NaIO4-NaN3-mediated diazidation of styrenes, alkenes, benzylic alcohols, and aryl ketones

Sodium periodate and sodium azide combination has been found to be an excellent reagent system suitable for the direct diazidation of styrenes, alkenes, benzylic alcohols, and aryl ketones to produce the corresponding vicinal and geminal diazides respectively in high yields under mild reaction conditions.     

Highly efficient synthesis of aryl ketones by PEPPSI-palladium catalyzed acylative Suzuki coupling of amides with diarylborinic acids

An improved acylative cross-coupling of various N-methyl-N-tosyl amides with diarylborinic acids for synthesis of aryl ketones is developed. In most cases, aryl ketones could be obtained in excellent yields by using 1?mol% 2,6-diisopropylphenylimidazolylidene and 3-chloropyridine co-supported palladium chloride as catalyst in the presence of 3 equiv. K₂CO₃ as base in refluxing THF. The readily prepared and cost-effective substrates, N-methyl-N-tosylamides and diarylborinic acids, and the commercially available catalyst system promise a practical and efficient access to aryl ketones.     

(S)-Pyrrolidine sulfonamide catalyzed asymmetric direct aldol reactions of aryl methyl ketones with aryl aldehydes

A (S)-pyrrolidine sulfonamide catalyzed asymmetric direct aldol reaction of aryl methyl ketones with aromatic aldehydes has been developed with moderate to good enantioselectivities. The study considerably broadens the substrate scope of chiral amines promoted aldol processes.     

An efficient palladium-catalyzed Heck coupling of aryl chlorides with alkenes

Catalyst system PdCl₂(PCy₃)₂/Cs₂CO₃ in dioxane was found to be the efficient catalyst system for Heck cross-coupling reactions of deactivated, neutral, and activated aryl chlorides with a variety of alkenes under mild conditions to afford selectively E-arylated alkenes in good to excellent yields.     

Reaction of aryl di-, tri-, or tetrabromides with arylboronic acids or alkenes in the presence of a palladium-tetraphosphine catalyst

cis,cis,cis-1,2,3,4-Tetrakis(diphenylphosphinomethyl)cyclopentane/[PdCl(C₃H₅)]₂ system catalyses the Suzuki and Heck reactions of aryl di-, tri-, or tetrabromides with a range of arylboronic acids or alkenes with moderate to high ratio substrate/catalyst in good yields. Aryl polybromides such as dibromobenzenes, 1,3,5-tribromobenzene, 1,2,4,5-tetrabromobenzene, dibromopyridines or a dibromothiophene have been successfully used. Convenient synthesis of a variety of di- and triarylated or vinylated compounds and even a 1,2,4,5-tetraarylated compound were prepared by use of this reaction.     

Utilization of microwave heating in the McMurry reaction for facile coupling of aldehydes and ketones to give alkenes

Microwave heating was applied in high-yield syntheses of alkenes by McMurry coupling of aldehydes and ketones with low-valent titanium. All aldehydes and ketones including sulfur end-capped analogues gave alkenes in isolated yields above 80% without detectable amounts of pinacols.     

Microwave-assisted selenium dioxide oxidation of aryl methyl ketones to aryl glyoxals

We report an improved procedure for the synthesis of phenyl glyoxal and a series of para-substituted aryl glyoxals by microwave-assisted selenium dioxide oxidation. The reaction time has been reduced from several hours to three minutes for activated aryl methyl ketone substrates and 18 min for deactivated substrates, with all reactions affording quantitative conversion into the corresponding aryl glyoxals.     

Uncatalysed coupling of an activated aryl chloride with aryllithium and aryl Grignard reagents

Substitution of the chloro group in 2-(2-chlorophenyl)-4,4-dimethyl-2-oxazoline to afford biaryls occurs upon reaction with either aryllithium reagents or aryl Grignard reagents. The reactions with Grignard reagents occur under similar conditions to a previously reported manganese-catalysed procedure. The reactions with lithium reagents, whilst not always affording greater yields of product than the Grignard reagents, involve much shorter reaction times and afford yields, which are comparable with those obtained from the corresponding fluoro derivative.     

Intramolecular cross-dehydrogenative coupling of benzaldehyde derivatives: A novel and efficient route to benzocyclic ketones

Benzocyclic ketones are not only found throughout many natural products and synthetic pharmaceutically active compounds but also used as versatile building blocks in organic synthesis. In view of their importance, many researchers have been working to explore novel and efficient synthetic routes for this class of carbonyl compounds. Recently, cross-dehydrogenative coupling reactions have emerged as one of the most versatile and powerful synthetic strategies to construct various carbon-carbon and carbon-heteroatom bonds. In this regard, direct acylation of (hetero)arenes with aldehydes through C(sp²)-H activation opened up a new page on the synthesis of the titled compounds. In this focus-review, we discuss the most representative and important reports on the synthesis of cyclic diaryl ketones through intramolecular cross-dehydrogenative coupling reactions of corresponding benzaldehydes with emphasis on the mechanistic aspects of the reactions.     

Metal-free synthesis of aryl esters by coupling aryl carboxylic acids and aryl boronic acids

A facile synthesis of aryl esters is developed by coupling aryl carboxylic acids and aryl boronic acids in the presence of PhI(OAc)₂ and carbonyl diimidazole. A wide range of functional groups were tolerant to the metal-free reaction condition that led to the desired products in good yields.     

Titanocene-catalyzed double silylation of dienes and aryl alkenes with chlorosilanes

Double silylation of 1,3-butadienes with chlorosilanes was found to proceed by using titanocene dichloride as the catalyst in the presence of ⁿBuMgCl, giving rise to 1,4-disilylated 2-butenes in good yields. Aryl substituted alkenes also afforded 1,2-disilylated products under similar conditions.     

Palladium(0) nanoparticle-catalyzed sp C-H activation: a convenient route to alkyl-aryl ketones by direct acylation of aryl bromides and iodides with aldehydes

Palladium(0) nanoparticles efficiently catalyze aliphatic aldehyde C-H functionalization by aryl halides to produce alkyl-aryl ketones in good yields. A wide range of substituted aryl and hetero-aryl bromides/iodides and open-chain aldehydes of varied chain length participated in this reaction.     

Asymmetric hydrogenation of aromatic ketones with MeO-PEG-supported BIPHEP/DPEN ruthenium catalysts

A soluble polymer (MeO-PEG) supported biphenylbisphosphine (BIPHEP)-Ru/chiral diamine (1,2-diphenylethylenediamine) complex, in which the polymer is attached to the two phenyl rings of BIPHEP ligand, has been prepared, and shown to be highly active with good enantioselectivity for the catalyzed asymmetric hydrogenation of unfunctionalized aromatic ketones. The derived chiral ruthenium complex 5 proved to be stable in air allowing facile catalyst recycling. Especially for 4′-tert-butyl-acetophenone and 1-acetonaphthone, excellent ee values up to 96.5% and 95.9% have been obtained which are comparable to or even higher than the enantioselectivity achieved with 2,2′-bis(diphenylphosphino)-1,1′-binaphthyl-Ru-DPEN catalyst under similar conditions.     

Palladium-catalyzed oxidative coupling of trialkylamines with aryl iodides leading to alkyl aryl ketones

A new, simple method for selectively synthesizing alkyl aryl ketones has been developed by palladium-catalyzed oxidative coupling of trialkylamines with aryl iodides. In the presence of PdCl(2)(MeCN)(2), TBAB, and ZnO, a variety of aryl iodides underwent an oxidative coupling reaction with tertiary amines and water to afford the corresponding alkyl aryl ketones in moderate to excellent yields. It is noteworthy that this method is the first example of using trialkylamines as the carbonyl sources for constructing alkyl aryl ketone skeletons.     

The Mg-oppenauer oxidation as a mild method for the synthesis of aryl and metallocenyl ketones

Magnesium alkoxides undergo a hydride-transfer oxidation with benzaldehyde as the oxidant. This magnesium variant of the Oppenauer oxidation was used for the synthesis of polyfunctional biaryl ketones. LiCl was found to promote this reaction by enhancing the solubility of magnesium alkoxides. This mild oxidation method was especially useful for preparing ketones bearing a metallocenyl unit as well as various new ferrocenyl ketones and tricarbonylchromium complexes. This last class of ketones was reduced with the CBS catalyst (CBS=Corey-Bakshi-Shibata, diphenyl oxazaborolidine) to chiral benzhydrol complexes with high enantioselectivity enabling an asymmetric synthesis of electron-rich or -poor benzhydryl alcohols (up to 94 % ee).     

Palladium-catalyzed deacetonative coupling of aryl propargylic alcohols with aryl chlorides in water

A highly efficient and green process for palladium-catalyzed deacetonative coupling of aryl propargylic alcohols with aryl chlorides has been developed. The reaction occurs smoothly in neat water with 2?mol% PdCl₂ as catalyst, and various synthetically useful functional groups, including ether, aldehyde, ketone, and heterocyclics, are well tolerated. Moreover, the reaction could proceed through a consecutive Sonogashira/deacetonative process using 2-methyl-3-butyn-2-ol and aryl chlorides as coupling partners, affording the symmetric alkynes in good yields.     

Role of heteroaromatic cycles in the inter- and intra-molecular dynamics of excited aryl ketones

Although the photophysics and photochemistry of aromatic carbonyl compounds have been extensively studied over several years, the interest in their photobehaviors is still alive and they continue to be investigated by exploiting advanced experimental and computational technologies. In this article complete series of pyridyl, di-pyridyl, thienyl, di-thienyl and thienyl-pyridyl ketones are reviewed, mainly from the spectroscopic and photochemical points of view. Properties and reactivity of their excited states have been investigated through stationary absorption and emission spectra, time resolved transient spectroscopy, dynamic luminescence techniques and computational methods. The results reported demonstrate that the photophysics and photochemistry of these molecules can be modulated by changing the rings linked to the carbonyl (pyridyl, thienyl, phenyl) and their linking position, as also the microenvironment where they are included. Of special importance are their properties of triplet photosensitizers and their ability in photogenerating free radicals. Enhancing or depressing such properties may be required in applications and this can be achieved by structure and environment changes.     

Heterogeneous selective catalytic hydrogenation of aryl ketones to alcohols without additives

A selective hydrogenation of different aryl ketones can be obtained by using a heterogeneous copper catalyst under very mild experimental conditions, namely 90 °C and 1 atm of hydrogen, without using any kind of additive or poisoning agent.