3d Transition Metals for C-H Activation

C-H activation has surfaced as an increasingly powerful tool for molecular sciences, with notable applications to material sciences, crop protection, drug discovery, and pharmaceutical industries, among others. Despite major advances, the vast majority of these C-H functionalizations required precious 4d or 5d transition metal catalysts. Given the cost-effective and sustainable nature of earth-abundant first row transition metals, the development of less toxic, inexpensive 3d metal catalysts for C-H activation has gained considerable recent momentum as a significantly more environmentally-benign and economically-attractive alternative. Herein, we provide a comprehensive overview on first row transition metal catalysts for C-H activation until summer 2018.

Base-Promoted Synthesis of 2-Aryl Quinazolines from 2-Aminobenzylamines in Water

A transition-metal-free procedure for the synthesis of a highly valuable class of heteroaromatics, quinazolines, was developed by using easily available 2-aminobenzylamines and α,α,α-trihalotoluenes. The transformation proceeded smoothly in the presence of only sodium hydroxide and molecular oxygen in water at 100 °C, furnishing a variety of 2-aryl quinazolines. The crystallization process of the crude reaction mixture for the purification of the solid products circumvents huge solvent-consuming workup and column chromatographic techniques, which make the overall process more sustainable and economical.

Eco-friendly reactions in PEG-400: a highly efficient and green approach for stereoselective access to multisubstituted 3,4-dihydro-2(1H)-quinazolines using 2-aminobenzylamines

An efficient and stereoselective synthesis of novel 3,4-dihydro-2(1H)-quinazolines has been developed through cyclization reactions of 2-aminobenzylamines with α-oxoketene dithioacetals using PEG-400 as an inexpensive, easy to handle, non-toxic and recyclable reaction medium. The developed protocol is operationally simple and tolerates various substrates having different functionalities. This protocol features several attributes such as excellent yields, no work up, green reaction conditions, and being environmentally benign. The attractive feature of this new strategy is that all the reported final compounds have been isolated as single (E)-stereoisomeric forms, which was confirmed by 1HNMR and X-ray crystallographic studies.

An I2-mediated aerobic oxidative annulation of amidines with tertiary aminesviaC–H amination/C–N cleavage for the synthesis of 2,4-disubstituted 1,3,5-triazines

An iodine-mediated aerobic oxidative cycloaddition of amidines with tertiary amines was first demonstrated, affording symmetrical and unsymmetrical 2,4-disubstituted 1,3,5-triazines.

Pd-Catalyzed tandem reaction of N-(2-cyanoaryl)benzamides with arylboronic acids: synthesis of quinazolines

A Pd-catalyzed tandem reaction of N-(2-cyanoaryl)benzamides with arylboronic acids for the synthesis of quinazolines has been reported.

Cp*Rh(iii)-catalyzed annulation of N-methoxybenzamide with 1,4,2-bisoxazol-5-one toward 2-aryl quinazolin-4(3H)-one derivatives

A [Cp*Rh^III]-catalyzed annulation of N-methoxybenzamide with 1,4,2-bisoxazol-5-one was developed, affording a series of 2-aryl quinazolin-4(3H)-one derivatives.

A copper/O2-mediated direct sp3 C–H/N–H cross-dehydrogen coupling reaction of acylated amines and N-aryl glycine esters

We described a mild and efficient CDC reaction between N-aryl glycine esters and various acylated amines for the synthesis of α-amino α-amide acid esters with an excellent regioselectivity in the presence of copper salts.

Molecular iodine-mediated formal [2+1+1+1] cycloaddition access to pyrrolo[2,1-a]isoquinolines with DMSO as the methylene source

A molecular iodine-mediated formal [2+1+1+1] cycloaddition for the efficient synthesis of pyrrolo[2,1-a]isoquinolines from acetophenones, 1,2,3,4-tetrahydroisoquinoline (THIQ) and DMSO has been developed.

Oxidative Annulations Involving DMSO and Formamide: K2S2O8 Mediated Syntheses of Quinolines and Pyrimidines

An efficient strategy toward 4-arylquinolines and 4-arylpyrimidines from readily available precursors is described. Oxidative annulation promoted by K₂S₂O₈ involving anilines, aryl ketones, and DMSO as a methine (═CH-) equivalent leads to 4-arylquinolines via a cascade that entails generation of a sulfenium ion, subsequent C-N and C-C bond formations, and cyclization. The application of this strategy to the activation of acetophenone-formamide conjugates toward the synthesis of 4-arylpyrimidines is also described.

Syntheses of 3,4- and 1,4-dihydroquinazolines from 2-aminobenzylamine

A straightforward strategy for the synthesis of dihydroquinazolines is presented, which allows for the preparation of 3,4- and 1,4-dihydroquinazolines with different substitution patterns from 2-aminobenzylamine (2-ABA) as common precursor. The required functionalization of both amino groups present in 2-ABA was achieved by different routes involving selective N-acylation and cesium carbonate-mediated N-alkylation reactions, avoiding protection/deprotection steps. The heterocycles were efficiently synthesized in short reaction times by microwave-assisted ring closure of the corresponding aminoamides promoted by ethyl polyphosphate (PPE).

Introducing tetramethylurea as a new methylene precursor: a microwave-assisted RuCl3-catalyzed cross dehydrogenative coupling approach to bis(indolyl)methanes

The microwave-assisted synthesis of symmetrical/unsymmetrical bis(indolyl)methanes using tetramethylurea as a methylene source.

Carbon annulation of ortho-vinylanilines with dimethyl sulfoxide to access 4-aryl quinolines

A palladium-catalyzed annulation of ortho-vinylanilines with dimethyl sulfoxide was developed to access 4-aryl quinolines in moderate to good yields.

CO/O2 assisted oxidative carbon-carbon and carbon-heteroatom bond cleavage for the synthesis of oxosulfonates from DMSO and olefins

Selective carbon–carbon and carbon–heteroatom bond cleavage was achieved in a one reaction system.

Selective carbon–carbon and carbon–heteroatom bond cleavage was achieved in a one reaction system. With this strategy a novel Pd/Cu-catalyzed aerobic oxidative oxosulfonation of olefins with DMSO has been developed. Preliminary mechanistic investigations indicated that CO/O₂ assisted the bond cleavage and the leaving groups from the starting materials were trapped by O₂ and underwent a hydroxylation process.

Synthesis of 1,3,5-triazines via Cu(OAc)2-catalyzed aerobic oxidative coupling of alcohols and amidine hydrochlorides

Cu(OAc)2 was found to be an efficient catalyst for dehydrogenative synthesis of 1,3,5-triazine derivatives via oxidative coupling reaction of amidine hydrochlorides and alcohols in air. Both aromatic and aliphatic alcohols can be involved in the reaction and thirty-three products were obtained with good to excellent yields. Moreover, the use of a ligand, strong base and organic oxidant is unnecessary.

Recent advances in copper-mediated chelation-assisted functionalization of unactivated C–H bonds

Recent advances in copper-mediated (both stoichiometric and catalytic) chelation-assisted functionalization of unactivated C–H bonds are reviewed.

A radical coupling reaction of DMSO with sodium arylsulfinates in air : mild utilization of DMSO as C1 resource for the synthesis of arylsulfonyl dibromomethane

A radical coupling reaction of DMSO with ArSO₂Na without the needs of anaerobic atmosphere to afford ArSO₂CHBr₂ is described.

Copper(i) catalyzed C(sp2)–N bond formation: synthesis of pyrrolo[3,2-c]quinolinone derivatives

An intramolecular copper-catalyzed direct C(sp²)–H activation/C(sp²)–N bond formation reaction has been developed for the synthesis of pyrrolo[3,2-c]quinolinone derivatives under an oxygen atmosphere. This approach presents an alternative route to the tricyclic core of martinellic acid or martinelline.

Synthesis of symmetrical methylene-bridged imidazoheterocycles using DMSO as methylene source under metal-free conditions

Methylene-bridged imidazo-heterocycles were synthesized by a H₃PO₄-promoted bridging methylenation of imidazopyridines or similar heterocycles, in which DMSO was used as the carbon source.