Catalytic amination of 2-substituted pyridines with hydrazine derivatives

[reaction in text] Protected pyridylhydrazine derivatives were prepared in a one-step palladium-catalyzed amination reaction using chelating phosphine ligands. 2-Pyridyl chlorides, bromides, and triflates were effective electrophiles in these reactions. Di-tert-butyl hydrazodiformate was an excellent hydrazine substrate, and the resulting products were deprotected under mild conditions. Catalytic amination provides a direct route to protected bifunctional hydrazinopyridine linkers that are suitable for metal-bioconjugate syntheses.     

Synthesis of cryptophycins via an N-acyl-beta-lactam macrolactonization

An efficient and concise approach to the synthesis of the macrolide core of the cryptophycins has been developed. A novel macrolactonization utilizing a reactive acyl-beta-lactam intermediate incorporates the beta-amino acid moiety within the 16-membered macrolide core. This modular approach, involving a cyanide-initiated acyl-beta-lactam ring opening followed by cyclization, was successfully applied to the total synthesis of cryptophycin-24. The strategy was also used in an efficient synthesis of the 6,6-dimethyl-substituted dechlorocryptophycin-52. In this case, the cyanide-initiated ring opening of the bis-substituted 2-azetidinone followed by macrolactonization was achieved through a catalytic process.     

Surprises in the structural chemistry of zeolites

High-resolution electron microscopy, apart from strikingly confirming the correctness of the X-ray-based models for the skeletal structure of the aluminosilicate frameworks of zeolites, points to the existence of new families of ordered, crystalline microporous solids (e.g., with composition A_xB_xC_m?xO_2m · nH₂O, where A is an exchangeable monovalent cation, B is Al or Ga, C is Si or Ge, and x, m, n are integers.) It also reveals crystalline imperfections and unexpected superlattice structures in A-type and faujasitic zeolites, and the nature of the intergrowths in, for example, $\text{ZSM-5}\text{ZSM-11}$ materials. The short-range order of Si and Al within the aluminosilicate framework may be directly explored by magic-angle-spinning NMR (MASNMR) employing ²⁹Si and ²⁷Al nuclei. This technique probes the site symmetry and environment of these atoms. Al in tetrahedral as well as in octahedral sites may be readily identified and so may the populations of groups such as Si(OAl)₄, Si(OAl)₃, (OSi), etc., so that new information is obtained pertaining to Si, Al ordering in a variety of zeolitic solids.