A highly diastereoselective pinacol coupling reaction of aldehydes and ketones using low-valence niobium generated from Nb(V)

A simple method for the diastereoselective synthesis of racemic 1,2-diol mediated by low-valence niobium generated in situ is described. A 1,4-dioxane-toluene solvent system was found to be essential to achieve higher selectivities and to prevent other reactions of pinacols, such as deoxygenation and acetal formation. Aromatic aldehydes and ketones were converted to the corresponding pinacols with up to 97 and 85% de, respectively.     

A concise route to the right wing of ciguatoxin

A concise route to the HIJKLM-ring fragment 10 of ciguatoxin (CTX) and 51-hydroxyCTX3C was developed in which oxiranyl anion addition and intramolecular carbonyl olefination were utilized as key transformations. The present procedure requires only 23 steps from the I-ring 5, while 35 steps were employed in a previous synthesis of the corresponding right wing 11 of CTX3C. The high efficiency of the present synthesis ensures a supply of 10 for total synthesis and biomedical applications.     

Highly (Z)-selective synthesis of beta-monosubstituted alpha,beta-unsaturated cyanides using the peterson reaction

[reaction: see text] The Peterson reaction between (t-BuO)Ph(2)SiCH(2)CN and various aldehydes furnishes the corresponding beta-monosubstituted alpha,beta-unsaturated cyanides with high Z selectivity (Z:E = 92:8 to >98:2).     

The isolation, structural determination, and total synthesis of terfestatin A, a novel auxin signaling inhibitor from Streptomyces sp.

Indole 3-acetic acid, a plant hormone auxin, regulates every aspects of plant growth and development. In the screening for specific inhibitors on auxin signaling using the transgenic Arabidopsis plant harboring the auxin-responsive reporter gene, terfestain A was found to be a novel inhibitor of auxin signaling from the culture of Streptomyces sp. F40. The structure of terfestatin A was determined to be p-terphenyl β-glucoside on the basis of spectroscopic analyses, chemical degradation, and total synthesis.     

Ab initio through‐space/bond interaction analysis of the long C–C bonds in Bi(anthracene‐9,10‐dimethylene) photoisomers

The bi(anthracene‐9,10‐dimethylene) photoisomer has remarkably long C–C single bonds. To examine the lengthening of the C–C bond, we propose a novel procedure for quantitatively analyzing orbital interactions in a molecule at the level of the ab initio molecular orbital method. In this procedure, we can cut off the specific through‐space/bond interactions in a molecule by artificially increasing the absolute magnitude of the exponents in a Gaussian function. Then, the spatial orbital interactions were perfectly cut off, and, each term that makes up the total energy, that is, the nuclear–electron attractions, the electron–electron repulsions, and the nuclear–nuclear repulsions cancel each other. Several model molecules of the photoisomer were analyzed by this procedure. It was found that the orbital interaction between the p orbital on the benzene ring and the σ* orbital on the C–C bond in question, σ→σ* electron transfer through π orbital, weakens the C–C bond efficiently when these orbitals were located in the “periplanar” conformation. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Int J Quantum Chem, 2001     

Catalytic reduction of nitrogen dioxide with propene in the presence and absence of oxygen over various metal oxides

Over metal oxides (SiO₂, ZrO₂, Al₂O₃, MgO, La₂O₃, and CaO) with-H values of metal oxide formation higher than 700 kJ/mol, C₃H₆ reacts with NO₂ in preference to O₂.     

Reaction of azole condensed quinoxaline N-oxides with acetic anhydride

The reaction of 7-chlorotetrazolo[1,5-α]quinoxaline 5-oxide 6a with acetic anhydride gave 7-chloro-5-(7-chlorotetrazolo[1,5-α]quinoxalin-4-yl)-4,5-dihydro-4-oxotetrazolo[1,5-α]quinoxaline 7a , while the reaction of 7-chloro-1,2,4-triazolo[4,3-α]quinoxaline 5-oxide 6b with acetic anhydride afforded 7-chloro-5-(7-chloro-1,2,4-triazolo[4,3-α]quinoxalin-4-yl)-4,5-dihydro-4-oxo-1,2,4-triazolo[4,3-α]quinoxaline 7b and 7-chloro-4,5-dihydro-4-oxo-1,2,4-triazolo[4,3-α]quinoxaline 8b . The reaction of compound 6a or 6b with acetic anhydride/acetic acid provided 7-chloro-4,5-dihydro-4-oxo-tetrazolo[1,5-α]quinoxaline 8a or compound 8b , respectively.     

Synthesis and tautomeric behavior of 3-(pyrazolylhydrazonomethyl)-2-oxo-1, 2-dihydroquinoxalines. Specification of hydrazone imine and diazenyl enamine forms

3-(Pyrazolylhydrazonomethyl)-2-oxo-1, 2-dihydroquinoxalines were synthesized, and their tautomer ratios between hydrazone imine and diazenyl enamine forms were specified by pmr spectral data.