Stereoselective organic reactions in water

Computationally Assisted Mechanistic Investigation and Development of Pd-Catalyzed Asymmetric Suzuki-Miyaura and Negishi Cross-Coupling Reactions for Tetra-ortho-Substituted Biaryl Synthesis

Metal-catalyzed cross-coupling reactions are extensively employed in both academia and industry for the synthesis of biaryl derivatives for applications to both medicine and material science. Application of these methods to prepare tetra-ortho-substituted biaryls leads to chiral atropisomeric products that introduces the opportunity to use catalyst-control to develop asymmetric cross-coupling procedures to access these important compounds. Asymmetric Pd-catalyzed Suzuki-Miyaura and Negishi cross-coupling reactions to form tetra-ortho-substituted biaryls were studied employing a collection of P-chiral dihydrobenzooxaphosphole (BOP) and dihydrobenzoazaphosphole (BAP) ligands. Enantioselectivities of up to 95:5 and 85:15 er were identified for the Suzuki-Miyaura and Negishi cross-coupling reactions, respectively. Unique ligands for the Suzuki-Miyaura reaction vs the Negishi reaction were identified. A computational study on these Suzuki-Miyaura and Negishi cross-coupling reactions enabled an understanding in the differences between the enantiodiscriminating events between these two cross-coupling reactions. These results support that enantioselectivity in the Negishi reaction results from the reductive elimination step, whereas all steps in the Suzuki-Miyaura catalytic cycle contribute to the overall enantioselection with transmetalation and reductive elimination providing the most contribution to the observed selectivities.

Polydimethylsiloxane Sponge-Supported Nanometer Gold: Highly Efficient Recyclable Catalyst for Cross-Dehydrogenative Coupling in Water

Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS, a stable hydrophobic polymer material) sponge-supported nanometer-sized gold can be used as a highly efficient recyclable catalyst for cross-dehydrogenative coupling of tertiary amines with various nucleophiles in water. This PDMS sponge nanometer gold catalyst can provide much better activity than the free nanometer gold in water. The reaction can be scaled up by using an easy-to-build continuous flow reactor. These results indicate the potential application of porous hydrophobic PDMS sponge material as a promising support for highly efficient recyclable catalysts in water.

Investigation of transition metal-catalyzed nitrene transfer reactions in water

Transition metal-catalyzed nitrene transfer is a powerful method for incorporating new CN bonds into relatively unfunctionalized scaffolds. In this communication, we report the first examples of site- and chemoselective CH bond amination reactions in aqueous media. The unexpected ability to employ water as the solvent in these reactions is advantageous in that it eliminates toxic solvent use and enables reactions to be run at increased concentrations with lower oxidant loadings. Using water as the reaction medium has potential to expand the scope of nitrene transfer to encompass a variety of biomolecules and highly polar substrates, as well as enable pH control over the site-selectivity of CH bond amination.

The Future of Polar Organometallic Chemistry Written in Bio-Based Solvents and Water

There is a strong imperative to reduce the release of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) into the environment, and many efforts are currently being made to replace conventional hazardous VOCs in favour of safe, green and bio-renewable reaction media that are not based on crude petroleum. Recent ground-breaking studies from a few laboratories worldwide have shown that both Grignard and (functionalised) organolithium reagents, traditionally handled under strict exclusion of air and humidity and in anhydrous VOCs, can smoothly promote both nucleophilic additions to unsaturated substrates and nucleophilic substitutions in water and other bio-based solvents (glycerol, deep eutectic solvents), competitively with protonolysis, at room temperature and under air. The chemistry of polar organometallics in the above protic media is a complex phenomenon influenced by several factors, and understanding its foundational character is stimulating in the perspective of the development of a sustainable organometallic chemistry.

Dehydrogenative Transformation of Alcoholic Substrates in Aqueous Media Catalyzed by an Iridium Complex Having a Functional Ligand with α-Hydroxypyridine and 4,5-Dihydro-1H-imidazol-2-yl Moieties

A new catalytic system that employs water as an environmentally friendly solvent for the dehydrogenative oxidation of alcohols and lactonization of diols has been developed. In this catalytic system, a water-soluble dicationic iridium complex having a functional ligand that comprises α-hydroxypyridine and 4,5-dihydro-1H-imidazol-2-yl moieties exhibits high catalytic performance. For example, the catalytic dehydrogenative oxidation of 1-phenylethanol in the presence of 0.25 mol % of the iridium catalyst and base under reflux in water proceeded to give acetophenone in 92% yield. Additionally, under similar reaction conditions, the iridium-catalyzed dehydrogenative lactonization of 1,2-benzenedimethanol gave phthalide in 98% yield.

Biorenewable Deep Eutectic Solvent for Selective and Scalable Conversion of Furfural into Cyclopentenone Derivatives

The development of novel synthetic routes to produce bioactive compounds starting from renewable sources has become an important research area in organic and medicinal chemistry. Here, we present a low-cost procedure for the tunable and selective conversion of biomass-produced furfural to cyclopentenone derivatives using a mixture of choline chloride and urea as a biorenewable deep eutectic solvent (DES). The proposed medium is a nontoxic, biodegradable, and could be reused up to four times without any unfavorable effect on the reaction yield. The process is tunable, clean, cheap, simple and scalable and meets most of the criteria; therefore, it can be considered as an environmental sustainable process in a natural reaction medium.

Synthesis, structural characterization, and reactivity of (thiolato)bismuth complexes as potential water-tolerant Lewis acid catalysts

We have synthesized bismuth complexes incorporating polydentate mono- and di-thiolate ligands and examined their utility as water-tolerant Lewis acid catalysts. The reaction of Bi(OAc)3 or Bi(NO3)3·5H2O and the corresponding mono- or di-thiol(ate) yielded the compounds [(SNNS)Bi(OAc)] (4), [(SNNSPr)Bi(OAc)] (5), [(NNS2)Bi(OAc)] (6), [(ONS2)Bi(OAc)] (7), [(ONS2)Bi(NO3)] (8), and [(NNS)2Bi][NO3] (9) [H2(SNNS) = N,N′-dimethyl-N,N′-bis(2-mercaptoethyl)ethylenediamine; H2(SNNSPr) = N,N′-diethyl-N,N′-bis(2-mercaptoethyl)propanediamine; H2(NNS2) = N,N-diethyl-N′,N′-bis(2-mercaptoethyl)ethanediamine; H2(ONS2) = 2-methoxyethyl-bis(2-mercaptoethyl)amine; H(NNS) = N,N-diethyl-N′-(2-mercaptoethyl)ethanediamine]. The solid-state structures of 4–8 show similar distorted pentagonal pyramidal geometries at the bismuth centre with a thiolate sulfur atom in the axial site, whereas 8 shows second structural arrangement with a distorted trigonal bipyramidal geometry at bismuth. The cation of 9 shows two NNS-bonded ligands and a distorted octahedral geometry at bismuth. Two-dimensional NMR studies of 4–8 show geminal 1H coupling in –SCH2CH2N– groups and suggests strong dative Bi–N intramolecular interactions. Bi(NO3)3·5H2O and BiCl3 show high activity toward the esterification of stearic acid, Bi(NO3)3·5H2O, and 4–7 and 9 show high activity toward the transesterification of methyl stearate in butanol, and 7 shows moderate activity as a catalyst for the transesterification of glyceryl trioctanoate in methanol.

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.

Chiral organocatalysts based on lipopeptide micelles for aldol reactions in water

A comprehensive study of the self-assembly in water of a lipopeptide consisting of a sequence of l-proline, l-arginine and l-tryptophan with a hydrocarbon chain has been performed. Fluorescence assays were used to determine the critical aggregation concentration. In situ small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) and molecular dynamics simulations showed the presence of spherical micelles with diameters around 6 nm. In agreement with these results, cryo-TEM images showed globular aggregates with diameters ranging from ≈4 nm up to ≈9 nm. Furthermore, the lipopeptide catalytic activity has been tested for the direct aldol reaction between cyclohexanone and p-nitrobenzaldehyde, and we have observed that the self-association of the organocatalyst played a critical role in the enhanced activity. Water affects the selectivity, and poor results are obtained under neat reaction conditions. The location of the catalytic groups at the lipopetide/water solvent interface also endowed unusual selectivity in the catalyzed aldol reactions. Under optimized reaction conditions, high yields (up to >99%), good enantioselectivity (ee up to 85%) and high diastereoselectivity (ds up to 92 : 8) were obtained.

Solubilization of Hydrophobic Catalysts Using Nanoparticle Hosts

A modular strategy for the solubilization and protection of hydrophobic transition metal catalysts using the hydrophobic pockets of water soluble gold nanoparticles is reported. Besides preserving original catalyst activity, this encapsulation strategy provides a protective environment for the hydrophobic catalyst and brings reusability. This system provides a versatile platform for the encapsulation of different hydrophobic transition metal catalysts, allowing a wide range of catalysis in water while uniting the advantages of homogeneous and heterogeneous catalysis in the same system.

I2 catalyzed access of spiro[indoline-3,4'-pyridine] appended amine dyad: new ON-OFF chemosensors for Cu2+ and imaging in living cells

An easy access to an amine-appended spiro[indoline-3,4'-pyridine] ON-OFF chemosensor by a one-pot four-component reaction using commercially available and an environmentally benign catalytic amount of molecular I₂ (10 mol%) in aqueous ethanol at ambient temperature is described. The generated system could be utilized for the selective detection of Cu²⁺ as it demonstrated a colorimetric naked eye change along with an ON-OFF fluorescence response towards Cu²⁺ at physiological pH. The sensors exhibited high selectivity for Cu²⁺ over other common cations with detection limit in the range of 10^-7 (M). Notably, this is the first report of a spiro[indoline-3,4'-pyridine] moiety acting as a sensor for Cu²⁺via a on-off fluorescence response. In addition, the probe system was successfully applied for imaging Cu²⁺ in human hepatocellular liver carcinoma cells (HepG2), demonstrating a new avenue for molecular imaging and biomedical applications.

Vanadium-based polyoxometalate complex as a new and efficient catalyst for phenol hydroxylation under mild conditions

A polyoxovanadate complex, synthesized under mild conditions, served as the catalyst for clean conversion of phenol to catechol and hydroquinone in water.

Visible light-driven selective hydrogenation of unsaturated aromatics in an aqueous solution by direct photocatalysis of Au nanoparticles

Selective hydrogenation of various chemical bonds, such as CC, CC, CO, NO, and CN, is efficiently driven by visible light over a supported gold nanoparticle (AuNP) photocatalyst under mild reaction conditions.

Water-soluble transition metal complexes of ruthenium(ii), osmium(ii), rhodium(iii) and iridium(iii) with chelating N-heterocyclic carbene ligands in hydrogenation and transfer hydrogenation catalysis

The synthesis of novel Ru(ii), Os(ii), Rh(iii) and Ir(iii) mono-N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC) complexes and their application in hydrogenation catalysis is reported.

The first report of the synthesis of organo-functionalized triethoxysilanes via a Knoevenagel condensation approach

The present work involves the design of a new synthetic pathway for the preparation of organo-functionalized triethoxysilanes (OTES) via Knoevenagel condensation.

An aqueous medium-controlled stereospecific oxidative iodination of alkynes: efficient access to (E)-diiodoalkene derivatives

A new and versatile approach for the stereospecific iodination of alkynes has been developed in aqueous media. Scale-up reactions (up to 5 g) established the proficiency of this protocol and highlight the feasibility of large scale reactions.

Regio- and stereospecific Friedel–Crafts alkylation of indoles with spiro-epoxyoxindoles

A highly efficient strategy for the regio- and stereospecific Friedel–Crafts alkylation of indoles with spiro-epoxyoxindoles has been developed in the mixed solvents of HFIP/H₂O (1 : 9) without the use of catalysts.