Chemo- and Regioselective Anionic Fries Rearrangement Promoted by Lithium Amides under Aerobic Conditions in Sustainable Reaction Media

A straightforward and efficient protocol to promote the metalation/anionic Fries rearrangements of O-aryl carbamates, using for the first time a lithium amide as metalating agent under aerobic/ambient-friendly reaction conditions, is reported. This approach enables the sustainable preparation of salicylamide derivatives with high levels of chemoselectivity within ultrafast reaction times, working at room temperature in the presence of air/moisture, and using environmentally responsible cyclopentyl methyl ether as a solvent. Furthermore, the regioselective manipulation of O-2-tolyl carbamates has been accomplished using interchangeably alkyllithiums or lithium amides, with an unexpected beneficial contribution from the employment of biorenewable protic eutectic mixtures as non-innocent reaction media.     

Fast and reliable determination of antioxidant capacity based on the formation of gold nanoparticles

Microchimica Acta - We demonstrate that the formation of gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) can be exploited in a well-defined and reliable electron-transfer assay for antioxidant capacity (AOxC). The AOxC...     

Total synthesis of Cinncassin A1

In this communication, we report the first total synthesis of the phenolic natural product Cinncassin A₁, which was recently isolated from the twigs of the cinnamon plant (Cinnamomum cassia). The novel and concise synthesis strategy involves a highly diastereoselective titanium enolate homocoupling and a permanganate-mediated oxidative lactonization reaction as key steps. The structure of the compound was verified by single-crystal X-ray crystallography.