Copper(II)-catalyzed ether synthesis from aliphatic alcohols and potassium organotrifluoroborate salts

[reaction: see text] A protocol for the copper(II)-catalyzed etherification of aliphatic alcohols under mild and essentially neutral conditions is described. Air- and moisture-stable potassium alkenyl- and aryltrifluoroborate salts undergo cross-coupling with a variety of aliphatic primary and secondary alcohols and phenols, and are tolerant of a range of functional groups. The optimized conditions utilize catalytic copper(II) acetate with 4-(dimethylamino)pyridine as ligand in the presence of 4 A molecular sieves under an atmosphere of oxygen.     

Ring-opening carbonyl–olefin metathesis of norbornenes

A computational and experimental study of the hydrazine-catalyzed ring-opening carbonyl–olefin metathesis of norbornenes is described. Detailed theoretical investigation of the energetic landscape for the full reaction pathway with six different hydrazines revealed several crucial aspects for the design of next-generation hydrazine catalysts. This study indicated that a [2.2.2]-bicyclic hydrazine should offer substantially increased reactivity versus the previously reported [2.2.1]-hydrazine due to a lowered activation barrier for the rate-determining cycloreversion step, a prediction which was verified experimentally. Optimized conditions for both cycloaddition and cycloreversion steps were identified, and a brief substrate scope study for each was conducted. A complication for catalysis was found to be the slow hydrolysis of the ring-opened hydrazonium intermediates, which were shown to suffer from a competitive and irreversible cycloaddition with a second equivalent of norbornene. This problem was overcome by the strategic incorporation of a bridgehead methyl group on the norbornene ring, leading to the first demonstrated catalytic carbonyl–olefin metathesis of norbornene rings.

A computational and experimental study has uncovered a second generation hydrazine that enables the catalytic ring-opening carbonyl–olefin metathesis of norbornenes.     

Head-to-head vinyl polymers. V. Preparation and characterization of alternating head-to-head copolymers of alkyl acrylates with alkyl methacrylates

Alternating head-to-head (h-h) copolymers of methyl or n-butyl acrylates with the corresponding methacrylates were synthesized by alternating copolymerization of ethylene with citraconic anhydride, followed by esterification and Characterization. The respective equimolar (1:) head-to-tail (h-t) copolymers were also prepared by conventional radical copolymerization as comparison. The alternating, relatively low molecular weight h-h copolymers obtained showed softening, glass transition, and degradation temperatures somewhat higher than those displayed by the 1:1 h-t copolymers. After pyrolysis the main decomposition products from both h-h and h-t copolymers were alcohols, acrylates, and methacrylates. Furthermore, the ratios of alcohols to acrylates were larger for the h-h than for the h-t copolymers and smaller for the methyl than for the n-butyl esters.     

Synthesis of benzannulated spiroacetals using chiral gold–phosphine complexes and chiral anions

The development of an asymmetric gold-catalysed dihydroalkoxylation strategy for the synthesis of the 3′H-spiro[chroman-2,1′-isobenzofuran] spiroacetal ring system 5 is described. Spiroacetal was generated in up to 87:13 enantiomeric ratio using chiral gold–phosphine complexes and chiral silver phosphate Ag(S)-TRIP.     

The Molecular Composition of Soot

Soot (sometimes referred to as black carbon) is produced when hydrocarbon fuels are burned. Our hypothesis is that polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) molecules are the dominant component of soot, with individual PAH molecules forming ordered stacks that agglomerate into primary particles (PP). Here we show that the PAH composition of soot can be exactly determined and spatially resolved by low‐fluence laser desorption ionization, coupled with high‐resolution mass spectrometry imaging. This analysis revealed that PAHs of 239–838 Da, containing few oxygenated species, comprise the soot observed in an ethylene diffusion flame. As informed by chemical graph theory (CGT), the vast majority of species observed in the sampled particulate matter may be described as benzenoids, consisting of only fused 6‐membered rings. Within that limit, there is clear evidence for the presence of radical PAH in the particulate samples. Further, for benzenoid structures the observed empirical formulae limit the observed isomers to those which are nearly circular with high aromatic conjugation lengths for a given aromatic ring count. These results stand in contrast to recent reports that suggest higher aliphatic composition of primary particles.     

Acylated flavonoid glycosides from Barringtonia racemosa

Abstract

Using various chromatographic separations, three new acylated flavonoid glycosides, namely barringosides G–I (1–3), were isolated from the water-soluble extract of Barringtonia racemosa branches and leaves. The structure elucidation was performed by extensive analysis of the 1D and 2D NMR and HR-QTOF-MS data. Of the isolated compounds, barringoside I (3) showed moderate inhibitory effects on LPS-induced NO production in RAW264.7 cells with an IC₅₀ of 52.48?±?1.04?µM.     

Polycyclic heteroaromatics via hydrazine-catalyzed ring-closing carbonyl–olefin metathesis

The use of hydrazine-catalyzed ring-closing carbonyl–olefin metathesis (RCCOM) to synthesize polycyclic heteroaromatic (PHA) compounds is described. In particular, substrates bearing Lewis basic functionalities such as pyridine rings and amines, which strongly inhibit acid catalyzed RCCOM reactions, are shown to be compatible with this reaction. Using 5 mol% catalyst loadings, a variety of PHA structures can be synthesized from biaryl alkenyl aldehydes, which themselves are readily prepared by cross-coupling.

Hydrazine catalysis enables the ring-closing carbonyl–olefin metathesis (RCCOM) to form polycyclic heteroaromatics, especially those with basic functionality.

Polycyclic heteroaromatic (PHA) structures comprise the core framework of many valuable compounds with a diverse range of applications (Fig. 1A).¹ For example, polycyclic azines (e.g. quinolines) are embedded in many alkaloid natural products, including diplamine² and eupolauramine³ to name just a few. These types of structures are also of interest for their biological activity, such as with the inhibitor of the Src-SH3 protein–protein interaction shown in Fig. 1A.⁴ Many nitrogenous PHAs are also useful as ligands for transition metal catalysis, as exemplified by the widely used ligand 1,10-phenanthroline.⁵ Meanwhile, chalcogenoarenes⁶ such as dinaphthofuran⁷ and benzodithiophene⁸ have attracted high interest for both their medicinal properties⁹ and especially for their potential use as organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs), organic photovoltaics (OPVs), and organic field-effect transistors (OFETs).¹⁰ These and numerous other examples have inspired the development of a wide variety of strategies to construct PHAs.^1,11–14 Although these approaches are as varied as the structures they target, the wide range of molecular configurations within PHA chemical space and the challenges inherent in exerting control over heteroatom position and global structure make novel syntheses of these structures a topic of continuing interest.Open in a separate windowFig. 1(A) Examples of PHAs. (B) RCCOM strategy for PHA synthesis. (C) Lewis base inhibition for Lewis acid vs. hydrazine catalyzed RCCOM. (D) Hydrazine-catalyzed RCCOM for PHA synthesis.One potentially advantageous strategy for PHA synthesis is the use of ring-closing carbonyl–olefin metathesis¹⁵ (RCCOM) to forge one of the PHA rings, starting from a suitably disposed alkenyl aldehyde precursor 2 that can be easily assembled by cross-coupling (Fig. 1B). In related work, the application of RCCOM to form polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) was reported by Schindler in 2017.¹⁶ In this case, 5 mol% FeCl₃ catalyzed the metathesis of substrates to form phenanthrenes and related compounds in high yields at room temperature. This method was highly attractive for its efficiency, its use of an earth-abundant metal catalyst, and the production of benign acetone as the only by-product. Nevertheless, one obvious drawback to the use of Lewis acid activation is that the presence of any functionality that is significantly more Lewis basic than the carbonyl group can be expected to strongly inhibit these reactions (Fig. 1C). Such a limitation thus renders this method incompatible with a wide swath of complex molecules, especially PHAs comprised of azine rings. This logic argues for a mechanistically orthogonal RCCOM approach that allows for the synthesis of PHA products with a broader range of ring systems and functional groups.We have developed an alternative approach to catalytic carbonyl–olefin metathesis that makes use of the condensation of 1,2-dialkylhydrazines 5 with aldehydes to form hydrazonium ions 6 as the key catalyst–substrate association step.^17–19 This interaction has a much broader chemoorthogonality profile than Lewis acid–base interactions and should thus be much less prone to substrate inhibition than acid-catalyzed approaches. In this Communication, we demonstrate that hydrazine-catalyzed RCCOM enables the rapid assembly of PHAs bearing basic functionality (Fig. 1D).For our optimization studies, we chose biaryl pyridine aldehyde 7 as the substrate (20 salt 11 was also productive (entry 2), albeit somewhat less so. Notably, iron(iii) chloride generated no conversion at either ambient or elevated temperatures (entries 3 and 4). Trifluoroacetic acid (TFA) was similarly ineffective (entry 5). Meanwhile, a screen of various solvents revealed that, while the transformation could occur in a range of media (entries 6–9), THF was optimal. Finally, by raising the temperature to 90 °C (entry 10) or 100 °C (entry 11), up to 96% NMR yield (85% isolated yield) of adduct 8 could be obtained in the same time period.Optimization studies^a

Synthesis and cross-coupling reactions of tetraalkylammonium organotrifluoroborate salts

Treatment of organoboronic acids with hydrofluoric acid generates an in situ tetracoordinate hydronium organotrifluoroborate species which undergoes counterion exchange with tetra-n-butylammonium hydroxide. The resultant tetraalkylammonium salts are as air and moisture stable as their potassium organotrifluoroborate counterparts with the added advantage of being readily soluble in organic media. They were found to undergo Pd-catalyzed Suzuki–Miyaura cross-couplings with a variety of aryl- and alkenylhalides under mild conditions. Their Pd-catalyzed cross-coupling with acid halides is also possible for the generation of ketones.     

Considerations for quantification of lipids in nerve tissue using matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometric imaging

Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI) mass spectrometric imaging is a technique that provides the ability to identify and characterize endogenous and exogenous compounds spatially within tissue with relatively little sample preparation. While it is a proven methodology for qualitative analysis, little has been reported for its utility in quantitative measurements. In the current work, inherent challenges in MALDI quantification are addressed. Signal response is monitored over successive analyses of a single tissue section to minimize error due to variability in the laser, matrix application, and sample inhomogeneity. Methods for the application of an internal standard to tissue sections are evaluated and used to quantify endogenous lipids in nerve tissue. A precision of 5% or less standard error was achieved, illustrating that MALDI imaging offers a reliable means of in situ quantification for microgram-sized samples and requires minimal sample preparation.     

Glyceride‐Mimetic Prodrugs Incorporating Self‐Immolative Spacers Promote Lymphatic Transport,Avoid First‐Pass Metabolism,and Enhance Oral Bioavailability

First‐pass hepatic metabolism can significantly limit oral drug bioavailability. Drug transport from the intestine through the lymphatic system, rather than the portal vein, circumvents first‐pass metabolism. However, the majority of drugs do not have the requisite physicochemical properties to facilitate lymphatic access. Herein, we describe a prodrug strategy that promotes selective transport through the intestinal lymph vessels and subsequent release of drug in the systemic circulation, thereby enhancing oral bioavailability. Using testosterone (TST) as a model high first‐pass drug, glyceride‐mimetic prodrugs incorporating self‐immolative (SI) spacers, resulted in remarkable increases (up to 90‐fold) in TST plasma exposure when compared to the current commercial product testosterone undecanoate (TU). This approach opens new opportunities for the effective development of drugs where oral delivery is limited by first‐pass metabolism and provides a new avenue to enhance drug targeting to intestinal lymphoid tissue.