Facile N‐Alkylation/N′‐Arylation Process: A Direct Approach to Aromatic Aminoalkyl Amines

An intriguing C?N transformation involving a catalyst‐free N‐alkylation/N′‐arylation process in a multicomponent reaction with secondary amines, cyclic tertiary amines and electron‐deficient aryl halides has been described. In this case, the N‐alkylation of secondary amines, utilizing cyclic tertiary amines as alkyl group sources, is enabled by a facile C?N cleavage. Such an operationally simple method could facilitate access to aromatic aminoalkyl amines, nitrogen‐containing bioactive molecules, in good to excellent yields.     

Direct Palladium‐Catalyzed β‐Arylation of Lactams

A direct and catalytic method is reported here for β‐arylation of N‐protected lactams with simple aryl iodides. The transformation is enabled by merging soft enolization of lactams, palladium‐catalyzed desaturation, Ar?X bond activation, and aryl conjugate addition. The reaction is operated under mild reaction conditions, is scalable, and is chemoselective. Application of this method to concise syntheses of pharmaceutically relevant compounds is demonstrated.     

Palladium‐Catalyzed Decarboxylative γ‐Arylation for the Synthesis of Tetrasubstituted Chiral Allenes

An enantiospecific palladium‐catalyzed decarboxylative coupling of acyclic β,γ‐alkynoic acids with various aryl iodides to chiral tetrasubstituted allenes is described. The coupling reaction comprises a decarboxylative γ‐palladation of α,α‐disubstituted carboxylic acids to provide the tetrasubstituted allenes with complete point‐to‐axial chirality transfer in excellent yields.     

(R)‐2,3‐Cyclohexylideneglyceraldehyde,a Chiral Pool Synthon for the Synthesis of 2‐Azido‐1,3‐diols

A new approach was proposed for the synthesis of 2‐azido‐1,3‐diols from easily available and inexpensive chiral pool synthon (R)‐2,3‐O‐cyclohexylidene‐D ‐glyceraldehyde, through Mitsunobu azidation of 1,2‐diols. Both C(2) and C(1) azides in variable ratios were obtained in alkyl substituted diols with C(2) as the major one.     

A Facile Synthesis of Enantiomerically Pure (R)‐6‐Arylbinols

This work reported a convenient method for the preparation of enantiomerically pure 6‐aryl‐2,2′‐dihydroxy‐1,1′‐binaphthyl derivatives starting from the commercially available (R)‐2,2′‐hydroxy‐1,1′‐binaphthyl [(R)‐ 1 ] via bromination, hydrolysis and Suzuki cross coupling reaction. This novel synthetic method was characterized with high regioselectivity, simple operation, mild reaction conditions, and excellent yield (up to 73%). On the other hand, we synthesized the target unknown compounds, which were confirmed by IR, ¹H NMR, ¹³C NMR, MS and elementary analysis.     

Metal‐Dependent Reaction Tuning with Cyclopentylmetal Reagents: Application to the Asymmetric Synthesis of (+)‐α‐Conhydrine and (S)‐2‐Cyclopentyl‐2‐phenylglycolic Acid

Tuning in : The reaction of halocyclopentane organometallic reagents can be tuned by the choice of metal (see scheme). Cyclopentylmagnesium bromide reduces aldehydes and ketones to the corresponding alcohols. However, in the presence of ZnCl₂, normal Grignard addition to the ketones gives tertiary alcohols with complete diastereoselectivity. These protocols were used in the asymmetric synthesis of two medicinally important compounds.

     

Direct Arylation of 5‐Iodouracil and 5‐Iodouridine with Heteroarenes and Benzene via Photochemical Reaction

A method for the direct arylation of 5‐iodouracil and 5‐iodouridine was found to proceed in moderate yields. By irradiating mixtures of 5‐iodouracil or 5‐iodouridine and a series of five‐membered heterocycles such as 1H‐pyrrole, furan, 2‐methylfuran, 1‐methyl‐1H‐pyrrole, thiophene, as well as benzene in MeCN/H₂O with a Hg lamp, 5‐aryluracils and 5‐aryluridines were synthesized. The reaction proceeded smoothly without the requirement of adding any transition metals or ligands.     

Diastereoselective Alkyl Grignard 1,4‐Additions to para‐Substituted (2R)‐N‐Cinnamoylbornane‐10,2‐sultam Derivatives: Influence of N‐Atom Pyramidalization

Several typical ¹³C‐NMR displacements (of C?O, C(α), C(β), and C_ipso), as well as conformational or energy properties (S? N? C?O dihedral angle, ΔE syn/anti; HOMO/LUMO) could be correlated with the electronic parameters of p‐substituted N‐cinnamoylbornane‐10,2‐sultams 2 . Even under nonchelating conditions, the pyramidalization of the sultam N‐atom decreases for electron‐attracting p‐substituents, inducing a modification of the sultam‐ring puckering. Detailed comparison of the X‐ray structure analyses of 2b, 2d , and 2m showed that the orientation of the sterically directing pseudo‐axial S?O(2) and H? C(2) is modified and precludes any conclusion about the π‐facial stereoelectronic influence of the N lone pair on the alkyl Grignard 1,4‐addition. We also showed that the aggregating alkyl Grignard reagent may be used in equimolar fashion, demonstrating that the sultam moiety is chelated with a Lewis acid such as MgBr₂. The Schlenk equilibrium may also be used to generate the appropriate conditions of effective 1,4‐diastereoselectivity. Although the anti‐s‐cis/syn‐s‐cis difference of conformational energies for N‐cinnamoyl derivatives 2 is higher than for the simple N‐crotonoyl analogue, an X‐ray structure analysis of the SO₂/C?O syn derivative 10 confirms the predictive validity of our conformational calculations for ΔE≤1.8 kcal/mol.     

Organocatalytic Atroposelective Arylation of 2‐Naphthylamines as a Practical Approach to Axially Chiral Biaryl Amino Alcohols

The first phosphoric acid catalyzed direct arylation of 2‐naphthylamines with iminoquinones for the atroposelective synthesis of axially chiral biaryl amino alcohols has been developed. This reaction constitutes a highly functional‐group‐tolerant route for the rapid construction of enantioenriched axially chiral biaryl amino alcohols, and is a rare example of 2‐naphthylamines acting as nucleophiles in an organocatalytic enantioselective transformation. Furthermore, the products, which feature various halogen atoms, provide access to structurally diverse axially chiral amino alcohols through further transformations.     

The Combination of Benzaldehyde and Nickel‐Catalyzed Photoredox C(sp3)−H Alkylation/Arylation

Herein we report a highly selective photoredox C(sp³)?H alkylation/arylation of ethers through the combination of a photo‐organocatalyst (benzaldehyde) and a transition‐metal catalyst (nickel). This method provides a simple and general strategy for the C(sp³)?H alkylation/arylation of ethers. A selective late‐stage modification of (?)‐ambroxide has also been conducted to demonstrate the applicability of the method.     

Tandem Thorpe Reaction/Palladium Catalyzed Asymmetric Allylic Alkylation: Access to Chiral β‐enaminonitriles with Excellent Enantioselectivity

A new type of nucleophile, a 3‐imino nitrile carbanion generated in situ by Thorpe reaction of acetonitrile with a base, was developed successfully and applied in a Pd‐catalyzed asymmetric allylic alkylation with mono‐substituted allyl reagents under Pd/SIOCPhox catalysis, affording β‐enaminonitrile products in high yields with excellent regio‐ and enantioselectivities.