"Asymmetric" catalysis by lanthanide complexes

Catalysis with lanthanide (Ln) complexes has been underestimated for long time, although Ln(III) complexes have great advantages as Lewis acid catalysts for "asymmetric" carbon-carbon bond-forming reactions. Lanthanide complexes are highly active in ligand-substitution reactions, especially with hard ligands. The association with substrates and dissociation of products are achieved fast enough for high catalyst efficiency. The asymmetric catalysis of organic reactions can be greatly advanced by the use of Ln complexes with chiral ligands such as binaphthol (binol). Ln(II) complexes are good reducing agents, which can be used in a wide variety of synthetically important reactions; when chiral ligands are used, many of these reactions are highly stereoselective. In the context of "green chemistry", the development of asymmetric Ln catalysts, and their recyclable use, is of increasing importance. This review gives an overview of the most recent developments in catalysis with lanthanide(II) and lanthanide(III) complexes.     

Concentration profile of endemic equilibrium of a reaction–diffusion–advection SIS epidemic model

Cui and Lou (J Differ Equ 261:3305–3343, 2016) proposed a reaction–diffusion–advection SIS epidemic model in heterogeneous environments, and derived interesting results on the stability of the DFE (disease-free equilibrium) and the existence of EE (endemic equilibrium) under various conditions. In this paper, we are interested in the asymptotic profile of the EE (when it exists) in the three cases: (i) large advection; (ii) small diffusion of the susceptible population; (iii) small diffusion of the infected population. We prove that in case (i), the density of both the susceptible and infected populations concentrates only at the downstream behaving like a delta function; in case (ii), the density of the susceptible concentrates only at the downstream behaving like a delta function and the density of the infected vanishes on the entire habitat, and in case (iii), the density of the susceptible is positive while the density of the infected vanishes on the entire habitat. Our results show that in case (ii) and case (iii), the asymptotic profile is essentially different from that in the situation where no advection is present. As a consequence, we can conclude that the impact of advection on the spatial distribution of population densities is significant.     

Convergent synthesis of stereoisomers of THF ring moiety of acetogenin thiophene analogue and their antiproliferative activities against human cancer cell lines

The convergent synthesis of thiophene-3-carboxamide analogues of annonaceous acetogenins was accomplished through the asymmetric alkynylation of a 2-formyl THF ring fragment with an alkyne having a thiophene ring as the key step. Eight stereoisomers of the THF ring moiety were synthesized by this convergent route and their antiproliferative activities against 39 human cancer cell lines were evaluated. It was revealed that derivatives having the threo configuration between C17–C18 positions showed more potent activities than the corresponding erythro ones.     

Direct cyanation of heteroaromatic compounds mediated by hypervalent iodine(III) reagents: In situ generation of PhI(III)-CN species and their cyano transfer

Hypervalent iodine(III) reagents mediate the direct cyanating reaction of a wide range of electron-rich heteroaromatic compounds such as pyrroles 1, thiophenes 3, and indoles 5 under mild conditions (ambient temperature), without the need for any prefunctionalization. Commercially available trimethylsilylcyanide is usable as a stable and effective cyanide source, and the reaction proceeds in a homogeneous system. The N-substituent of pyrroles is crucial to avoid the undesired oxidative bipyrrole coupling process, and thus a cyano group was introduced selectively at the 2-position of N-tosylpyrroles 1 in good yields using the combination of phenyliodine bis(trifluoroacetate) (PIFA), TMSCN, and BF3.Et2O at room temperature. In the reaction mechanism, cation radical intermediates of heteroaromatic compounds are involved as a result of single electron oxidation, and the key to successful transformations seems to depend on the oxidation potential of the substrates used. Thus, the reaction was also successfully extended to other heteroaromatic compounds having oxidation potentials similar to that of N-tosylpyrroles such as thiophenes 3 and indoles 5. However, regioisomeric mixtures of the products derived from the reaction at the 2- and 3-positions were obtained in the case of N-tosylindole 5a. Further investigation performed in our laboratory provided insights into the real active iodine(III) species during the reaction; the reaction is induced by an active hypervalent iodine(III) species having a cyano ligand in situ generated by ligand exchange reaction at the iodine(III) center between trifluoroacetoxy group in PIFA and TMSCN, and effective cyanide introduction into heteroaromatic compounds is achieved by means of the high cyano transfer ability of the hypervalent iodine(III)-cyano intermediates. In fact, the reaction of N-tosylpyrrole 1a with a hypervalent iodine(III)-cyano compound (e.g., (dicyano)iodobenzene 8), in the absence of TMSCN, took place to afford the 2-cyanated product 2a in good yield, and an effective preparation of the intermediates is of importance for successful transformation. 1,3,5,7-Tetrakis[4-{bis(trifluoroacetoxy)-iodo}phenyl]adamantane 12, a recyclable hypervalent iodine(III) reagent, was also comparable in the cyanating reactions as a valuable alternative to PIFA, affording a high yield of the heteroaromatic cyanide by facilitating isolation of the cyanated products with a simple workup. Accordingly, after preparing the active hypervalent iodine(III)-CN species by premixing of a recyclable reagent 12, TMSCN, and BF3.Et2O for 30 min in dichloromethane, reaction of a variety of pyrroles 1 and thiophenes 3 provided the desired cyanated products 2 and 4 in high yields. The iodine compound 13, recovered by filtration after replacement of the reaction solvent to MeOH, could be reused without any loss of activity (the oxidant 12 can be obtained nearly quantitatively by reoxidation of 13 using m-CPBA).     

First hypervalent iodine(III)-catalyzed C-N bond forming reaction: catalytic spirocyclization of amides to N-fused spirolactams

A protic solvent, 2,2,2-trifluoroethanol (CF(3)CH(2)OH), was successfully introduced into hypervalent iodine(III)-involved catalytic cycles as an effective solvent, and the first iodoarene-catalyzed intramolecular carbon-nitrogen bond forming reaction was achieved under strong acid-free and mild conditions.     

Characterization of thermoreversible polymer gels by the degree of crystallinity by surface area

A characterization for crystalline junction polymer gels has been extended by introducing a new parameter which implies a measure of the number of the polymer molecules passing through the crystallizing junctions. The parameter has been considered in a theoretical gel melting relation derived by Takahashi, Nakamura, and Kagawa and a crystallite size distribution has also been considered. The equation obtained was examined on ethylene–propylene copolymer gels by using the previous data of melting temperatures determined from DSC, crystallite sizes from x-ray and DSC measurements, and reaction probabilities from ¹³C-NMR measurements. Consequently, the parameter was found to be helpful as one additional measure. Also, it was confirmed that the average crystallite sizes estimated in several different ways were all in good agreement with the conventional data. © 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.