Base-Promoted Addition of Arylacetonitriles to Terminal Alkynes: Regio- and Stereoselective Access to Disubstituted Acrylonitriles

Aryl acrylonitriles synthesis enabled by palladium-catalyzed α-alkenylation of arylacetonitriles with vinyl halides/triflates

Aryl acrylonitriles are an important subclass of acrylonitriles in the medicinal chemistry and pharmaceutical industry. Herein, an efficient synthesis of aryl acrylonitrile derivatives using a Palladium/NIXANTPHOS-based catalyst system was developed. This approach furnishes a variety of substituted and functionalized aryl acrylonitriles (up to 95% yield). The scalability of the transformation and the synthetic versatility of aryl acrylonitrile were demonstrated.

Three-component addition of terminal alkynes, carboxylic acids, and tert-butyl hypochlorite

This paper described the unprecedented three-component addition of terminal alkynes, carboxylic acids, and tert-butyl hypochlorite. This new type of addition proceeds smoothly to produce gem-dichloroalkane derivatives in satisfactory to excellent yields via successive two-time additions under mild conditions. The synthetically useful functional groups, such as Cl, Br, CN, and NO₂, remained intact in the final products.

Potassium tert-butoxide mediated C-C, C-N, C-O and C-S bond forming reactions

Potassium tertiary butoxide (KO^tBu) mediated constructions of C-C, C-O, C-N, and C-S bonds are reviewed with special emphasis on their synthetic applications. KO^tBu can be used to perform reactions already known to be carried out using transition metals, but it has advantages in terms of environmental congruence and economic cost. KO^tBu is widely employed in organic synthesis to mediate the construction of C-C, C-O, C-N, C-S and miscellaneous bonds in good to excellent yields. Synthetic uses of KO^tBu in coupling, alkylation, arylation, α-phenylation, cyclization, Heck-type, annulation, photo-arylation, aromatic-substitution, amidation, and silylation reactions are summarized and discussed. The mechanisms through which KO^tBu carries out a specific reaction are also discussed. One of the goals of this review is to attract the attention of chemists as to the benefits of using KO^tBu as an environmentally benign alternative to transition metals and its applications in the construction of chemical bonds with predominant importance in organic synthesis. This review completely covers the synthetic protocols that have been performed using KO^tBu in the last two decades.