Direct Visualization of a Mechanochemically Induced Molecular Rearrangement

Recent progress in the field of mechanochemistry has expanded the discovery of mechanically induced chemical transformations to several areas of science. However, a general fundamental understanding of how mechanochemical reactions by ball milling occur has remained unreached. For this, we have now implemented in situ monitoring of a mechanochemically induced molecular rearrangement by synchrotron X‐ray powder diffraction, Raman spectroscopy, and real‐time temperature sensing. The results of this study demonstrate that molecular rearrangements can be accomplished in the solid state by ball milling and how in situ monitoring techniques enable the visualization of changes occurring at the exact instant of a molecular migration. The mechanochemical benzil–benzilic acid rearrangement is the focal point of the study.     

Silica gel enables Achmatowicz rearrangement with KBr/oxone under “anhydrous” condition for one-pot functionalization

Silica gel was found to effectively promote Achmatowicz rearrangement (AchR) using KBr/oxone under near anhydrous condition. This new protocol allows direct functionalization of AchR products in a one-pot manner, effectively reducing the cost, time, and environmental impacts derived from the conventional stop-and-go approach using separate reaction vessels. These advantages were demonstrated in four types of sequential one-pot reactions: i) AchR-Kishi reduction (and AchR-Ferrier allylation); ii) AchR-acylation-O-glycosylation; iii) AchR-acylation-[5 + 2]-cycloaddition; and iv) AchR-TEMPO oxidation.     

Beyond Achmatowicz reaction: DDQ-mediated chemo- and stereoconvergent domino-one pot cyclization/rearrangement of bis-thioenol ether-containing chiral building blocks

A highly convergent multistep process incorporating an aza-Achmatowicz rearrangement has been described, selectively providing enantiomerically pure bicyclic (dihydro)furans 9 and 18 as well as the tricyclic dihydropyridinone 23 from acyclic starting materials after up to eight sequential synthetic transformations in one step.     

Manipulating Reaction Energy Coordinate Landscape of Mechanochemical Diaza-Cope Rearrangement

Chiral vicinal diamines, a unique class of optically-active building blocks, play a crucial role in material design, pharmaceutical, and catalysis. Traditionally, their syntheses are all solvent-based approaches, which make organic solvent an indispensable part of their production. As part of our program aiming to develop chemical processes with reduced carbon footprints, we recently reported a highly practical and environmentally-friendly synthetic route to chiral vicinal diamines by solvent-free mechanochemical diaza-Cope rearrangement. We herein showed that a new protocol by co-milling with common laboratory solid additives, such as silica gel, can significantly enhance the efficiency of the reaction, compared to reactions in the absence of additives. One possible explanation is the Lewis acidic nature of additives that accelerates a key Schiff base formation step. Reaction monitoring experiments tracing all the reaction species, including reactants, intermediates, and product, suggested that the reaction profile is distinctly different from ball-milling reactions without additives. Collectively, this work demonstrated that additive effect is a powerful tool to manipulate a reaction pathway in mechanochemical diazo-Cope rearrangement pathway, and this is expected to find broad interest in organic synthesis using mechanical force as an energy input.     

Highly trans‐Selective Arylation of Achmatowicz Rearrangement Products by Reductive γ‐Deoxygenation and Heck–Matsuda Reaction: Asymmetric Total Synthesis of (−)‐Musellarins A–C and Their Analogues

Fully functionalized pyranuloses derived from Achmatowicz rearrangement (AR) are versatile building blocks in organic synthesis. However, access to trans‐2,6‐dihydropyrans from pyranuloses remains underexplored. Herein, we report a new two‐step trans arylation of AR products to access 2,6‐trans‐dihydropyranones. This new trans‐arylation method built on numerous plausible, but unsuccessful, direct arylation reactions, including Ferrier‐type and Tsuji–Trost‐type reactions, was finally enabled by an unprecedented, highly regioselective γ‐deoxygenation of AR products by using Zn/HOAc and a diastereoselective Heck–Matsuda coupling. The synthetic utility of the reaction was demonstrated in the first asymmetric total synthesis of (?)‐musellarins A–C and 12 analogues in 11–12 steps. The brevity and efficiency of our synthetic route permitted preparation of enantiomerically pure musellarins and analogues (>20 mg) for preliminary cytotoxicity evaluation, which led us to identify two analogues with three‐to‐six times greater potency than the musellarins as promising new leads.     

Mechanochemical Iridium(III)‐Catalyzed C−H Bond Amidation of Benzamides with Sulfonyl Azides under Solvent‐Free Conditions in a Ball Mill

Mechanochemical conditions have been applied to an iridium(III)‐catalyzed C?H bond amidation process for the first time. In the absence of solvent, the mechanochemical activation enables the formation of an iridium species that catalyzes the ortho‐selective amidation of benzamides with sulfonyl azides as the nitrogen source. As the reaction proceeds in the absence of organic solvents without external heating and yields the desired products in excellent yields within short reaction times, this method constitutes a powerful, fast, and environmentally benign alternative to the common solvent‐based standard approaches.     

Mechanochemical Pretreatment for Efficient Solvent-Free Synthesis of SSZ-13 Zeolite

The economical and environmentally benign synthesis of SSZ-13 zeolite was possible due to the mechanochemical activation of dry reagents by planetary mill. Contrary to manual grinding in a mortar, the proposed automatized approach is scalable and reproducible. This solvent-free process provided a huge gain in product/gel ratios, significantly minimized reaction space and organic structure-directing agent use, and allowed for the elimination of agitation. Obtained materials were comparable to the product of “classical” syntheses. The use of different silica sources resulted in SSZ-13 zeolites with various characteristics: different Si/Al ratio and crystal size.     

Reactivity and Structural Properties of a Mechanochemically Treated Ag2O-V2O5 System in Relation to AgVO3 Polymorphs

Formation and chemical properties of amorphous AgVO₃, which was prepared by mechanochemical treatment of an Ag₂O-V₂O₅ mixture, and crystalline AgVO₃ were studied in relation to AgVO₃ polymorphs. A ball-milled sample of the mixture was assigned as a highly deformed β-AgVO₃ rather than the low density phase α-AgVO₃. Crystalline α-AgVO₃ and β-AgVO₃ were converted into deformed β-AgVO₃ by ball milling, which produced a clear change. δ-AgVO₃ is resistant to mechanical treatment and its structure was not markedly affected. The dissolved chemical species from the ball-milled sample precipitates to form α-AgVO₃ without a seeding crystal, but other polymorphs deposit if they are present; i.e., β-AgVO₃ and δ-AgVO₃ grow on the seeding crystal.     

Mechanochemically Triggered Topology Changes in Expanded Porphyrins

A hitherto unexplored class of molecules for molecular force probe applications are expanded porphyrins. This work proves that mechanical force is an effective stimulus to trigger the interconversion between Hückel and Möbius topologies in [28]hexaphyrin, making these expanded porphyrins suitable to act as conformational mechanophores operating at mild (sub-1 nN ) force conditions. A straightforward approach based on distance matrices is proposed for the selection of pulling scenarios that promote either the planar Hückel topology or the three lowest lying Möbius topologies. This approach is supported by quantum mechanochemical calculations. Force distribution analyses reveal that [28]hexaphyrin selectively allocates the external mechanical energy to molecular regions that trigger Hückel–Möbius interconversions, explaining why certain pulling scenarios favor the Hückel two-sided topology and others favor Möbius single-sided topologies. The meso-substitution pattern on [28]hexaphyrin determines whether the energy difference between the different topologies can be overcome by mechanical activation.     

Kinetic analysis of the mechanochemical syntheses of dialkyl 2,2′-bipyridyl-4,4′-dicarboxylate complexes of palladium

Kinetic models for the ‘molecular’ mechanochemical syntheses of α- and β-dialkyl 2,2′-bipyridyl-4,4′-dicarboxylate complexes of palladium (PdLⁿI₂, where n specifies the number of carbons in the alkyl chain of the ligand and α and β refer to the substitution of the alkyl chain) are explored. The Johnson–Mehl–Avrami–Yerofeev–Kolmogrov (JMAYK) model was determined to best fit the data obtained via ¹H NMR spectroscopic analysis of the reaction mixtures over time. A rate enhancement, and corresponding increase in the Avrami exponent, was observed when the complex formed was liquid crystalline at milling temperatures.     

Thermal Properties of Mechanochemically Pretreated Precursors of BaTiO3 Synthesis

The changes of physico-chemical properties of mechanochemically pretreated (BaCO₃ +TiO₂ +PbO) powders were investigated. The values of apparent activation energy of BaTiO₃ formation calculated by the Freeman and Carroll method decrease with milling time. The changes of precursors density may be interpreted as a consequence of mechanochemical reactions during milling. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

可见光催化诱导的Smiles重排研究进展

Smiles重排反应是有机合成中被广泛使用的人名反应之一, 是芳基化合物构建策略的一种独特方法. Smiles重排经历了近一个世纪的发展, 从传统的离子型Smiles反应、Truce-Smiles反应等, 发展到后期的自由基型Smiles重排, 这些进展极大地丰富了该反应在合成化学、材料化学等领域的应用. 近年来, 光催化氧化还原反应获得了广泛关注, 这一新颖催化模式高效利用光能, 能在温和的条件下产生自由基中间体, 实现了很多选择性反应. 过去的五年中, 化学家逐渐将这一催化模式应用到了Smiles重排反应中, 发展了一系列新颖、实用的合成方法. 本文对这些进展进行综述, 主要依据促进重排反应的自由基种类和成键类型进行分类.     

Asymmetric Organocatalytic Rearrangement Reactions

Rearrangement reactions often lead to the regio‐ and stereoselective formation of carbon–carbon or carbon–heteroatom bonds, and allow the construction of otherwise hard‐to‐access molecular frameworks. Research disclosed in the present decade, especially in the last two years, has shown that organocatalytic modes of activation can be successfully applied to a variety of rearrangements. In this Minireview we discuss the advances achieved so far in asymmetric organocatalytic rearrangement reactions.     

A Mechanochemically Triggered “Click” Catalyst

“Click” chemistry represents one of the most powerful approaches for linking molecules in chemistry and materials science. Triggering this reaction by mechanical force would enable site‐ and stress‐specific “click” reactions—a hitherto unreported observation. We introduce the design and realization of a homogeneous Cu catalyst able to activate through mechanical force when attached to suitable polymer chains, acting as a lever to transmit the force to the central catalytic system. Activation of the subsequent copper‐catalyzed “click” reaction (CuAAC) is achieved either by ultrasonication or mechanical pressing of a polymeric material, using a fluorogenic dye to detect the activation of the catalyst. Based on an N‐heterocyclic copper(I) carbene with attached polymeric chains of different flexibility, the force is transmitted to the central catalyst, thereby activating a CuAAC in solution and in the solid state.     

Mechanochemical tools in the synthesis of organometallic compounds

In response to rising environmental concerns, chemistry is experiencing a considerable change in both concepts and practices to adopt more efficient and sustainable technologies. One of the alternative technologies that offer many advantages over the conventional solution-based techniques is mechanochemistry which utilizes mechanical energy to induce chemical reactions. Despite the fact that mechanochemistry has reached high significance in the creation of advanced materials, such as alloys, ceramics, electrode materials, and nanocomposites, in the field of small molecule synthesis its potential remains largely untapped. This review highlights the opportunities and prospects of different mechanochemical tools in the synthesis of organometallic compounds, including transition metal complexes with N-heterocyclic carbene, arene, and cyclopentadienyl ligands, monometallacyclic and pincer derivatives, as well as main group metal compounds (e.g., allyl complexes and the Grignard reagents). Many important organometallic transformations such as C–H bond metalation, transmetalation, and oxidative addition can be successfully implemented under mechanochemical conditions in a highly productive and energy-saving manner. Furthermore, the postmodification of metal-containing species upon grinding or milling is shown to be a powerful route to both new discrete metal complexes and different supramolecular architectures (metal-containing organic cages, macrocylces, networks).     

烧氧基重排反应

本文综述了烷氧基重排反应。根据不同的反应机制,可将烷氧基重排反应分为三类;通过碳正离子重排的烷氧基重排反应,分子内烷氧基亲核取代反应和烷氧基α-迁移反应。     

Mechanochemically Induced Conversion of Crystalline Benzamide Polymorphs by Seeding

Benzamide has been known for its polymorphism for almost 200 years. Three polymorphic forms are described. To date, it was only possible to crystallize a metastable form in a mixture together with the thermodynamically most stable form I. A complete transformation of form I into the metastable form III by mechanochemical treatment has been achieved. Catalytic amounts of nicotinamide seeds were used to activate the conversion by mechanochemical seeding. NMR experiments indicated that the nicotinamide molecules were incorporated statistically in the crystal lattice of benzamide form III during the conversion. The transformation pathway was evaluated using in situ powder X‐ray diffraction.