Dissipative sequential catalysis via six-component machinery.

Triphenyl phosphane (TPP) and an epoxide as a fuel system transiently transformed a non-catalytic six-component turnstile into a four-component catalytic rotor releasing N -methyl pyrrolidine and a copper(I) complex. The two latter compounds acted synergistically as catalysts to perform first a Michael addition and then a 5- exo-dig cyclization, giving rise to dissipative sequential catalysis.