Cooperative Lewis Acid/Cp*Co III Catalyzed C−H Bond Activation for the Synthesis of Isoquinolin‐3‐ones

Direct Access to N-Unprotected α- and/or β-Tetrasubstituted Amino Acid Esters via Direct Catalytic Mannich-Type Reactions Using N-Unprotected Trifluoromethyl Ketimines

Direct catalytic C-C bond-forming addition to N-unprotected ketimines is an efficient and straightforward method of synthesizing N-unprotected tetrasubstituted amines that eliminates prior protection/deprotection steps and allows facile transformation of the products. Despite its advantages, however, N-unprotected ketimines have difficulties in C-C bond-forming reactions, and only a limited number of reactions and substrates are reported compared with their N-protected counterparts. Herein we report that N-unprotected trifluoromethyl ketimines are effective for C-C bond-forming reactions using Mannich-type reactions as a model case. We demonstrate that Lewis acid catalysis was effective for promoting reactions with various N-unprotected trifluoromethyl ketimines, and thiourea organocatalysis was effective for promoting highly enantioselective reactions with various carbonyl nucleophiles, providing direct access to various N-unprotected α- and/or β-tetrasubstituted amino acid esters. Furthermore, direct construction of vicinal tetrasubstituted chiral carbon stereocenters was achieved for the first time in a highly enantio- and diastereoselective manner. These results demonstrate the potential of N-unprotected ketimines as substrates applicable to many other addition reactions.

Cross-Coupling of α-Carbonyl Sulfoxonium Ylides with C-H Bonds

The functionalization of carbon-hydrogen bonds in non-nucleophilic substrates using α-carbonyl sulfoxonium ylides has not been so far investigated, despite the potential safety advantages that such reagents would provide over either diazo compounds or their in situ precursors. Described herein are the cross-coupling reactions of sulfoxonium ylides with C(sp² )-H bonds of arenes and heteroarenes in the presence of a rhodium catalyst. The reaction proceeds by a succession of C-H activation, migratory insertion of the ylide into the carbon-metal bond, and protodemetalation, the last step being turnover-limiting. The method is applied to the synthesis of benz[c]acridines when allied to an iridium-catalyzed dehydrative cyclization.

Pivalophenone imine as a benzonitrile surrogate for directed C-H bond functionalization

Pivalophenone N-H imine has been found to serve as a prominent substrate for directed C-H alkylation and arylation reactions with alkyl bromides and aryl chlorides, respectively, under cobalt-N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC) catalysis. Unlike the case of the parent pivalophenone imine, the increased steric bulk of the resulting ortho-substituted pivalophenone imines allows them to undergo clean imine-to-nitrile conversion under peroxide photolysis or aerobic copper catalysis conditions. Overall, these two-step transformations offer convenient synthetic methods for ortho-functionalized benzonitriles.

Direct Functionalization of C-H Bonds by Iron, Nickel, and Cobalt Catalysis

Non-precious-metal-catalyzed reactions are of increasing importance in chemistry due to the outstanding ecological and economic properties of these metals. In the subfield of metal-catalyzed direct C-H functionalization reactions, recent years have shown an increasing number of publications dedicated to this topic. Nickel, cobalt, and last but not least iron, have started to enter a field which was long dominated by precious metals such as palladium, rhodium, ruthenium, and iridium. The present review article summarizes the development of iron-, nickel-, and cobalt-catalyzed C-H functionalization reactions until the end of 2016, and discusses the scope and limitations of these transformations.

Cp*Co(III)-Catalyzed Annulation of Carboxylic Acids with Alkynes

A new procedure for oxidative coupling of aromatic and acrylic acids with alkynes has been developed using abundant, nontoxic, and air stable Cp*Co(III) catalyst. The coupling involves initial cyclometalation via weak chelation-assisted C-H bond activation followed by alkyne coordination, insertion, and reductive elimination leading to diverse isocoumarins (α-pyranones) in good yields under mild conditions.

Mechanistic Study of Cp*CoIII/RhIII-Catalyzed Directed C-H Functionalization with Diazo Compounds

Density functional theory calculations have been performed to provide mechanistic insight into a series of Cp*Co^III- and Cp*Rh^III-catalyzed directed C-H bond functionalizations with diazo-compound substrates. Co-based catalysis proceeds through five steps: C-H bond activation; C-C coupling via a concerted 1,2-aryl transfer; proto-demetalation; nucleophilic addition; and solvent-assisted methanol elimination. C-H bond activation is predicted to be reversible, consistent with deuterium-scrambling experiments. The higher Lewis acidity of Co compared to Rh for two otherwise identical catalysts increases the susceptibility of a coordinated carbonyl group to nucleophilic addition in the former, facilitating the formation of cyclized products not observed for Rh. Methanol elimination is predicted to be the turnover-limiting step for one substrate, and this is facilitated by solvent 2,2,2-trifluoroethanol (TFE) acting as a proton shuttle. Theory suggests that further tuning of acidity may offer opportunities for improving catalysis. We also assess the role of a pyridine group that leads to a different series of final steps in one Rh-based catalytic cycle, thereby enabling access to the otherwise suppressed cyclization product. Our study of an alternative Rh-based system having acetate ligands replaced with MeCN indicates that C-H bond activation is sensitive to those ligands and variation can affect which step is turnover-limiting.

Synthesis of oxindole from acetanilide via Ir(iii)-catalyzed C–H carbenoid functionalization

The Ir(iii)-catalyzed intermolecular C–H annulations of acetanilide with diazotized Meldrum's acid furnished the oxindole derivative. Brief synthetic applications of the synthesized oxindole were also demonstrated.

Recent advances using [Cp*Co(CO)I2] catalysts as a powerful tool for C–H functionalisation

This perspective highlights recent applications of Cp*Co^III catalysts in C–H functionalisation protocols, exemplifying both terminal couplings and heterocycle formation.

Cp*Co(iii)-catalyzed ortho-amidation of azobenzenes with dioxazolones

Herein we have reported a decarboxylative ortho-amidation of azobenzene via cobalt catalyzed C–H amidation with dioxazolone.

Iridium catalyzed acceptor/acceptor carbene insertion into N–H bonds in water

Carbenes from highly stable acceptor/acceptor diazo compounds can be inserted into the N–H bonds of aromatic amines using an Ir(i) catalyst in an aqueous medium.

Rh(iii)-catalyzed sequential C–H activation and annulation: access to N-fused heterocycles from arylazoles and α-diazocarbonyl compounds

Valuable N-fused heterocycles were successfully obtained via Rh(iii)-catalyzed sequential C–H activation and annulation.

Bidentate Directing-Enabled, Traceless Heterocycle Synthesis: Cobalt-Catalyzed Access to Isoquinolines

Traceless heterocycle synthesis based on transition-metal-catalyzed C-H functionalization is synthetically appealing but has been realized only in monodentate directing systems. Bidentate directing systems allow for the achievement of high catalytic reactivity without the need for a high-cost privileged ligand. The first bidentate directing-enabled, traceless heterocycle synthesis is demonstrated in the cobalt-catalyzed synthesis of isoquinolines via 2-hydrazinylpyridine-directed C-H coupling/cyclization with alkynes. Convenient directing group installation through a ubiquitously present ketone group allows synthetic elaboration for complex molecules.