In one study  a coupling reaction between an indole and a quinone takes place at room temperature without catalyst in water in 82% chemical yield even though reactants and products are insoluble in this medium. The reaction is much less efficient in homogeneous systems such as dichloromethane, toluene and acetonitrile or even the solvent free reaction or even the water reaction but now at 50°C.
The on water effect is also studied in cycloadditions of the type:
In this reaction the alkyne methyl 2-octynoate reacts with triphenylphosphine to an intermediate zwitterionic allenolate, a dipolarophile for the 1,3-dipole 2-phenylnitrone. The primary regioselective [3+2]dipolar cycloaddition product then rearranges to a dihydroisoxazole with regeneration of the phosphine. This reaction only takes place in water with lithium chloride added even though the reactants do not dissolve in this medium. In organic solvents such as toluene or dichloromethane no reaction takes place.