A readily available pincer ruthenium(II) complex catalyzes the selective monoalkylation of (hetero)aromatic amines with a wide range of primary alcohols (including pyridine-, furan-, and thiophene-substituted alcohols) with high efficiency when used in low catalyst loadings (1 mol %). Tertiary amine formation via polyalkylation does not occur, making this ruthenium system an excellent catalyst for the synthesis of sec-amines.
A ruthenium complex formed from commercially available [Ru(p-cymene)Cl-2](2) and 1,4-bis(diphenylphosphino)butane catalyzes the racemization of aromatic alpha-hydroxy ketones very efficiently at room temperature. The racemization is fully compatible with a kinetic resolution catalyzed by a lipase from Pseudomonas stutzeri. This is the first example of dynamic kinetic resolution of alpha-hydroxy ketones at ambient temperature in which the metal and enzyme catalysts work in concert in one pot at room temperature to give quantitative yields of esters of alpha-hydroxy ketones with very high enantioselectivity.
A nickel-catalyzed C(sp(3))-C(sp(2)) Suzuki cross-coupling of arylboronic acids and (hetero)naphthyl alcohols has been developed. A Ni(dppp) Cl-2 complex showed the highest efficiency and broadest substrate scope. High functional group tolerance has been achieved where 35 compounds could be generated in good to excellent yields, including both primary and secondary benzylic alcohols. Mechanistic studies using multiple NMR techniques as well as ESI-HRMS showed that the C-O cleavage is facilitated by an activation of the benzylic alcohol through formation of a boronic ester intermediate.
Allylboronic acids readily react with a broad variety of ketones, affording homoallylic alcohols with adjacent quaternary and tertiary stereocenters. The reaction proceeds with very high anti stereoselectivity even if the substituents of the keto group have a similar size. a-Keto acids react with syn stereoselectivity probably due to the formation of acyl boronate intermediates. The allylation reactions proceed without added acids/bases under mild conditions. Because of this, many functionalities are tolerated even with in situ generated allylboronic acids.
An efficient and simple methodology was developed for the synthesis of oxazolidinones, oxazolidinthiones, imidazolidinthiones, and imidazolidinones from the corresponding propargylic starting materials using Pd(OAc)(2) and n-Bu4NOAc as catalysts in DCE at room temperature.
Palladium pincer complexes directly catalyze the redox coupling reactions of functionalized alkenes and iodonium salts. The catalytic process, which is suitable for mild catalytic functionalization of allylic acetates and electron-rich alkenes, probably occurs through Pd(IV) intermediates. Due to the strong metal−ligand interactions, the oxidation of phosphine and amine ligands of the pincer complexes can be avoided in the presented reactions.
A tandem isomerization/C-H activation of allylic alcohols was performed using a catalytic amount of RUCl(2)(PPh(3))(3). A variety of ortho alkylated ketones have been obtained in excellent yields. This tandem process relies on an in situ generation of a carbonyl functional group that directs the ortho C-H bond activation.
Palladium catalyzed cross-coupling of allylboronic acids with a-diazoketones was studied. The reaction selectively affords the linear allylic product. The reaction proceeds with formation of a new C(sp(3))-C(sp(3)) bond. The reaction was performed without an external oxidant, likely without the Pd-catalyst undergoing redox reactions.
Dynamic kinetic resolution (DKR) of a series of sterically hindered allylic alcohols has been conducted with Candida antarctica lipase B (CALB) and ruthenium catalyst 1. The optically pure allylic acetates obtained were subjected to oxidative cleavage to give the corresponding acylated acyloins in high yields without loss of chiral information.
(Borylmethyl)trimethylsilanes are important building blocks in organic synthesis displaying a unique reactivity. Yet, the synthesis of more advanced derivatives is limited by the advanced silicon intermediates required for their preparation. Herein, a one-pot synthesis of (borylmethyl)silanes is developed, sourced on available alkyl-, aryl-, alkoxy-, aryloxy-, and silyl-hydrosilane materials. The privileged reactivity of N-hydroxyphthalimidyl diazoacetate (NHPI-DA) in Si–H insertion and α-silyl redox-active esters in different decarboxylative borylation reactions are scrutinized.
The direct preparation of ketones from carboxylate anions is greatly limited by the required use of organolithium reagents or activated acyl sources that need to be independently prepared. Herein, a specific magnesium amide additive is used to activate and control the addition of more tolerant Grignard reagents to carboxylate anions. This strategy enables the modular synthesis of ketones from CO2 and the preparation of isotopically labeled pharmaceutical building blocks in a single operation.
Allylboronic acids directly react with acyl hydrazones, affording homoallylic amine derivatives. The reaction proceeds with very high syn selectivity, which is the opposite of the stereochemistry observed for allylboration of imines. The reaction can be carried out with both aromatic and aliphatic acyl hydrazones. Based on our studies the excellent syn stereochemistry can be explained by chelation control of the acyl hydrazone and the B(OH)(2) moiety.
Copper-catalyzed cross-coupling of substituted allylboronic acids with alpha-diazoketones was studied. This allylation reaction is highly regioselective, providing the branched allylic product. The process involves creation of a new C(sp(3))-C(sp(3)) bond by retaining the keto functional group of the alpha-diazoketone precursor.
An efficient, mild, and metal-free arylation of nitro-alkanes with diaryliodonium salts has been developed, giving easy access to tertiary nitro compounds. The reaction proceeds in high yields without the need for excess reagents and can be extended to alpha-arylation of nitroesters. Nitroalkanes were selectively C-arylated in the presence of other easily arylated functional groups, such as phenols and aliphatic alcohols.
Chiral γ-branched aliphatic amines are present in a large number of pharmaceuticals and natural products. However, enantioselective methods to access these compounds are scarce and mainly rely on the use of designed chiral transition-metal complexes. Herein, we combined an organocatalytic method for the stereospecific isomerization of chiral allylic amines with a diastereoselective reduction of the chiral imine/enamine intermediates, leading to γ-trifluoromethylated aliphatic amines with two noncontiguous stereogenic centers, in excellent yields and high diastereo- and enantioselectivities. This approach has been used with primary amine substrates. This approach also provides a new synthetic pathway to chiral trifluoromethylated scaffolds, of importance in medicinal chemistry. Additionally, a gram-scale reaction demonstrates the applicability of this synthetic procedure.
N-Hydroxyphthalimide and N-hydroxysuccinimide have been arylated with diaryliodonium salts to provide N-aryloxyimides in excellent yields in short reaction times. A novel hydrolysis under mild and hydrazine-free conditions yielded aryloxyamines, which are valuable building blocks in the synthesis of oxime ethers and benzofurans.
An efficient biomimetic aerobic oxidative dehydrogenative alkenylation of arenes with allyl esters is presented. The reaction proceeds under an ambient pressure of oxygen with relatively low catalyst loading of palladium acetate, employing catalytic amounts of electron-transfer mediators (ETMs). This study represents a new environmentally friendly method for the synthesis of cinnamyl derivatives.
An efficient ligand-promoted biomimetic aerobic oxidative dehydrogenative cross-coupling between arenes and nonbiased olefins is presented. Acridine as a ligand was found to significantly enhance the rate, the yield, and the scope of the reaction under ambient oxygen pressure, providing a variety of alkenylarenes via an environmentally friendly procedure.
Density functional theory calculations have been performed to investigate the binaphthol-catalyzed allylboration of skatoles. The high stereoselectivity observed for the reaction is reproduced well by the calculations and was found to be mainly a result of steric repulsions in the corresponding Zimmerman-Traxler transition states. The role of the additive MeOH in enhancing the stereoselectivity was also investigated and is suggested to promote the formation of less reactive allylboronic ester intermediates, thereby suppressing the formation of allylboroxine species, which undergo the facile racemic background reaction.
A fast, high-yielding synthesis of diaryl ethers with use of mild and metal-free conditions has been developed. The scope includes bulky orthosubstituteddiaryl ethers, which are difficult to obtain by metal-catalyzed protocols. Halo-substituents, racemization-prone amino acid derivatives,and heteroaromatics are also tolerated. The methodology is expected to be of high utility in the synthesis of complex molecules and in thepharmaceutical industry.
Regio- and stereoselective Cu-catalyzed addition of the above hypervalent iodine reagent to alkynes and alkenes was achieved. In the presence of Cul, the reaction is suitable to perform trifluoromethyl-benzoyloxylation and trifluoromethyl-halogenation of alkenes and alkynes. Electron-donating substituents accelerate the process, and alkenes react faster than alkynes emphasizing the electrophilic character of the addition reaction.
A mild and efficient palladium-catalyzed oxidative diarylating carbocyclization of enynes is described. The reaction tolerates a range of functionalized arylboronic acids to give diarylated products in good yields. Control experiments suggest that the reaction starts with an arylpalladation of the alkyne, followed by carbocyclization, transmetalation, and reductive elimination to afford the diarylated product.
A stereoselective palladium-catalyzed oxidative carbocyclization/arylation of enallenes is described. The reaction shows wide tolerance toward highly functionalized arylboronic acids and results In a cis addition of two carbon moieties to an olefin in good to excellent yields.
A new, efficient method is developed, based on a palladium(0)-catalyzed reaction of propargylic derivatives with various phosphorus nucleophiles, to produce allenylphosphonates and their analogues with defined stereochemistry in the allenic and the phosphonate moiety.
A general and efficient method for the microwave-assisted formation of the C−P bond was developed. Using a prevalent palladium catalyst, Pd(PPh3)4, a quantitative cross-coupling of various H-phosphonate diesters with aryl and vinyl halides was achieved in less than 10 min. The reactions occurred with retention of configuration at the phosphorus center and in the vinyl moiety. Using this protocol, several C-phosphonates, including those bearing nucleoside and cholesteryl moieties, were prepared in high yields.
Structurally diverse 1,3-dienes are valuable building blocks in organic synthesis. Herein we report the iron-catalyzed coupling between α-allenyl esters and Grignard reagents, which provides a fast and practical approach to a variety of complex substituted 1,3-dienes. The reaction involves an inexpensive iron catalyst, mild reaction conditions, and provides easy scale up.
Diethylzinc (Et2Zn) can be used as an efficient and chemoselective catalyst for the reduction of tertiary amides under mild reaction conditions employing cost-effective polymeric silane (PMHS) as the hydride source. Crucial for the catalytic activity was the addition of a substoichiometric amount of lithium chloride to the reaction mixture. A series of amides containing different additional functional groups were reduced to their corresponding amines, and the products were isolated in good-to-excellent yields.
Palladium-catalyzed allylic C−H silylation was performed with use of hexamethyldisilane as the silyl source. These C−H functionalization reactions occur only in the presence of hypervalent iodine reagents or other strong oxidants and proceed with excellent regioselectivity, providing the linear allylic isomer of the allylsilane products. In demonstrating the first oxidative allylic C−H silylation of alkenes, this study marks an important advance for the catalytic C−H functionalization method.
Dynamic kinetic asymmetric transformation (DYKAT) of a series of 1,5-diols has been performed in the presence of Candida antarctica lipase B (CALB), Pseudomonas cepacia lipase H (PS-C II), and ruthenium catalyst 4. The resulting optically pure 1,5-diacetates are useful synthetic intermediates, which was demonstrated by the syntheses of both an enantiopure 2,6-disubstituted piperidine and an enantiopure 3,5-disubstituted morpholine.
The first arylation of allylic and benzylic alcohols with diaryliodonium salts is reported. The reaction yields alkyl aryl ethers under mild and metal-free conditions. Phenols are arylated to diaryl ethers in good to excellent yields. The reaction employs diaryliodonium salts and sodium hydroxide in water at low temperature, and excess amounts of the coupling partners are avoided.
An efficient and transition-metal-free method is presented to access tertiary alkyl aryl ethers by arylation of tertiary alcohols with ortho-substituted diaryliodonium salts. The scope covers cyclic and acyclic aliphatic, benzylic, allylic, and propargylic tertiary alcohols as well as primary and secondary fluorinated alcohols. The methodology gives access to alkyl aryl ethers of previously unprecedented steric congestion. Furthermore, the versatility of the developed procedure was demonstrated by arylation of the pro-drug mestranol.
A new Rh-catalyzed, three-component reaction for the oxytrifluoromethylthiolation of alpha-diazoketones was developed. The SCF3 functionality was introduced using a stable dibenzenesulfonimide reagent under mild conditions. Alcohols, acetals, and ethers were used as the alkoxy sources. Cyclic ethers underwent a trifunctionalization reaction through the introduction of SCF3, OR, and N(SO2Ph)(2) substituents in a single step.
Density functional theory calculations were performed to study the detailed reaction mechanisms of rhodium-catalyzed oxyaminofluorination and oxyaminotrifluoromethylthiolation of diazocarbonyl compounds with electrophilic N-F and N-SCF3-based reagents. The calculations show that the operating mechanisms for the two reactions are identical. The catalytic cycle starts with N-2 dissociation to provide a rhodium-carbene intermediate, followed by nucleophilic attack of tetrahydrofuran on the carbene and a rhodium coordination change generating a rhodium-enolate intermediate. Subsequent electrophilic attack introduces the fluorine or the SCF3 moiety, and it is followed by nucleophilic attack of the remaining amino group to yield the final product.
An efficient methodology for the synthesis of vinyl-, allyl-, and (E)-2-boryl allylboronates from propargylic alcohols via Cu-catalyzed borylation under mild conditions is reported. In the presence of commercially available Cu(OAc)(2) or Cu(acac)(2) and Xantphos, the reaction affords the desired products in up to 92% yield with a broad substrate scope (43 examples). Isolation of an allenyl boronate as the reaction intermediate suggests that an insertion elimination-type reaction, followed by borylcupration, is involved in the borylation of propargylic alcohols.
This communication describes an efficient palladium pincer complex-catalyzed allylic C-H borylation of alkenes. The transformation exhibits high regio- and stereo selectivity with a variety of linear alkenes. A synthetically useful feature of this allylic C-H borylation method is that all allyl-Bpin products can be isolated in usually high yields. Preliminary mechanistic studies indicate that this CH borylation reaction proceeds via Pd(IV) pincer complex intermediates.
Alcohols are among the most abundant and readily available organic feedstocks in industrial processes. The direct catalytic functionalization of sp(3) C-O bonds of alcohols remains the main challenge in this field. Here, we report a copper-catalyzed synthesis of benzyl-, allyl-, and allenylboronates from benzylic, allylic, and propargylic alcohols, respectively. This protocol exhibits a broad reaction scope (40 examples) and high efficiency (up to 95% yield) under mild conditions, including for the preparation of secondary allylic boronates. Preliminarily mechanistic studies suggest that nucleophilic substitution is involved in this reaction.
A regioselective protocol for the synthesis of substituted allylic chlorides, bromides, and fluorides has been established. Remarkably, the method can be applied to the enantioselective synthesis of challenging chiral allylic chlorides. When the allylic halides are treated with the base triazabicyclodecene as the catalyst, a [1,3]-proton shift takes place, giving the corresponding vinyl halides in excellent yields with excellent Z:E ratios. Furthermore, the [1,3]-proton shift takes place with an outstanding level of chirality transfer from chiral allylic alcohols (<= 98%) to give chiral trifluoromethylated vinyl chlorides.
Dynamic kinetic resolution of allylic alcohols to allylic acetates followed by copper-catalyzed allylic substitution gave alkenes in high yields and high optical purity. Subsequent oxidative C-C double bond cleavage afforded pharmaceutically important alpha-methyl substituted carboxylic acids in high ee.
A regio- and stereodivergent synthesis of vic-amino alcs., e.g., I, starting from vinylepoxides is described. The developed strategy focuses on the propensity of vinylepoxides II and vinylaziridines III (R = PhCH2O, PhCH2, 4-MeOC6H4CH2O, R1 = H, CH2OCH2C6H4OMe-4) to be ring-opened at the allylic position by suitable nucleophiles and makes use of reactions that perform such tasks selectively with either retention or inversion of configuration.
A highly selective Lewis acid catalyzed annulation of three-membered heterocycles with nitrones has been developed. Oxiranes, aziridines, and thiiranes were used as substrates for the synthesis of various six-membered heterocycles using Al or In catalysts. This catalytic protocol demonstrates a broad substrate scope and provides access to new structural motifs in high yields and in excellent selectivity under mild reaction conditions.
A diastereoselective metal-catalyzed reaction of 2-(2-enynyl)pyridines and cyclic enamines is reported. The method provides access to a variety of substituted indolizine derivatives by variation of the enyne component and the reaction conditions. Performing the reaction using a preformed enamine led to the formation of polycyclic indolizines. With in situ generated enamines, ketone-containing indolizine derivatives were obtained. An asymmetric reaction of 2-(2-enynyl)pyridines and enamines generated from an aldehyde and a catalytic amount of amine is presented.
Allylic allenic amides have been synthesized via a copper-catalyzed cross-coupling between allylic sulfonamides and bromoallenes in moderate to good yields. Copper(I) thiophene-2-carboxylate (CuTC) was used a source of copper with DMEDA as the ligand. The allenylated products obtained are potential substrates for palladium-catalyzed carbocyclizations.
A highly efficient N,P-ligated iridium complex is presented for the simple preparation of chiral tetrahydro-3-benzazepine motifs by catalytic asymmetric hydrogenation. Substrates bearing both 1-aryl and 1-alkyl substituents were smoothly converted to the corresponding hydrogenated product with excellent enantioselectivity (91–99% ee) and in isolated yield (92–99%). The synthetic value of this transformation was demonstrated by a gram-scale hydrogenation and application in the syntheses of trepipam and fenoldopam.
Asymmetric hydrogenation of conjugated enones is one of the most efficient and straightforward methods to prepare optically active ketones. In this study, chiral bidentate IrN,P complexes were utilized to access these scaffolds for ketones bearing the stereogenic center at both the alpha- and beta-positions. Excellent enantiomeric excesses, of up to 99%, were obtained, accompanied with good to high isolated yields. Challenging dialkyl substituted substrates, which are difficult to hydrogenate with satisfactory chiral induction, were hydrogenated in a highly enantioselective fashion.
An efficient arylation of carboxylic acids with diaryliodonium salts has been developed, giving aryl esters in high yields within short reaction times for both arom. and aliph. substrates. The transition-metal-free conditions are compatible with a range of functional groups, and good chemoselectivity is obsd. with unsym. diaryliodonium salts. Furthermore, steric hindrance in the ortho positions is well tolerated both in the carboxylic acid and in the diaryliodonium salt, yielding aryl esters that cannot be obtained via other esterification protocols.
Palladium-catalyzed allylic acetoxylations and benzoyloxylations were carried out using iodonium salts. The reactions proceed under mild conditions with high regio- and stereoselectivity. The catalysis can be performed under both acidic and nonacidic conditions without use of BQ or other external oxidants and activator ligands. Deuterium labeling experiments clearly show that the catalytic reaction proceeds through (η3-allyl)palladium intermediates. A stoichiometric study with one of the catalysts provided evidence for the formation of a Pd(IV) species.
A palladium-catalyzed oxidative cascade carbonylative carbocyclization of enallenols was developed. Under mild reaction conditions, a range of cis-fused [5,5] bicyclic gamma-lactones and gamma-lactams with a 1,3-diene motif were obtained in good yields with high diastereoselectivity. The obtained lactone/lactam products are viable substrates for a stereoselective Diels-Alder reaction with N-phenylmaleimide, providing polycyclic compounds with increased molecular complexity.