Palladium-Catalyzed C-2 Selective CH Olefination of Pyridines

Growing Utilization of Radical Chemistry in the Synthesis of Pharmaceuticals

Our current unhealthy lifestyle and the exponential surge in the population getting affected by a variety of diseases have made pharmaceuticals or drugs an imperative part of life, making the development of innovative strategies for drug discovery or the introduction of refined, cost-effective and modern technologies for the synthesis of clinically used drugs, a need of the hour. Ever since their discovery, free radicals and radical cations or anions as reactive intermediates have captivated the chemists, resulting in an exceptional utilization of these moieties throughout the field of chemical synthesis, owing to their unprecedented and widespread reactivity. Sticking with the idea of not judging the book by its cover, despite the conventional thought process of radicals being unstable and difficult to control entities, scientists and academicians around the globe have done an appreciable amount of work utilizing both persistent as well as transient radicals for a variety of organic transformations, exemplifying them with the synthesis of significant biologically active pharmaceutical ingredients. This review truly accounts for the organic radical transformations including radical addition, radical cascade cyclization, radical/radical cross-coupling, coupling with metal-complexes and radical cations coupling with nucleophiles, that offers fascinating and unconventional approaches towards the construction of intricate structural frameworks of marketed APIs with high atom- and step-economy; complementing the otherwise employed traditional methods. This tutorial review presents a comprehensive package of diverse methods utilized for radical generation, featuring their reactivity to form critical bonds in pharmaceutical total synthesis or in building key starting materials or intermediates of their synthetic journey, acknowledging their excellence, downsides and underlying mechanisms, which are otherwise poorly highlighted in the literature. Despite great achievements over the past few decades in this area, many challenges and obstacles are yet to be unraveled to shorten the distance between the academics and the industry, which are all discussed in summary and outlook.

Pyridine C(sp2)-H bond functionalization under transition-metal and rare earth metal catalysis

Pyridine is a crucial heterocyclic scaffold that is widely found in organic chemistry, medicines, natural products, and functional materials. In spite of the discovery of several methods for the synthesis of functionalized pyridines or their integration into an organic molecule, new methodologies for the direct functionalization of pyridine scaffolds have been developed during the past two decades. In addition, transition-metal-catalyzed C-H functionalization and rare earth metal-catalyzed reactions have flourished over the past two decades in the development of functionalized organic molecules of concern. In this review, we discuss recent achievements in the transition-metal and rare earth metal-catalyzed C-H bond functionalization of pyridine and look into the mechanisms involved.

Silver-Free C-H Activation: Strategic Approaches towards Realizing the Full Potential of C-H Activation in Sustainable Organic Synthesis

The activation of carbon-hydrogen bonds is considered as one of the most attractive techniques in synthetic organic chemistry because it bears the potential to shorten synthetic routes as well as to produce complementary product scopes compared to traditional synthetic strategies. However, many current methods employ silver salts as additives, leading to stoichiometric metal waste and thereby preventing the full potential of C-H activation to be exploited. Therefore, the development of silver-free protocols has recently received increasing attention. Mechanistically, silver can serve various roles in C-H activation and thus, avoiding the use of silver requires different approaches based on the role it serves in a given process. In this Review, we present the comparison of silver-based and silver-free methods. Focusing on the strategic approaches to develop silver-free C-H activation, we provide the reader with the means to develop sustainable methods for C-H activation.

C-H activation reactions of nitroarenes: current status and outlook

Ring substitution reactions of nitroarenes remain an under-developed area of organic synthesis, confined to the narrow domains of S_NAr and S_NArH reactions. While searching for alternative methodologies, we took stock of the C-H activation reactions of nitroarenes which unearthed a variety of examples of nitro directed regioselective C-H functionalization reactions such as ortho-arylation, -benzylation/alkylation, and -allylation, oxidative Heck and C-H arylation reactions on (hetero)aromatic rings. A collective account of these reactions is presented in this review to showcase the existing landscape of C-H activation reactions of nitroarenes, to create interest in this field for further development and propagate this strategy as a superior alternative for ring substitution reactions of nitroarenes. The prospect of merging the C-H activation of nitroarenes with C-NO₂ activation, thereby harnessing NO₂ as a transformable multitasking directing group, is also illustrated.

Electrochemical borylation of carboxylic acids

A simple electrochemically mediated method for the conversion of alkyl carboxylic acids to their borylated congeners is presented. This protocol features an undivided cell setup with inexpensive carbon-based electrodes and exhibits a broad substrate scope and scalability in both flow and batch reactors. The use of this method in challenging contexts is exemplified with a modular formal synthesis of jawsamycin, a natural product harboring five cyclopropane rings.

Stereodivergent Synthesis of Alkenylpyridines via Pd/Cu Catalyzed C-H Alkenylation of Pyridinium Salts with Alkynes

The first Pd/Cu catalyzed selective C2-alkenylation of pyridines with internal alkynes has been developed via the pyridinium salt activation strategy. Importantly, the configuration of the product alkenylpyridines could be tuned by the choice of the proper N-alkyl group of the pyridinium salts, thus allowing for both the Z- and E-alkenylpyridines synthesized with good regio- and stereoselectivity. A plausible mechanism was proposed based on the Hammett study and KIE experiment.

Catalyst Control in Switching the Site Selectivity of C-H Olefinations of 1,2-Dihydroquinolines: An Approach to Positional-Selective Functionalization of Quinolines

A unique approach to achieve site-selective C-H olefinations exclusively at the C-3- or C-8-positions in the quinoline framework has been developed by catalyst control. Distal C(3)-H functionalization is achieved by using palladium catalysis, whereas proximal C(8)-H functionalization is obtained by employing ruthenium catalysis. Switching the site selectivity within a single substrate directly indicates two diverse pathways, which are operating under the palladium- and ruthenium-catalyzed reaction conditions.

Photoredox-catalyzed branch-selective pyridylation of alkenes for the expedient synthesis of Triprolidine

Alkenylpyridines are important pharmaceutical cores as well as versatile building blocks in organic synthesis. Heck reaction represents one of the most powerful platform for the construction of aryl-substituted alkenes, nevertheless, examples for Heck type coupling of alkenes with pyridines, particularly with branched selectivity, remain elusive. Here we report a catalytic, branch-selective pyridylation of alkenes via a sulfinate assisted photoredox catalysis. This reaction proceeds through a sequential radical addition/coupling/elimination, by utilizing readily available sodium sulfinates as reusable radical precursors as well as traceless elimination groups. This versatile protocol allows for the installation of important vinylpyridines with complete branched selectivity under mild conditions. Furthermore, this catalytic manifold is successfully applied to the expedient synthesis of Triprolidine.

Alkenylpyridines are versatile building blocks for the synthesis of drugs and other complex molecular structures. Here, the authors show a branch-selective pyridylation of alkenes via sulfinate-assisted photoredox catalysis and showcase its utility in an expedient synthesis of Triprolidine.

KOtBu-promoted oxidative dimerizations of 2-methylquinolines to 2-alkenyl bisquinolines with molecular oxygen

KO^tBu-promoted oxidative dimerizations of 2-methylquinolines with molecular oxygen as the oxidant have been developed for the first time.

C-H Functionalization of Azines

Azines, which are six-membered aromatic compounds containing one or more nitrogen atoms, serve as ubiquitous structural cores of aromatic species with important applications in biological and materials sciences. Among a variety of synthetic approaches toward azines, C-H functionalization represents the most rapid and atom-economical transformation, and it is advantageous for the late-stage functionalization of azine-containing functional molecules. Since azines have several C-H bonds with different reactivities, the development of new reactions that allow for the functionalization of azines in a regioselective fashion has comprised a central issue. This review describes recent advances in the C-H functionalization of azines categorized as follows: (1) S_NAr reactions, (2) radical reactions, (3) deprotonation/functionalization, and (4) metal-catalyzed reactions.

Lewis Acid Catalyzed Dehydrogenative Coupling of Tertiary Propargylic Alcohols with Quinoline N-Oxides

An unprecedented Lewis acid catalyzed, high-efficiency synthesis of valuable 2-(quinolin-2-yl)prop-2-en-1-ones via dehydrogenative coupling of propargylic alkynols with quinoline N-oxides is described. This protocol, which tolerates a broad range of functional groups, provides a straightforward pathway to the products 2-(quinolin-2-yl)prop-2-en-1-one scaffolds in satisfactory yields. The conversion could be scaled up to gram scale efficiently, which underlines a latent application of this methodology.

C2-Alkenylation of N-heteroaromatic compounds via Brønsted acid catalysis

C2-alkenylated heteroaromatics can be accessed by simple Brønsted acid catalysed union of diverse heteroarene N-oxides with alkenes. The scope and limitations of the process are outlined.

Recent Advances in the C-H-Functionalization of the Distal Positions in Pyridines and Quinolines

This review summarizes recent developments in the C-H-functionalization of the distal positions of pyridines, quinolines and related azaheterocycles. While the functionalization of the C2 position has been known for a long time and is facilitated by the proximity to N1, regioselective reactions in the distal positions are more difficult to achieve and have only emerged in the last decade. Recent advances in the transition metal-catalyzed distal C-H-functionalization of these synthetically-important azaheterocycles are discussed in detail, with the focus on the scope, site-selectivity and mechanistic aspects of the reactions.

Palladium-Catalyzed C8-Selective C-H Arylation of Quinoline N-Oxides: Insights into the Electronic, Steric and Solvation Effects on the Site-Selectivity by Mechanistic and DFT Computational Studies

We report herein a palladium-catalyzed C–H arylation of quinoline N-oxides that proceeds with high selectivity in favor of the C8 isomer. This site selectivity is unusual for palladium, since all of the hitherto described methods of palladium-catalyzed C–H functionalization of quinoline N-oxides are highly C2 selective. The reaction exhibits a broad synthetic scope with respect to quinoline N-oxides and iodoarenes and can be significantly accelerated to subhour reaction times under microwave irradiation. The C8-arylation method can be carried out on a gram scale and has excellent functional group tolerance. Mechanistic and density functional theory (DFT) computational studies provide evidence for the cyclopalladation pathway and describe key parameters influencing the site selectivity.

Synthesis of 2,4-diarylsubstituted-pyridines through a Ru-catalyzed four component reaction

2,4-Diarylsubstituted pyridines were prepared from acetophenones, ammonium acetate and DMF under an oxygen atmosphere.

Synthesis and late-stage functionalization of complex molecules through C-H fluorination and nucleophilic aromatic substitution

We report the late-stage functionalization of multisubstituted pyridines and diazines at the position α to nitrogen. By this process, a series of functional groups and substituents bound to the ring through nitrogen, oxygen, sulfur, or carbon are installed. This functionalization is accomplished by a combination of fluorination and nucleophilic aromatic substitution of the installed fluoride. A diverse array of functionalities can be installed because of the mild reaction conditions revealed for nucleophilic aromatic substitutions (S(N)Ar) of the 2-fluoroheteroarenes. An evaluation of the rates for substitution versus the rates for competitive processes provides a framework for planning this functionalization sequence. This process is illustrated by the modification of a series of medicinally important compounds, as well as the increase in efficiency of synthesis of several existing pharmaceuticals.

Developing ligands for palladium(II)-catalyzed C-H functionalization: intimate dialogue between ligand and substrate

Homogeneous transition-metal-catalyzed reactions are indispensable to all facets of modern chemical synthesis. It is thus difficult to imagine that for much of the early 20th century, the reactivity and selectivity of all known homogeneous metal catalysts paled in comparison to their heterogeneous and biological counterparts. In the intervening decades, advances in ligand design bridged this divide, such that today some of the most demanding bond-forming events are mediated by ligand-supported homogeneous metal species. While ligand design has propelled many areas of homogeneous catalysis, in the field of Pd(II)-catalyzed C-H functionalization, suitable ligand scaffolds are lacking, which has hampered the development of broadly practical transformations based on C-H functionalization logic. In this Perspective, we offer an account of our research employing three ligand scaffolds, mono-N-protected amino acids, 2,6-disubstituted pyridines, and 2,2'-bipyridines, to address challenges posed by several synthetically versatile substrate classes. Drawing on this work, we discuss principles of ligand design, such as the need to match a ligand to a particular substrate class, and how ligand traits such as tunability and modularity can be advantageous in reaction discovery.