Chelate-Controlled Asymmetric Synthesis of 2-Substituted 2,3-Dihydropyridin-4(1H)-ones: Synthesis of D- and L-aminodeoxyaltrose derivatives

Asymmetric methylation and phenylation of the chiral pyridinium salt 7 , as well as methylation of chiral pyridinium salt 18 , with Grignard reagents occurred in good yield and with good-to-excellent diastereoselectivities (Schemes 2 and 3, resp.). These results are best explained by assuming chelate control to govern the asymmetric alkylation/arylation process. The minimum-energy conformations of the out-of-plane twisted pyridinium salts 7 and 18 , as determined by the ‘Molecular Simulations Cerius-Dreiding II’ program, are in good agreement with the postulated asymmetric chelate-control mechanism.     

Synthesis of sugar-based ethenyl ethers through a vinyl bis-sulfone methodology

The recently devised route to ethenyl ethers—i.e. 1,2-bis(phenylsulfonyl)ethylene (BPSE)-mediated conversion of alcohols into β-alkoxyvinyl sulfones followed by reductive desulfonylation—has been applied in the carbohydrate field to the synthesis of a number of vinyl-functionalised monosaccharides, a number of which had not been prepared via alternative routes.     

Asymmetric synthesis of (-)-1-hydroxyquinolizidinone, a common intermediate for the syntheses of (-)-homopumiliotoxin 223G and (-)-epiquinamide

The short and efficient asymmetric synthesis of (-)-1-hydroxyquinolizidinone was achieved in seven steps and 25.2% overall yield from readily available 5-chloropentanal. It is a key intermediate in the formal syntheses of (-)-homopumilotoxin 223G and (-)-epiquinamide.     

Investigation of the thermal lens effect in water-ethanol mixtures: composition dependence of the refractive index gradient, the enhancement factor and the Soret effect.

The thermal lens effect produced in binary mixtures of water and ethanol has been investigated. It is shown that the sensitivity of the thermal lens method upon the addition of ethanol in water varies as the temperature-dependent refractive index gradient to thermal conductivity ratio of the mixture. The dependence of k and dn/dT upon the ethanol volume fraction follows a second-order and fourth-order polynomial, respectively, and cannot be precisely predicted using the additive rule. Moreover, depending on the experimental conditions and the mixture composition, the temperature gradient produced subsequently to relaxation of the excited species induces mutual migration of the solvent molecules and the formation of a concentration gradient in the irradiated area. This effect, known as the Soret effect, can locally change the thermo-optical properties of the solution and produce an additional signal, especially when steady-state experiments are done. This may result in errors as large as 20% when quantitative informations have to be derived from experimental data.     

Tetraacylation of isobutene: first synthesis of 1,3,6,8-tetramethyl-2,7-naphthyridine

The tetxaacetylation of isobutene has been perfomed in AlCl₃/AcCl. Treatment of the crude reaction medium with liquid ammonia yields the title compound.     

Direct measurement of the single-metal-cluster optical absorption

The absorption of a single isolated metal cluster is directly measured using a novel far-field optical technique based on modulation of its position. Single gold nanoparticles with average diameters down to 5 nm, dispersed on a transparent substrate, are optically detected and their absolute absorption cross section determined.     

A difluorosulfide as a Freon-free source of phosphonodifluoromethyl carbanion

The synthesis of difluoromethylphosphonates is becoming difficult due to environmental protective laws restricting the use of HCFCs and CFCs as starting chemicals. To circumvent this limitation, we report the preparation of a thioether as a new source of the lithiodifluoromethylphosphonate. This methodology avoiding the use of HCFCs involves a selective fluorination of sulfide followed by a thiaphilic addition of an organometallic reagent, which offers an alternative route to obtain phosphonodifluoromethyl carbanion. A contrasted reactivity, due to a medium effect, was also noted which allows addition of a wide range of electrophiles including nitroalkenes and DMF to thioethers.