Strategic Utilization of Multifunctional Carbene for Direct Synthesis of Carboxylic–Phosphinic Mixed Anhydride from CO2

Direct synthesis of carboxylic–phosphinic mixed anhydrides has been achieved by treating carbon dioxide with N‐phosphine oxide‐substituted imidazolylidenes (PoxIms) that contain both nucleophilic carbene and electrophilic phosphorus moieties. This novel mixed anhydride was efficiently derivatized into an ester, an amide, and an unsymmetrical ketone via transformation into its corresponding imidazolium salt followed by a dual substitution reaction. The presented work used well‐designed multifunctional carbene reagents to establish a novel utility for carbon dioxide in organic synthesis.     

Alignment and Dynamic Inversion of Planar Chirality in Pillar[n]arenes

Pillar[n]arenes are symmetrical macrocyclic compounds composed of benzene panels with para-methylene linkages. Each panel usually exhibits planar chirality and prefers chirality-aligned states. Because of this feature, pillar[n]arenes are attractive scaffolds for chiroptical materials that are easy to prepare and optically resolve and show intense circular dichroism (CD) signals. In addition, rotation of the panels endows the chirality of pillar[n]arenes with a dynamic nature. The chirality in tubular oligomers and supramolecular assemblies sometimes show time- and procedure-dependent alignment phenomena. Furthermore, the CD signals of some pillar[n]arenes respond to the addition of chiral guests when their dynamic chirality is coupled with host–guest properties. By using diastereomeric pillar[n]arenes with additional chiral structures, the response can also be caused by achiral guests and changes of the environment, providing molecular sensors.     

Defection-selective solubilization and chemically-responsive solubility switching of single-walled carbon nanotubes with cucurbit[7]uril

Single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) were suspended in aqueous media with cucurbit[7]uril (CB7), while SWCNTs were insoluble with cucurbit[5]uril (CB5). Moreover, defection-selective solubilization of SWCNTs with CB7 was demonstrated.     

AlMe3-promoted oxidative cyclization of eta2-alkene and eta2-ketone on nickel(0). Observation of intermediate in methyl transfer process

AlMe3 can promote the oxidative cyclization of eta2-alkene and eta2-ketone on nickel(0) to give an intriguing nickel-aluminum dinuclear complex having a bridging methyl group, which might be an intermediate for the nickel-catalyzed cycloisomerization of o-allylacetophenone or o-allylbenzophenone.     

Intermolecular propargyl/allenyl group transfer from Pd(II) to Pt(0) and Pt(II) to Pd(0). Key reaction in metal-catalyzed isomerization between propargyl and allenyl metal complexes

Isomerization of phenyl-substituted propargylplatinum(II) complex, trans-Pt(CH₂CCPh)(Cl)(PPh₃)₂ (1) to allenyl complex, trans-Pt(CPh=C=CH₂)(Cl)(PPh₃)₂ (2) was found to be catalyzed by zerovalent complex Pd(PPh₃)₄. The reaction was proposed to proceed through the transfer of the propargyl/allenyl ligand both from Pt(II) to Pd(0) and Pd(II) to Pt(0). The former transfer, which seemingly has a thermodynamic disadvantage, has unambiguously been confirmed to take place; treatment of 1 with Pd(PPh₃)₄ or a mixture of Pd₂(dba)₃ and PPh₃ resulted in the formation of Pd(I) complex, Pd₂(μ-PhCCCH₂)(μ-Cl)(PPh₃)₂ which lies in equilibrium with a mixture of propargyl/allenylpalladium(II) and Pd(0) complexes.     

Coordination of Lewis acid to eta(2)-enonepalladium(0) leading to continuous structure variation from eta(2)-olefin type to eta(3)-allyl type.

The reaction of alpha,beta-unsaturated carbonyl compounds, a palladium(0) complex, and Lewis acids led to the formation of a new class of complexes showing a wide variety of structures with eta(2)-type and eta(3)-type coordination of the carbonyl compounds. The reaction of Pd(PhCH=CHCOCH(3))(PPh(3))(2) with BF(3).OEt(2) or B(C(6)F(5))(3) quantitatively gave palladium complexes 1a,b having BX(3)-coordinated eta(2)-enonepalladium structure, as revealed by X-ray structure analysis of the B(C(6)F(5))(3) adduct 1b. On the other hand, the reaction of Pd(PhCH=CHCHO)(PPh(3))(2) with BF(3).OEt(2) or B(C(6)F(5))(3) gave distorted zwitterionic eta(3)-allylpalladium complexes 3a,b, where the Pd-carbonyl carbon distance in 3a (2.413(4) A) is much shorter than that (2.96(1) A) in 1b. The values of the P-P coupling constant and (13)C chemical shift for carbonyl carbon are useful criteria for predicting how the eta(3)-coordination mode contributes to the structure of the enone-palladium-Lewis acid system. Molecular orbital calculations on the series of model complexes suggest that orbital overlap in the highest occupied molecular orbital between the palladium and carbonyl carbon is enlarged by coordination of the Lewis acid to the carbonyl group. Palladium-catalyzed conjugate addition of R-M (R-M = AlMe(3), AlEt(3), ZnEt(2)) and its plausible reaction path are also reported.     

Selective construction of Pd2Pt and PdPt2 triangles in a sandwich framework: carbocyclic ligands as scaffolds for a mixed-metal system

Sandwich time! The mixed-metal triangular-trinuclear sandwich complexes of Pd(2)Pt and PdPt(2) were selectively synthesized. The Pd(2)Pt and PdPt(2) triangles in a cycloheptatrienyl sandwich framework were identified by (31)P?NMR analyses of the tris-triphenylphosphine complexes (see scheme).     

Thermally responsive shuttling behavior of a pillar[6]arene-based [2]rotaxane

A [2]rotaxane constructed from a per-ethylated pillar[6]arene as a wheel and a pyridinium derivative as an axle was prepared. The wheel segment of the per-ethylated pillar[6]arene moved from one station to another along the axle as a result of thermal stimuli.