Electroreductive intramolecular coupling of N-(oxoalkyl)phthalimides: complementary method to samarium(II) iodide reduction

The electroreductive intramolecular coupling of phthalimides with ketones in the presence of chlorotrimethylsilane gave five- and six-membered trans-cyclized products stereospecifically (>99%). Similar electroreductive intramolecular coupling of phthalimides with aldehydes afforded five-, six-, and seven-membered trans-cyclized products stereoselectively (75-93%). On the other hand, the reductive coupling of N-(oxoalkyl)phthalimides with samarium(II) iodide gave cis-cyclized products stereoselectively (88->99%).     

Elongation of carbonyl compounds by utilizing electroreduction as a key step

The transformation of aldehydes, ketones and esters to the next higher homologous aldehydes was accomplished by utilizing electroreductive 1,2-elimination as a key step.     

Electroreductive intramolecular coupling of aliphatic cyclic imides with ketones and O-methyloximes

The electroreductive intramolecular coupling of aliphatic cyclic imides with ketones in isopropanol gave five- and six-membered cyclized products. Similarly, the electroreductive intramolecular coupling of aliphatic cyclic imides with O-methyloximes afforded five-, six-, and seven-membered cyclized products. These reactions provide a useful method to synthesize azabicyclo[n.m.0] compounds. The bicyclic products were stereoselectively transformed to the corresponding deoxylated compounds by reduction with NaB(CN)H₃ or Et₃SiH/BF₃·Et₂O.     

Selective electrodehalogenation of bromophenols on Ag electrocatalyst

Among the innovative technologies for the detoxification and disposal of industrial effluents, our recently described electroreductive dehalogenation of organic halides on silver electrocatalyst provides a promising route, to be easily "plugged-in" into integrated waste treatments. Although electroreductions do not lead to total substrate mineralization, complete and selective dehalogenation may be achieved by the appropriate choice of the cathode material, thus decreasing the biotoxicity of the waste. In particular the use of silver as electrocatalyst greatly reduces the energy demand, and ensures higher yields and no by-products also when treating highly toxic aromatic halides. In the present work the electrocatalytic role of silver in the electroreductive dehalogenation process has been studied on mono- and polyhalogenated bromophenols, taken as model substrates, both in terms of selectivity of the reaction pathway and of reactivity of the position on the aromatic ring of the bromo leaving group. The results point to the possibility of effectively extending the methodology also to the more common and less reactive chlorinated derivatives.     

Grignard-type allylation of carbonyl compounds in methanol by the electrochemically recycled allyltin reagent.

An electrochemical allylation of aldehydes and ketones in methanol was achieved by the electroreductive regeneration of diallyltin reagent in the presence of a catalytic amount of tin, affording the corresponding homoallyl alcohols in 72 – 91% yields.     

Pd(O)-catalyzed electroreductive cleavage of allylic acetates

Pd(O)-catalyzed electroreductive cleavage of allylic acetates yielding alkenes and/or allyltrimethylsilanes is described. Deprotection of allyl esters can be performed in the same electrolysis system.     

Electroreductive cyclization. A comparison of the electrochemical and analogous chemical (MIRC) reaction

Several examples which illustrate the contrasting and complementary aspects of electroreductive cyclization and MIRC reactions are presented. A brief mechanistic discussion of the electrochemical reaction is given and two examples of the use of an electrochemically generated base are provided.     

Room-temperature ionic liquids as new solvents for organic electrosynthesis. The first examples of direct or nickel-catalysed electroreductive coupling involving organic halides

Direct or Ni-catalysed electroreductive homocouplings of organic halides and couplings of organic halides with activated olefins are efficiently conducted by constant current electrolyses in an undivided cell in room-temperature ionic liquids as the solvent-electrolyte media.     

Palladium-catalyzed Ullmann-type reductive homocoupling of iodoaryl glycosides

A catalytic synthesis of novel biaryl-linked divalent glycosides was achieved using an electroreductive palladium-catalyzed iodoaryl-iodoaryl coupling reaction. This new method was optimized for the synthesis of divalent biaryl-linked mannopyranosides that was subsequently generalized toward several carbohydrate substrates with yields up to 96%.     

Density functional theory study of electroreductive hydrocoupling of alpha,beta-unsaturated carbonyl compounds

[reaction: see text] The electroreductive hydrocoupling of methyl cinnamate, methyl crotonate, cumarin, and benzalacetone was studied by DFT (B3LYP/6-311++ G**) calculations. The computational outcomes for the transition states in the hydrocoupling of anion radicals generated by a one-electron transfer to the alpha,beta-unsaturated carbonyl compounds well agree with the diastereoselectivities in the experimental results previously reported.     

Formation of polysubstituted chlorocyclopropanes from electrophilic olefins and activated trichloromethyl compounds

Chlorocyclopropanes and bicyclic chlorocyclopropanes are prepared in non basic conditions by electroreductive or Mg-promoted Barbier activation of PhCCl₃ or Cl₃CCO₂Me in the presence of acyclic or cyclic α,β-unsaturated carbonyl compounds.     

Electroreductive Radical Borylation of Unactivated (Hetero)Aryl Chlorides Without Light by Using Cumulene-Based Redox Mediators**

Single-electron transfer (SET) plays a critical role in many chemical processes, from organic synthesis to environmental remediation. However, the selective reduction of inert substrates (E_p/2<−2 V vs Fc/Fc⁺), such as ubiquitous electron-neutral and electron-rich (hetero)aryl chlorides, remains a major challenge. Current approaches largely rely on catalyst photoexcitation to reach the necessary deeply reducing potentials or suffer from limited substrate scopes. Herein, we demonstrate that cumulenes–organic molecules with multiple consecutive double bonds–can function as catalytic redox mediators for the electroreductive radical borylation of (hetero)aryl chlorides at relatively mild cathodic potentials (approximately −1.9 V vs. Ag/AgCl) without the need for photoirradiation. Electrochemical, spectroscopic, and computational studies support that step-wise electron transfer from reduced cumulenes to electron-neutral chloroarenes is followed by thermodynamically favorable mesolytic cleavage of the aryl radical anion to generate the desired aryl radical intermediate. Our findings will guide the development of other sustainable, purely electroreductive radical transformations of inert molecules using organic redox mediators.     

A Facile Synthetic Method for Biphenyltetracarboxylic Dianhydrides

We report a facile and high-yielding procedure for preparing biphenyltetracarboxylic dianhydrides (BPDAs). This method relies on a nickel-catalyzed electroreductive coupling reaction of dimethyl 3-chorophthalate (3-DMCP) and/or dimethyl 4-chorophthalate (4-DMCP) with subsequent hydrolysis of tetra-ester and dehydration of tetra-acid.     

香豆素及其衍生物在二甲基亚砜中的电还原性质

采用循环伏安法对香豆素及其衍生物的电还原进行研究；香豆素的电还原发生在羰基上；如果香豆素衍生物分子上含有吸电子基团，则还原电位正移；如果含有给电子基因，则还原电位负移；如果同时含有吸电子和给电子基因，则表现综合结果。     

Theoretical study of electroreductive intramolecular coupling of nonconjugated olefinic and aromatic ketones

The electroreductive cyclization of hept-6-en-2-one, octa-7-en-2-one, and 5-phenylpentan-2-one was investigated by ab initio (UHF/6-311++G**) and density functional (UB3LYP/6-311++G**) calculation methods. The high regio- and stereoselectivities previously reported for olefinic ketones (exo-trans) and 5-arylpentan-2-ones (endo-trans) were reconfirmed. These experimental results well agree with the computational outcome for the transition states in the intramolecular coupling of ketyl radicals generated by one-electron transfer to the ketones.     

Intermediate and reaction mechanism of the electroreductive coupling of activated olefins and alkyl dihalides using the sacrificial anode process

The electroreductive coupling of activated olefins and 1–3 dibromide reported in a previous paper leads to a cyclic product when the reaction is carried out in an undivided cell in NMP and in the presence of a sacrificial aluminum anode, but not in a divided cell A mechanistic study has been made to explain the discrepancy between the two methods. We report here that in the undivided cell and in the presence of anodically generated aluminum ions the electroreduction of activated olefins mainly lead to a dianion, while a radical anion is the main reactive species under the other experimental conditions.     

Electrochemical reduction of aliphatic conjugated dienes in the presence of carbon dioxide

A voltammetric and electrolytic study involved in the electroreductive carboxylation of multi-substituted aliphatic coujugated dienes has been successfully conducted. With methyl sorbate as the modal compound, acceptable yields of carboxylation and dimerization were achieved, which were influenced by various reaction conditions such as the supporting electrolyte, cathode nature, current density, charge passed and temperature. A correlation was first established between distinct electronic effects of the dienes and the electrochemical characteristics of their reduction and the distribution law of target products.     

Nickel-Catalyzed Chain-Walking Cross-Electrophile Coupling of Alkyl and Aryl Halides and Olefin Hydroarylation Enabled by Electrochemical Reduction

The first electrochemical approach for nickel-catalyzed cross-electrophile coupling was developed. This method provides a novel route to 1,1-diarylalkane derivatives from simple and readily available alkyl and aryl halides in good yields and excellent regioselectivity under mild conditions. The procedure shows good tolerance for a broad variety of functional groups and both primary and secondary alkyl halides can be used. Furthermore, the reaction was successfully scaled up to the multigram scale, thus indicating potential for industrial application. Mechanistic investigation suggested the formation of a nickel hydride in the electroreductive chain-walking arylation, which led to the development of a new nickel-catalyzed hydroarylation of styrenes to provide a series of 1,1-diaryl alkanes in good yields under mild reaction conditions.     

Electrochemical generation of a nickel–carbonyl complex, catalyst for the electroreductive coupling of organic halides and carbon monoxide into ketones

The nickel–carbonyl complex Ni(CO)bpy is involved in the nickel-catalysed electroreductive coupling of organic halides and carbon monoxide into ketones. The active species is obtained from a stoichiometric mixture of Ni⁰, 2,2′-bipyridine and CO. The electrochemical method used to generate this complex allows a good tuning of Ni⁰ production versus CO dissolution. We have shown that Ni(CO)bpy results from a CO equilibrium exchange between Ni(CO)₂bpy and Nibpy.     

Electroreductive intramolecular coupling of aromatic beta- and gamma-imino esters: a new synthetic method for N-alkoxycarbonyl-2-aryl-3-ones and cis-2-aryl-3-ols of pyrrolidines and piperidines

The electroreduction of aromatic beta- and gamma-imino esters prepared from beta-alanine and GABA in the presence of chlorotrimethylsilane and subsequent N-alkoxycarbonylation of the resulting five- and six-membered cyclized amines gave mixed ketals of N-alkoxycarbonyl-2-arylpyrrolidin-3-ones and 2-arylpiperidin-3-ones, respectively. The best result of the electroreductive intramolecular coupling was achieved using Bu(4)NClO(4) as a supporting electrolyte and a Pb cathode in THF. Acid hydrolysis of the mixed ketals afforded N-alkoxycarbonyl-2-arylpyrrolidin-3-ones and 2-arylpiperidin-3-ones in good yields. The reduction of these ketones with NaBH(4) in methanol afforded the corresponding N-alkoxycarbonyl-cis-2-arylpyrrolidin-3-ols and cis-2-arylpiperidin-3-ols diastereospecifically.