (g.sub.p), in which the total p number of said generations ranges from 1 to 20 and in which the different generations can be the same or different and in which
• (a) every generation g but the last one comprises a number of repeating units, which are represented by residues of the formula:
• -B-M-
• where:
• B is a polyoxaethylene or polyoxapropylene chain of formula:
• ##STR6## in which n ranges from 0 to 25 and may or may not be different from generation to generation, with the proviso that, in at least one of the generations of the macromolecule, n is other than 0,
• M represents a branching point which derived from a polyvalent aliphatic residue comprising:
• a single functional group selected from OH, NH.sub.2, SH, COOH, or a derivative thereof, linking to the terminal group of chain B,
• m reactive residues for linking the polyoxaalkylene chains of the next generation, being
• m an integer ranging from 2 to 5, representing the branching multiplicity introduced by M, in which m may or may not be different from generation to generation;
• (b) the last generation g.sub.p comprises a residue of the formula:
• -B.sub.p -M.sub.p ›T!.sub.m.sbsb.p
• where B.sub.p, M.sub.p, m.sub.p are defined analogously to B, M, and m, provided that all the m.sub.p reactive residues of M.sub.p are connected to groups T in which
• T is a terminal group that can be either a hydrogen atom, a C.sub.1 -C.sub.3 alkyl group or a hydroxy residue and being free and either dissociated or undissociated, or protected by a protective group and in which
• M.sub.p can also be a single bond, in which there is no branching and m.sub.p is equal to 1 and as a consequence the last generation g.sub.p comprises a residue of formula:
• -B.sub.p -T
• where B.sub.p and T are as above defined;
• and further
• (c) when the macromolecule contains only one generation and p=1, g.sub.p corresponds to g.sub.1 as represented by the residue:
• B.sub.1 -M.sub.1 ›T!.sub.m.sbsb.1
• where B.sub.1, M.sub.1, m.sub.1 and T are defined analogously to B.sub.p, M.sub.p, m.sub.p and T.