Essential oxygen : The title transformation involves two different modes of cyanation, syn and anti cyanopalladation, as the key steps in this catalytic reaction. These processes enable successful dicyanative cyclization of diyne and enyne derivatives (see scheme).
My favorite subject at school was Chemistry. I chose chemistry as a career because I love the fact we can “Just Do It” without over‐thinking. This and more about Wenbin Lin can be found on page 4472.
Caught in the middle : The ionomycin calcium complex (see structure; O red, Ca green) was the target of an approach featuring the efficient asymmetric synthesis of an allene by a copper(I)‐mediated anti‐selective SN2′ reaction, a highly stereoselective gold(III)‐catalyzed cycloisomerization of an α‐hydroxyallene, and a Rh‐catalyzed rearrangement of an α‐diazo‐β‐hydroxyketone.
Two series of BODIPY dyes with substituents either in the α positions or in the β positions and different conjugation lengths were synthesized by means of iridium‐catalyzed borylation and rhodium‐catalyzed Heck‐type addition (see scheme). The α‐ and β‐substituted series show completely different photophysical properties. BODIPY=boron dipyrrin.
Guided by nature : A flexible and epimerization‐free approach for the asymmetric syntheses of melleumin A and four analogues of melleumins A and B was developed, which allowed confirming the stereochemistry at C‐4 of melleumin A, and revealed that the unnatural 4‐epi‐melleumin B possesses a modest inhibitory activity on Wnt signaling.
Nothing to sm(Ir)k at : Under appropriate reaction conditions, iridium hydride catalysts promote the isomerization of primary allylic alcohols. The best catalysts, like (R)‐ 1 (P green, O red, N blue, Ir yellow), deliver the desired chiral aldehydes with excellent enantioselectivity and good yields. Mechanistic hypotheses have been developed on the basis of preliminary investigations.
The center of it all : An antitumor‐active trinuclear platinum complex forms unprecedented interstrand cross‐linked triadducts with 18‐mer DNA duplexes (see figure; complex in yellow with the platinum centers in red) and behaves differently from its dinuclear analogue.
Brighten up! Adding surfactants to aqueous solutions of three different water‐soluble cruciforms (XF) improves their fluorescence quantum yields. Additionally, changes are observed in the emission wavelength of the XF around the critical micelle concentration (cmc) of the surfactant.
