Na/THF- Mediated cleavage of organic disulfides/diselenides. An efficient and one-pot regioselective method to the synthesis of β-hydroxy sulfides/selenides

A new, facile, and efficient methodology for synthesizing β-hydroxy sulfides/selenides has been reported. In this study, 1,2-epoxide ring opening was used as the synthetic protocol, and this reaction was examined using metallic sodium with no additional catalyst. This lead to the synthesis of the desired ring-opened products. Relatively short reaction times, mild reaction conditions, a simple work-up, moderate to good yields of products, and remarkable regioselectivity of the nucleophilic attack were other important features of this study.     

Synthesis of 4-unsubstituted 2H-1,2,3-benzothiadiazine 1,1-dioxides via ortho lithiation of protected benzaldehyde derivatives

Variously substituted 2-phenyl-1,3-dioxolanes and 2-(2-bromophenyl)-1,3-dioxolanes, prepared from the corresponding benzaldehydes, were lithiated ortho to the acetal group. Reaction of the lithio derivatives with sulfur dioxide led to the lithium sulfinate salts, which gave, upon oxidative chlorination with sulfuryl chloride, the corresponding benzenesulfonyl chlorides. Then, depending on the aromatic substitution pattern of the molecule, several protocols were elaborated for the functional group transformations leading to the target compounds. Ring closure was performed with hydrazine hydrate or acetylhydrazine, in the latter case with one-pot removal of the acetyl group. The 4-unsubstituted 2H-1,2,3-benzothiadiazine 1,1-dioxides thus obtained are potential drug candidates based on their structural similarity to biologically active phthalazinones.     

An Fe3O4 nanoparticle-supported Mn (II)-azo Schiff complex acts as a heterogeneous catalyst in alcoholysis of epoxides

In this paper, an azo-containing Schiff base complex of manganese [Mn²⁺-azo ligand@APTES-SiO₂@Fe₃O₄] immobilized on chemically modified Fe₃O₄ nanoparticles has been used as a magnetically retrievable catalyst for the alcoholysis of different epoxides to their corresponding alkoxy alcohols with methanol, ethanol and n-propanol. The newly magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX) and vibrating sample magnetometry (VSM).     

Single Atom Ring Contraction of Peptide Macrocycles Using Cornforth Rearrangement

Site-selective transformations of densely functionalized scaffolds have been a topic of intense interest in chemical synthesis. Herein we have repurposed the rarely used Cornforth rearrangement as a tool to effect a single-atom ring contraction in cyclic peptide backbones. Investigations into the kinetics of the rearrangement were carried out to understand the impact of electronic factors, ring size, and linker type on the reaction efficiency. Conformational analysis was undertaken and showed how subtle differences in the peptide backbone result in substrate-dependent reaction profiles. This methodology can now be used to perform conformation-activity studies. The chemistry also offers an opportunity to install building blocks that are not compatible with traditional C-to-N iterative synthesis of macrocycle precursors.     

Palladium-Catalyzed Fluorinative Bifunctionalization of Aziridines and Azetidines with gem-Difluorocyclopropanes

An unprecedented Pd-catalyzed fluorinative bifunctionalization of aziridines and azetidines was successfully developed via regioselective C−C and C−F bond cleavage of gem-difluorocyclopropanes, leading to various β,β′-bisfluorinated amines and β,γ-bisfluorinated amines. This reaction was achieved by incorporating a 2-fluorinated allyl group and a fluorine atom scissored from gem-difluorocyclopropane in 100 % atom economy for the first time. The mechanistic investigations indicated that the reaction underwent amine attacking 2-fluorinated allyl palladium complex to generate η²-coordinated N-allyl aziridine followed by fluoride ligand transfer affording the final β- and γ-fluorinated amines.     

CycloSiFA: The Next Generation of Silicon-Based Fluoride Acceptors for Positron Emission Tomography (PET)

The ring-opening Si-fluorination of a variety of azasilole derivatives cyclo-1-(iPr₂Si)−4-X−C₆H₃−2-CH₂NR ( 4 : R=2,6-iPr₂C₆H₃, X=H; 4 a : R=2,4,6-Me₃C₆H₂, X=H; 9 : R=2,6-iPr₂C₆H₃, X=tBuMe₂SiO; 10 : R=2,6-iPr₂C₆H₃, X=OH; 13 : R=2,6-iPr₂C₆H₃, X=HCCCH₂O; 22 : R=2,6-iPr₂C₆H₃, X=tBuMe₂SiCH₂O) with different ¹⁹F-fluoride sources was studied, optimized and the experience gained was used in a translational approach to create a straightforward ¹⁸F-labelling protocol for the azasilole derivatives [¹⁸F] 6 and [¹⁸F] 14 . The latter constitutes a potential clickable CycloSiFA prosthetic group which might be used in PET tracer development using Cu-catalysed triazole formation. Based on our findings, CycloSiFA has the potential to become a new entry into non-canonical labelling methodologies for radioactive PET tracer development.     

Synthesis of Selectively gem-Difluorinated Molecules; Chiral gem-Difluorocyclopropanes via Chemo-Enzymatic Reaction and gem-Difluorinated Compounds via Radical Reaction

The incorporation of fluorine atoms into an organic compound can alter the chemical reactivity or biological activity of the resulting compound due to the strong electron withdrawing nature of the fluorine atom. We have synthesized many original gem-difluorinated compounds and described the results in four sections. The first section describes the synthesis of optically active-gem-difluorocyclopropanes via the chemo-enzymatic reaction; we applied these compounds to liquid crystalline molecules, then further discovered a potent DNA cleavage activity for the gem-difluorocyclopropane derivatives. The second section describes the synthesis of selectively gem-difluorinated compounds via a radical reaction; we synthesized fluorinated analogues of a sex pheromone of the male African sugarcane borer, Eldana saccharina, and used the compounds as proof for investigating the origin of pheromone molecule recognition on the receptor protein. The third involves the synthesis of 2,2-difluorinated-esters by visible light-driven radical addition of 2,2-difluoroacetate with alkenes or alkynes in the presence of an organic pigment. The last section describes the synthesis of gem-difluorinated compounds via the ring-opening of gem-difluorocyclopropanes. We further developed a novel method of synthesizing gem-difluorohomoallylic alcohols via the ring-opening of gem-difluorocyclopropane and aerobic oxidation by photo-irradiation in the presence of an organic pigment. Since gem-difluorinated compounds that were prepared by the present method have two olefinic moieties with a different reactivity at the terminal position, we accomplished the synthesis of four types of gem-difluorinated cyclic alkenols via the ring-closing-metathesis (RCM) reaction.