Development and Elucidation of a Pd‐Based Cyclization–Oxygenation Sequence for Natural Product Synthesis

Pd‐catalyzed sequences involving oxidative addition, cyclization, and termination through intermolecular nucleophile capture have tremendous utility. Indeed, they can generate a plethora of different polycyclic structures possessing a diverse range of functionality. However, one area of deficiency for Pd⁰/Pd^II variants is the ability to conclude them with oxygen‐based species. Inspired by the recent discovery of one such reaction in the course of a total synthesis program, we delineate herein that it has significant strength, both in terms of substrate scope as well as the terminating oxygen nucleophile. As a result, the reaction proved critical in achieving total syntheses of two oxygenated natural products, one of which was prone to over‐oxidation. Finally, a mechanistic proposal that accounts for its success is provided.     

Total Synthesis of Pyrolaside B: Phenol Trimerization through Sequenced Oxidative C−C and C−O Coupling

A facile method to oxidatively trimerize phenols using a catalytic aerobic copper system is described. The mechanism of this transformation was probed, yielding insight that enabled cross‐coupling trimerizations. With this method, the natural product pyrolaside B was synthesized for the first time. The key strategy used for this novel synthesis is the facile one‐step construction of a spiroketal trimer intermediate, which can be selectively reduced to give the natural product framework without recourse to stepwise Ullmann‐ and Suzuki‐type couplings. As a result, pyrolaside B can be obtained expeditiously in five steps and 16 % overall yield. Three other analogues were synthesized, thus highlighting the utility of the method, which provides new accessibility to this area of chemical space. A novel xanthene was also synthesized through controlled Lewis acid promoted rearrangement of a spiroketal trimer.     

均相催化的醇和胺借氢反应

醇和胺的借氢反应是一种制备胺类化合物的绿色途径。本文介绍了借氢反应的概念,并重点介绍了均相催化的醇和胺之间借氢反应的起源、重要进展以及未来的发展趋势。     

Interface Engineering in Two‐Dimensional Heterostructures: Towards an Advanced Catalyst for Ullmann Couplings

The design of advanced catalysts for organic reactions is of profound significance. During such processes, electrophilicity and nucleophilicity play vital roles in the activation of chemical bonds and ultimately speed up organic reactions. Herein, we demonstrate a new way to regulate the electro‐ and nucleophilicity of catalysts for organic transformations. Interface engineering in two‐dimensional heteronanostructures triggered electron transfer across the interface. The catalyst was thus rendered more electropositive, which led to superior performance in Ullmann reactions. In the presence of the engineered 2D Cu₂S/MoS₂ heteronanostructure, the coupling of iodobenzene and para‐chlorophenol gave the desired product in 92 % yield under mild conditions (100 °C). Furthermore, the catalyst exhibited excellent stability as well as high recyclability with a yield of 89 % after five cycles. We propose that interface engineering could be widely employed for the development of new catalysts for organic reactions.     

Copper‐Catalyzed Aerobic Oxidative Reaction of Sulfonyl Hydrazides with Alcohols: An Easy Access to Sulfinates

A Cu‐catalyzed aerobic oxidative reaction between sulfonyl hydrazides and alcohols has been developed. In this reaction, sulfonyl hydrazides act as the sulfinic acid precursors to react with alcohols, resulting in sulfinic esters with up to 72 % yield. This catalytic system tolerates a wide range of sulfonyl hydrazide substrates, and represents a new strategy for the transformation of readily available sulfonyl hydrazides.     

氧化铈改性多级孔Hβ分子筛催化对二甲苯与苯乙炔烯基化反应（英文）

烯基芳香化合物是重要的精细化学品及中间体,在医药、染料、农药、香料、新型高分子材料和天然产品等化学工业领域得到广泛应用.传统工艺采用芳香化合物与烯基化合物的反应合成烯基芳香化合物.但是,传统过程存在许多不足:(1)芳环需预活化,如卤代等;(2)伴生氢卤酸等废物,污染环境;(3)原子经济性差.因此,研究烯基芳香化合物的清洁、高原子经济性合成备受关注.采用芳香化合物与炔基化合物的烯基化,可以100%原子经济性地合成烯基芳香化合物,且芳环无需预活化,不产生废弃物.因此,通过芳香化合物与炔的烯基化路线来合成烯基芳香化合物引起了人们的极大兴趣.尤其是固体酸催化烯基化,工艺成本低,清洁无污染,颇具工业前景.然而,固体酸催化烯基化不同于烷基化,烯基阳离子稳定性很差,比碳正离子易于聚合,进而导致催化剂积碳失活.微孔沸石分子筛用于烯基化存在底物适用范围窄、催化效率低、选择性差和炔聚合严重的问题.本研究组开展了硫酸化的镧锆氧化物介孔固体超强酸、担载磷钨酸介孔固体酸催化烯基化.采用前者,合成有序的介孔镧锆氧化物较为困难;而采用后者,催化剂的再生需要大量有机溶剂,会造成环境污染.硅铝分子筛固体酸易于制备,且可以通过简单的焙烧来再生.多级孔分子筛具有微孔分子筛和介孔分子筛的双重优势,用于烯基化反应可望获得良好效果.本文采用碱、酸对商业微孔β沸石分子筛进行处理,通过脱硅、脱铝过程来合成多级孔β分子筛,并进行稀土金属铈改性,从而制备了氧化铈改性的多级孔β分子筛,研究了其催化对二甲苯与苯乙炔的烯基化反应.通过改变碱浓度和酸浓度,对所制备的多级孔β分子筛的织构性质和酸性质进行调控,在优化的条件下获得了良好的烯基化催化性能,得到95.8%的苯乙炔转化率和95.1%的目标产物α-2,5-二甲苯基苯乙烯的选择性,总的烯基化产物(α-和β-烯基芳香化合物)的选择性达到98%.相对于微孔β分子筛,所制备的多级孔β分子筛展示了显著增强的催化活性和稳定性,目标产物选择性也有所提高.显著提高的催化性能归因于多级孔分子筛的传质强化和酸性位的增多.氧化铈的改性使得多级孔β分子筛的弱、中等和强酸中心的数目减少,可能源于减少了表面暴露的B酸位,从而导致了催化稳定性的显著提高.可见,本文所制备的氧化铈改性多级孔β分子筛用于烯基化反应具有一定前景.     

IRMOF-1衍生介孔ZnO微球催化合成低聚聚碳酸酯二醇

IRMOF-1是一种最经典的IRMOF系列材料,通过直接在空气中不同温度下热处理IRMOF-1得到三种ZnO催化剂,并采用XRD、SEM、BET、CO_2-TPD等分析技术对所得样品的晶体结构、表观形貌、孔结构、表面碱性进行了表征。结果显示,ZnO为球状结构,是一种典型的介孔材料,BET比表面积和孔径分别为49.7~62.2 m2/g和2.18~2.92 nm。研究了ZnO微球在碳酸二苯酯(DPC)与新戊二醇(NPG)酯交换合成低聚碳酸酯二醇(PCDL)反应中的催化性能。结果表明,500℃下得到的ZnO微球在DPC与NPG酯交换反应中表现出良好的催化活性。     

催化剂筛选：火山型曲线成因理论解析及其在多相催化中的应用

多相催化对于现代社会来说具有极其重要的意义,催化剂的理性设计/筛选是现代催化化学研究者的一个重要的目标。其中,火山型曲线是一个的重要工具。它指出对于一个催化反应来说,其催化活性针对关键物种吸附能来说呈一条先上升后下降的曲线,要求最佳催化剂对中间体的吸附能不能太高也不能太低。近几十年来,密度泛函理论等第一性原理计算方法的发展让许多催化剂表面反应微观物理量的计算成为了可能,这极大地拓展了火山型曲线的应用范围。 然而,对于火山型曲线根源的解释,人们却并非了解得十分清楚;一些基本科学概念的理解很多还是基于经验性的Sabatier原理：吸附太弱不利于吸附、太强不利于脱附。针对该问题的科学解析,本文进行了详细的动力学探究,试图以完全数学解析的方式回答催化反应中火山型曲线的必然存在性、产生根源及在催化活性预测中的内涵。本文采用了两步催化模型以及微动力学来进行速率方程的推导,并考虑BEP关系(基元反应的能垒与其反应焓存在线性关系)的应用,最终将整体反应速率转化为中间体吸附能相关的单值函数。基于对该函数的系列推导和分析,得到如下基本结论：(1)从数学上以一个完全的解析形式证明了催化反应中火山型曲线的存在。(2)通过对比催化反应与与之对应的气相反应,我们证明了：若无催化剂参与反应,则火山型曲线不会产生;由于催化剂表面的参与,随着催化剂吸附能力的增强,其表面会因为吸附作用而被占据毒化,导致反应速率存在一个最大值,即形成火山型曲线。从概念上讲,火山型曲线的根源是由“吸附过程引发表面活性位占据”这一自毒化效应造成的,它的存在可能体现为多相催化的基本属性。(3)数值模拟解析展示了表面反应与气相反应的区别,印证了我们的数学解析结论。同时,通过一定的简化,我们对火山型曲线中各部分的斜率进行了研究。结果发现,对于吸附决速过程,催化反应和气相反应斜率相同,其差别主要出现在脱附决速过程。在此阶段由于吸附能过大,表面被毒化,表面反应速率开始下降;而气相反应的速率依然上升。(4)表面反应速率方程的分解和简化结果表明,最佳催化剂在反应中的空活性位点覆盖度和其BEP关系的斜率存在内在关联关系(θ*opt=1–α),据此讨论了其在催化剂寻优过程中的意义。尝试解释了(a)合成氨反应中正逆反应所需最佳催化剂不同的现象;(b)合成氨或CO甲烷化反应最佳催化剂为前过渡金属、而CO/NO氧化等为后过渡金属这一典型催化现象的物理图像。最后,针对火山型曲线理论框架在实际催化剂理论筛选寻优中的应用,我们简要综述了本课题组近年来在光解水制氢Pt基助催化剂和染料敏化太阳能电池的对电极材料设计方面的理论进展。     

植物体系中甲酯酶的底物专一性的理论研究

酶对天然底物的高度专一性是酶的特点之一. 然而关于酶是如何对底物具有高度专一性以及识别能力, 我们的理解仍然缺乏. 本文以植物体系中发现的一组甲酯酶(MESs)对一些底物[包括水杨酸甲酯(MeSA), 茉莉酮酸甲酯(MeJA)和吲哚-3-乙酸甲酯(MeIAA)]的催化反应为例, 报道了同源建模和理论计算对茉莉酮酸甲酯酶(AtMES10)和水杨酸结合蛋白2(SABP2)的研究结果. 基于简单的锁-钥匙理论(底物与酶结合时不发生基团的碰撞或严重排斥), 以底物对接到酶的活性部位(即底物中—COO的一部分占据可被催化丝氨酸亲核进攻的位置) 为原则, 可以在空间上为酶对底物的专一性提供解释. 模拟结果表明, SABP2可对MeSA有高活性, 对MeJA和MeIAA有低或无活性; AtMES10可对MeJA有高活性, 而对MeSA和MeIAA有低或无活性, 这与实验结果相一致. 因此, 相关酶的结构预测与计算机模拟对了解酶的底物专一性具有重要的意义.     

Chloroacetate‐Promoted Selective Oxidation of Heterobenzylic Methylenes under Copper Catalysis

The efficient selective oxidation and functionalization of C? H bonds with molecular oxygen and a copper catalyst to prepare the corresponding ketones was achieved with ethyl chloroacetate as a promoter. In this transformation, various substituted N‐heterocyclic compounds were well tolerated. Preliminary mechanistic investigations indicated that organic radical species were involved in the overall process. The N‐heterocyclic compounds and ethyl chloroacetate work synergistically to activate C? H bonds in the methylene group, which results in the easy generation of free radical intermediates, thus leading to the corresponding ketones in good yields.