Beryllepin,C6H6Be,and “Beryllium‐Inserted Benzenes,” C6H6Ben,n = 2–6: A Density Functional Computational Investigation

The seven‐membered beryllium‐containing heterocycle beryllepin, C₆H₆Be, has been examined computationally at the B3LYP/6‐311++G** density functional level of theory. Beryllepin is best described as a planar singlet heterocyclic conjugated triene with marginal aromatic character containing a C–Be–C moiety forced to be nonlinear (∠C‐Be‐C = 146.25°) by the cyclic constraints of the seven‐membered ring. The molecule can be considered to be derived from a benzene‐like system in which a neutral beryllium atom has been inserted between two adjacent carbon atoms. The 11 other possible “beryllium‐inserted benzenes,” C₆H₆Be_n, n = 2–6, have also been investigated. Only two of these heterocyclic systems, the eight‐membered 1,4‐diberyllocin and the nine‐membered 1,4,7‐triberyllonin, were found to be stable, singlet‐ground‐state systems, albeit with little aromatic character. Of the remaining nine beryllium‐inserted benzenes, with the exception of the 11‐membered ring containing five beryllium atoms and the 12‐membered ring containing six beryllium atoms, which were calculated to exist as a ground state pentet and septet, respectively, all were calculated to be ground state triplet systems.     

Base‐Selective Five‐ versus Six‐Membered Ring Annulation in Palladium‐Catalyzed C–C Coupling Cascade Reactions: New Access to Electron‐Poor Polycyclic Aromatic Dicarboximides

Palladium‐catalyzed base‐selective annulation of dibromonaphthalimide to different aryl boronate esters by combined Suzuki–Miyaura cross‐coupling and direct C−H arylation afforded a series of new five‐ and six‐membered ring annulated electron‐poor polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. Cesium carbonate (Cs₂CO₃) as auxiliary base in these C−C coupling cascade reactions led exclusively to six‐membered ring annulation, while the use of organic base diazabicycloundecene (DBU) afforded the corresponding five‐membered ring annulated products. This base‐dependent selective mode of annulation is attributed to different mechanistic pathways directed by the applied base. The selective annulation was revealed by single crystal X‐ray analysis of the respective five‐ and six‐membered ring annulated products. The optical and redox properties of the new polycyclic aromatic dicarboximides were characterized by UV/Vis absorption and fluorescence spectroscopy and cyclic voltammetry.     

Naphthalimide‐Based Triptycenes: Synthesis and Optoelectronic Properties

In the past decades, the naphthalimide structure has found application in many areas of chemistry due to its unique photophysical properties. Naphthalimide has two isomers, 1,8‐naphthalimide containing a six‐membered imide ring and 2,3‐naphthalimide containing a five‐membered imide ring. The former has been widely investigated while studies on the latter are considerably more rare. On the other hand, naphthalimide can also be regarded as a building block to construct polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), which have found wide applications in optical materials. Here we report the synthesis and optoelectronic properties of three 2,3‐naphthalimide‐based triptycenes. These three triptycene derivatives enrich the family of triptycenes.     

Une etude de la conjugaison entre un systeme aromatique et un cycle a trois chainons

Electron delocalization between a three membered ring (aziridinyl, cyclopropyl, oxiranyl) and an aromatic group was revealed by magnetic rotatory polarization. This conjugation varies according to the relative conformations of these two groups.     

A Metal‐Bridged Tricyclic Aromatic System: Synthesis of Osmium Polycyclic Aromatic Complexes

Aromaticity is one of the most important concepts in organic chemistry. A variety of metalla‐aromatic compounds have been recently prepared and in most of those examples, the metal participates only in a monocyclic ring. In contrast, metal‐bridged bicyclic aromatic molecules, in which a metal is shared between two aromatic rings, have been less developed. Herein, we report the first metal‐bridged tricyclic aromatic system, in which the metal center is shared by three aromatic five‐membered rings. These metalla‐aromatics are formed by reaction between osmapentalyne and arene nucleophiles. Experimental results and theoretical calculations reveal that the three five‐membered rings around the osmium center are aromatic. In addition, the broad absorption bands in the UV/Vis absorption spectra of these novel aromatic systems cover almost the entire visible region. This straightforward synthetic strategy may be extended to the synthesis of other metal‐bridged polycyclic aromatics.     

An Extra‐Large‐Pore Zeolite with Intersecting 18‐, 12‐, and 10‐Membered Ring Channels

Zeolites with extra‐large pores have attracted great attention because of their important applications such as in hydrocracking, catalysis, and separation of large molecules. Despite much progress has been made during the past decades, the synthesis of these materials remains a big challenge. A new extra‐large‐pore zeolite NUD‐1 (Nanjing University Du’s group zeolite no. 1) is synthesized by using an approach based on supramolecular self‐assemblies of small aromatic organic cations as structure‐directing agents. NUD‐1 possesses interconnecting 18‐, 12‐, and 10‐membered ring channels, built from the same building units as those of ITQ‐33 and ITQ‐44. There coexist single 3‐membered ring, double‐3‐membered ring and double‐4‐membered ring secondary building units in NUD‐1, which have not been seen in any other zeolites.     

Simple method for the introduction of iodo-label on (3-trifluoromethyl) phenyldiazirine for photoaffinity labeling

A simple and mild method was developed for the introduction of iodo-label on (3-trifluoromethyl) phenyldiazirine (TPD) aromatic ring in the presence of three membered diazirine ring. An iodination protocol, I₂-BTI in CH₃CN, was found to be effective even though affinity ligands are pre-installed.     

2,3‐Dihydro‐3,3‐dimethylspiro[1H‐4‐oxanthracene‐5,2′‐oxiran]‐10(5H)‐one

The central six‐membered ring in the title compound, C₁₆H₁₆O₃, is almost planar (and almost coplanar with the aromatic ring), despite one of its C atoms being formally sp³ hybridized. The planarity is a consequence of the C atom at the centre of the spiro­cyclic system also being part of the three‐membered epoxide ring. The mol­ecules are linked by π–­π and C—H?π interactions.     

[1a(1aα,5β,9aα)]‐1,1a,4,5,7,8,9,9a‐Octahydro‐3‐hydroxy‐1,1,2,5‐tetramethyl‐7‐methylene‐6H‐cyclopropa[3,4]cyclo­hept[1,2‐e]inden‐6‐one

Interest in the title structure, C₂₀H₂₄O₂, lies in the novel cis ring junction between the three‐ and seven‐membered rings. This stereochemical arrangement causes the methylene moiety and the cycloheptane ring to be twisted out of the plane of the aromatic ring. The cyclopropane ring is also twisted out of the plane of the aromatic system. The molecules are linked by an O—H?O hydrogen bond [O?O 2.741 (3) Å].     

Total Synthesis of Talatisamine

Talatisamine ( 1 ) is a member of the C₁₉‐diterpenoid alkaloid family, and exhibits K⁺ channel inhibitory and antiarrhythmic activities. The formidable synthetic challenge that 1 presents is due to its highly oxidized and intricately fused hexacyclic 6/7/5/6/6/5‐membered‐ring structure (ABCDEF‐ring) with 12 contiguous stereocenters. Here we report an efficient synthetic route to 1 by the assembly of two structurally simple fragments, chiral 6/6‐membered AE‐ring 7 and aromatic 6‐membered D‐ring 6 . AE‐ring 7 was constructed from 2‐cyclohexenone ( 8 ) through fusing an N‐ethylpiperidine ring by a double Mannich reaction. After coupling 6 with 7 , an oxidative dearomatization/Diels–Alder reaction sequence generated fused pentacycle 4 b . The newly formed 6/6‐membered ring system was then stereospecifically reorganized into the 7/5‐membered BC‐ring of 3 via a Wagner–Meerwein rearrangement. Finally, Hg(OAc)₂ induced an oxidative aza‐Prins cyclization of 2 , thereby forging the remaining 5‐membered F‐ring. The total synthesis of 1 was thus accomplished by optimizing and orchestrating 33 transformations from 8 .     

Synthese von aromatischen Verbindungen mit einer prostaglandin-ähnlichen Struktur

Synthesis of Aromatic Compounds with a Prostaglandin-like Structure The syntheses of two prostaglandin-like molecules with aromatic nuclei instead of the usual 5membered ring are described.     

Azulene in Polymers and Their Properties

Azulene, a unique isomer of naphthalene, has received much interest from researchers in different fields due to its unusual chemical structure with a negatively charged 5‐membered ring fused with a positively charged 7‐membered ring. In particular, incorporation of azulene into polymers has led to many interesting properties. This minireview covers functionalization methods of azulene at its various positions of 5‐ and 7‐membered rings to form azulene derivatives including azulene monomers, and gives an overview of a wide range of azulene‐containing polymers including poly(1,3‐azulene), azulene‐based copolymers with connectivity at 1,3‐positions of the 5‐membered ring, or 4,7‐positions of the 7‐membered ring, as well as copolymers with azulene units as side chains. Their chemical and physical properties together with applications of azulene‐containing polymers have also been summarized.     

Facile and efficient synthesis of acridinediones from primary amino alcohols via three-component condensation reactions assisted by microwave irradiation

Microwave irradiation of three component reaction of dimedone, appropriate aromatic aldehydes and amino alcohols in a stoichiometrical ratio 2:1:1 for few minutes afforded the formation of a stable fused three membered ring of the corresponding 3,6,6-tetramethyl-2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10-decahydroacridine-1,8-dione derivatives in an excellent yield (80–91%). The structure of all products has been characterized by X-ray crystal structural analyses, ¹³C NMR, ¹H NMR, IR and mass spectrum analyses.     

Cyclobutanes in catalysis

The exploitation of ring strain as a driving force to facilitate chemical reactions is a well‐appreciated principle in organic chemistry. The most prominent and most frequently used compound classes in this respect are oxiranes and cyclopropanes. For rather a long time, cyclobutanes lagged behind these three‐membered‐ring compounds in their development as reactive substrates, but during the past decade an increasing number of useful reactions of four‐membered‐ring substrates have emerged. This Minireview examines corresponding catalytic reactions ranging from Lewis or Brønsted acid catalyzed processes to enzymatic reactions. The main focus is placed on transition‐metal‐catalyzed C C bond‐insertion and β‐carbon‐elimination processes, which enable exciting downstream reactions that deliver versatile building blocks.     

Relative reactivity of three and four membered rings--the absence of charge effect

Radical (neutral) and electrophilic (cationic) ring opening reactions were studied computationally in order to probe the difference in reactivity between three and four membered rings. Using the Marcus equation we have shown that the activation energy for the four membered ring opening is close to the Marcus predicted barrier whereas three membered rings display much higher reactivity than that predicted by the Marcus equation. Thus, the reactivity of the three membered rings is enhanced, in addition to the strain release, by another factor which is not operative in the four membered rings. It is clear also that this factor is not charge dependent. The possible origin of this effect is discussed.     

Computational insights into the S3 transfer reaction: A special case of double group transfer reaction featuring bicyclically delocalized aromatic transition state geometries

An unusual pericyclic process that involves the intermolecular transfer of thiozone (S₃) is computationally described. The process can be considered as a special case of double group transfer reaction whereby the two migrating groups are connected to the same substituent, taking place in a concerted manner via transition states featuring two five‐membered C₂S₃ rings fused together. Analysis of the aromaticity at the TS geometries by computing NICS values at the (3,+1) RCPS as well as ACID calculations confirms the aromatic character of each C₂S₃ ring, thus resulting in bicyclically delocalized aromatic structures. The free energy barriers for the transfer of S₃ are relatively similar (40–50 kcal mol⁻¹) to those computed for typical double H group transfer reactions. The similarities and differences between these processes have been further analysed by applying ASM–EDA and NBO approaches to the model reactions between ethene and ethane, and ethene and 1,2,3‐trithiolane. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

First Approach to Nitrogen‐Containing Fused Aromatic Hydrocarbons as Targets for Organoelectronics Utilizing a New Transformation of O‐Protected Diaryl Methanols

A new concise approach for the construction of heteroatom analogues of polycyclic aromatic benzo[g]quinoline, benzo[b]carbazole, and pyrido[b]carbazole systems via diaryl methanols is described. This transformation involves formation of a central benzene ring fused to two aromatic 5‐ or 6‐membered rings of pyrrole and/or pyridine by using a combination of two aromatic aldehydes, of which at least one contains a ring nitrogen. Analysis of the UV and fluorescent properties, Stokes shifts, quantum yields in solution, and π‐stacking interactions in the crystal structures of the new materials was performed. These polycyclic aromatic compounds show potential as small‐molecule organoelectronic materials.     

Ring‐Opening/Ring‐Closing Protocols from Nitrothiophenes: Six‐Membered versus Unusual Eight‐Membered Sulfur Heterocycles through Michael‐Type Addition on Nitrobutadienes

When Ar is a low‐aromaticity homo‐ or heterosystem, the sulfonyl‐stabilized anion of nitrobutadienes 4 (which derive from the initial ring opening of 3‐nitrothiophene) undergoes a rather surprising addition onto the aromatic ring itself, thereby leading to the construction of an unusual eight‐membered sulfur heterocycle condensed with the original Ar ring. The competitiveness of such a pathway with respect to the formation of the thiopyran ring (i.e., addition onto the nitrovinyl moiety) is favored at low temperatures, thus revealing its nature as a kinetically controlled process.     

Synthesis of novel cyclic sulfone dihydropyridines facilitated by a selective ethyl diazoacetate ring expansion

A series of novel cyclic sulfone dihydropyridines with five to nine membered rings have been synthesized. Anomalous intermediates isolated from the Hantzch condensation were found to vary depending on the sulfone ring size and aromatic substitution. Tin tetrachloride has been shown to be a superior Lewis acid catalyst for ethyl diazoacetate ring expansion of the requesite β-keto cyclic sulfone precursors.