Controlled Formation of Porous 2D Lattices from C3 -symmetric Ph6 -Me-Tribenzotriquinacene-OAc3

The on-surface self-assembly of molecules to form holey nanographenes is a promising approach to control the properties of the resulting 2D lattice. Usually, planar molecules are utilized to prepare flat, structurally confined molecular layers, with only a few recent examples of warped precursors. However, control of the superstructures is limited thus far. Herein, we report the temperature-controlled self-assembly of a bowl-shaped, acetylated C₃ -symmetric hexaphenyltribenzotriquinacene derivative on Cu(111). Combining scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) and density functional theory (DFT) confirms the formation of highly differing arrangements starting with π-stacked bowl-to-bowl dimers at low coverage at room temperature via chiral honeycomb structures, an intermediate trigonal superstructure, followed by a fully carbon-based, flattened hexagonal superstructure formed by on-surface deacetylation, which is proposed as a precursor for holey graphene networks with unique defect structures.

An N-Trifluoromethylation/Cyclization Strategy for Accessing Diverse N-Trifluoromethyl Azoles from Nitriles and 1,3-Dipoles

N-Trifluoromethyl azoles are valuable targets in medicinal chemistry, but their synthesis is challenging. Classical preparation of N-CF₃ azoles relies on the functional group interconversions but suffers from tedious N-pre-functionalization and unfriendly agents. Introduction of the CF₃ onto the nitrogen of heterocycles provides a direct route to such motifs, but the N-trifluoromethylation remains underdeveloped. Reported here is an alternative and scalable cyclization strategy based on NCF₃ -containing synthons for constructing N-CF₃ azoles. The approach involves the N-trifluoromethylation of nitriles followed by a [3+2] cyclization between resulting N-CF₃ nitrilium derivatives and 1,3-dipoles. PhICF₃ Cl was an effective CF₃ source for the transformation. As a result, a generic platform is established to divergently synthesize N-trifluoromethylated tetrazoles, imidazoles, and 1,2,3-triazoles by using sodium azide, activated methylene isocyanides, and diazo compounds as dipoles.

Comparative studies of C7H10N2 pyridine and C7H10N2S pyrrole for optoelectronic applications by mBJ approach

The modified Becke-Johnson exchange (mBJ) potential plus the generalized gradient approximation (GGA) correlation are used for the calculation of the optoelectronic properties of the C₇H₁₀N₂ pyridine and C₇H₁₀N₂S pyrrole. Electronic band gaps of C₇H₁₀N₂ pyridine and C₇H₁₀N₂S pyrrole have been determined to be 4.65 eV and 3.41 eV by band structure spectra, respectively. According to the Penn model, there is an inverse relationship between the band gap value and static dielectric constant along the x-direction. The density of states spectra shows that the p state of S atoms plays a key role in the optical spectra. In the refractive index spectra, the nature of materials changes from linear to nonlinear with superluminal nature in a narrow energy range of 3.9-4.7 eV for C₇H₁₀N₂S and 5-7.7 eV for C₇H₁₀N₂. Cauchy parameters are calculated and predicted values are extended in the UV (ultraviolet) and visible regions. Obtained plasmon energies are in close agreement with suitable optical materials such as α-Al₂O₃ making the material more effective to use in new optical devices.

Green Chemistry Meets Asymmetric Organocatalysis: A Critical Overview on Catalysts Synthesis

Can green chemistry be the right reading key to let organocatalyst design take a step forward towards sustainable catalysis? What if the intriguing chemistry promoted by more engineered organocatalysts was carried on by using renewable and naturally occurring molecular scaffolds, or at least synthetic catalysts more respectful towards the principles of green chemistry? Within the frame of these questions, this Review will tackle the most commonly occurring organic chiral catalysts from the perspective of their synthesis rather than their employment in chemical methodologies or processes. A classification of the catalyst scaffolds based on their E factor will be provided, and the global E factor (EG factor) will be proposed as a new green chemistry metric to consider, also, the synthetic route to the catalyst within a given organocatalytic process.

Debottlenecking a Pulp Mill by Producing Biofuels from Black Liquor in Three Steps

By extracting lignin, pulp production can be increased without heavy investments in a new recovery boiler, the typical bottleneck of a pulp mill. The extraction is performed by using 0.20 and 0.15 weight equivalents of CO2 and H2 SO4 respectively. Herein, we describe lignin esterification with fatty acids using benign reagents to generate a lignin ester mixable with gas oils. The esterification is accomplished by activating the fatty acid and lignin with acetic anhydride which can be regenerated from the acetic acid recycled in this reaction. The resulting mass balance ratio is fatty acid/lignin/acetic acid (2 : 1 : 0.1). This lignin ester can be hydroprocessed to generate hydrocarbons in gasoline, aviation, and diesel range. A 300-hour continuous production of fuel was accomplished. By recirculating reagents from both the esterification step and applying a water gas shift reaction on off-gases from the hydroprocessing, a favorable overall mass balance is realized.

Strain-Induced Nucleophilic Ring Opening of Donor-Acceptor Cyclopropenes for Synthesis of Monosubstituted Succinic Acid Derivatives

1,2,3-Trisubstituted donor-acceptor cyclopropenes (DACPs) generated in situ from enoldiazo compounds react with nucleophiles to form α-substituted succinic acid derivatives in high yields. Initial dirhodium(II) carboxylate catalysis rapidly converts enoldiazo-acetates or -acetamides to DACPs that undergo catalyst-free Favorskii ring opening with amines, and also with anilines, alcohols, and thiols, when facilitated by catalytic amounts of 4-dimethylaminopyridine (DMAP). This methodology provides easy access to mixed esters and amides of monosubstituted succinic acids, including derivatives of naturally occurring compounds. It also affords dihydrazide, dihydroxamic acid, and diamide derivatives, as well as α-substituted tetrahydropyridazine-3,6-diones in high yields. Attempts to generate optically enriched DACPs were not successful because their populations having the R and S configurations formed with a chiral dirhodium catalyst are quite similar, and the loss of enantiocontrol likely originates from the DACP ring forming step which is reversible with its intermediate metal carbene.

Development of a triazinedione-based dehydrative condensing reagent containing 4-(dimethylamino)pyridine as an acyl transfer catalyst

A new triazinedione-based reagent, (N,N'-dialkyl)triazinedione-4-(dimethylamino)pyridine (ATD-DMAP) was developed for the operationally simple dehydrative condensation of carboxylic acids. This reagent comprises an ATD core and DMAP as the leaving group, which is liberated into the reaction system to accelerate acyl transfer reactions. Upon adding ATD-DMAP to a mixture of carboxylic acids and alcohols in the presence of an amine base, the corresponding esters were formed rapidly at room temperature. Moreover, dehydrative condensation between carboxylic acids and amines using ATD-DMAP proceeded in high yield.

Total Synthesis of Mallotusinin

The total synthesis of mallotusinin, which bears a tetrahydroxydibenzofuranoyl (THDBF) bridge between the 2-oxygen and 4-oxygen of glucose on corilagin with a 3,6-O-(R)-hexahydroxydiphenoyl (HHDP) bridge, is described. The key features of the total synthesis are: 1) improvements of our previously reported method to synthesize corilagin; 2) establishment of the THDBF skeleton via an unusual intramolecular S_N Ar reaction of an HHDP analogue, and 3) the application of a two-step bislactonization strategy for a HHDP bridge construction into the 2,4-O-THDBF bridge. Oxidative phenol coupling of 1,2,4-orthoacetyl-3,6-di-(4-O-benzylgalloyl)-α-d-glucopyranose and the orthoester cleavage of the coupling product without the pyranose-furanose ring transformation are key reactions for the improved synthesis of corilagin, which enabled the adequate supply of a corilagin precursor that was required to develop the mallotusinin synthesis. These established methods are expected to help develop the synthesis of other ellagitannins with a bridge between the two oxygens of corilagin.

N-Methylated Peptide Synthesis via Generation of an Acyl N-Methylimidazolium Cation Accelerated by a Brønsted Acid

The development of a robust amide-bond formation remains a critical aspect of N-methylated peptide synthesis. In this study, we synthesized a variety of dipeptides in high yields, without severe racemization, from equivalent amounts of amino acids. Highly reactive N-methylimidazolium cation species were generated in situ to accelerate the amidation. The key to success was the addition of a strong Brønsted acid. The developed amidation enabled the synthesis of a bulky peptide with a higher yield in a shorter amount of time compared with the results of conventional amidation. In addition, the amidation can be performed by using either a microflow reactor or a conventional flask. The first total synthesis of naturally occurring bulky N-methylated peptides, pterulamides I-IV, was achieved. Based on experimental results and theoretical calculations, we speculated that a Brønsted acid would accelerate the rate-limiting generation of acyl imidazolium cations from mixed carbonic anhydrides.

Chiral DMAP-N-oxides as Acyl Transfer Catalysts: Design, Synthesis, and Application in Asymmetric Steglich Rearrangement

A DMAP-N-oxide, featuring an α-amino acid as the chiral source, was developed, synthesized and applied in asymmetric Steglich rearrangement. A series of O-acylated azlactones afforded C-acylated azlactones possessing a quaternary stereocenter in high yields (up to 97 % yield) and excellent enantioselectivities (up to 97 % ee). Compared to the widespread use of pyridine nitrogen, which serves as the nucleophilic site in the asymmetric acyl transfer reaction, we discovered that chiral DMAP-N-oxides, in which the oxygen now acts as the nucleophilic site, are efficient acyl transfer catalysts. Our finding might open a new door for the development of chiral DMAP-N-oxides for asymmetric acyl transfer reactions.

Sequential Dy(OTf)3 -Catalyzed Solvent-Free Per-O-Acetylation and Regioselective Anomeric De-O-Acetylation of Carbohydrates

Dysprosium(III) trifluoromethanesulfonate-catalyzed per-O-acetylation and regioselective anomeric de-O-acetylation of carbohydrates can be tuned by adjusting the reaction medium. In this study, the per-O-acetylation of unprotected sugars by using a near-stoichiometric amount of acetic anhydride under solvent-free conditions resulted in the exclusive formation of acetylated saccharides as anomeric mixtures, whereas anomeric de-O-acetylation in methanol resulted in a moderate-to-excellent yield. Reactions with various unprotected monosaccharides or disaccharides followed by a semi-one-pot sequential conversion into the corresponding acetylated glycosyl hemiacetal also resulted in high yields. Furthermore, the obtained hemiacetals could be successfully transformed into trichloroimidates after Dy(OTf)₃ -catalyzed glycosylation.

2,6-Bis(diazaboryl)pyridine: A Superbasic Sterically Demanding Pyridine Ligand

Herein a convenient one-pot route to a sterically demanding superbasic pyridine is presented. Functionalization of the 2- and 6-positions with the strongly σ-donating boryl-groups shifts the calculated gas phase basicity of the pyridine nitrogen atom to 1012 kJ mol^-1 , which outperforms the "proton sponge" 1,8-bis(dimethylamino)naphthalene (996 kJ mol^-1 ). The diazaboryl groups are oriented orthogonally to the pyridine ring and do not block the N-position, which resembles the geometry of commonly used N-heterocyclic carbenes. This allows the substituted pyridine to be used as a neutral N-donor ligand in coordination chemistry that is demonstrated herein with the Lewis adducts of haloboranes. Contrary to NHCs, which can form extraordinarily stable adducts, the pyridine ligand is intended to act as a weaker-coordinating alternative and could allow for alternative ligand chemistry.

Enhanced site-selectivity in acylation reactions with substrate-optimized catalysts on solid supports

A concept for site-selective acylation is presented, using substrate-optimized DMAP–peptide conjugates on a solid support.

Site-Selective Acylations with Tailor-Made Catalysts

The acylation of alcohols catalyzed by N,N-dimethylamino pyridine (DMAP) is, despite its widespread use, sometimes confronted with substrate-specific problems: For example, target compounds with multiple hydroxy groups may show insufficient selectivity for one hydroxyl, and the resulting product mixtures are hardly separable. Here we describe a concept that aims at tailor-made catalysts for the site-specific acylation. To this end, we introduce a catalyst library where each entry is constructed by connecting a variable and readily tuned peptide scaffold with a catalytically active unit based on DMAP. For selected examples, we demonstrate how library screening leads to the identification of optimized catalysts, and the substrates of interest can be converted with a markedly enhanced site-selectivity compared with only DMAP. Furthermore, substrate-optimized catalysts of this type can be used to selectively convert "their" substrate in the presence of structurally similar compounds, an important requisite for reactions with mixtures of substances.

Dimethylaminopyridine-supported graft polymer catalyst and its flow system

A new heterogeneous organocatalyst, graft polymer supported dimethylaminopyridine (g-DMAP), is developed. This catalyst has a flexible structure and comprises DMAP anchored to the polyethylene-graft-polyacrylic acid (PE-g-PAA). It exhibits higher activity than DMAP supported on polystyrene cross-linked with divinylbenzene and can be recovered in batch mode acetylation. The activity and stability of this catalyst allow its application in continuous flow systems. Continuous acetylation proceeds with excellent conversion, and a turnover number of 560 can be achieved using g-DMAP. Parallel fixed bed reactors were used to scale up the synthesis of this continuous flow system. Eight parallel fixed bed reactors displayed excellent conversion.

Synthesis of a natural product-like compound collection through oxidative cleavage and cyclization of linear peptides

Massive efforts in molecular library synthesis have strived for the development of synthesis methodology which systematically delivers natural product-like compounds of high spatial complexity. Herein, we present a conceptually simple approach that builds on the power of solid-phase peptide synthesis to assemble precursor peptides (oligomers) designed to undergo oxidative cascade reactions. By harnessing the structural side-chain diversity and inherent stereochemical features offered by readily available amino acids (monomers), a proof-of-concept collection of 54 skeletally and stereochemically diverse compounds was generated, and selected compounds were elaborated into isoform-selective metalloprotease inhibitors.

Two-step functionalization of oligosaccharides using glycosyl iodide and trimethylene oxide and its applications to multivalent glycoconjugates

Oligosaccharide conjugates, such as glycoproteins and glycolipids, are potential chemotherapeutics and also serve as useful tools for understanding the biological roles of carbohydrates. With many modern isolation and synthetic technologies providing access to a wide variety of free sugars, there is increasing need for general methodologies for carbohydrate functionalization. Herein, we report a two-step methodology for the conjugation of per-O-acetylated oligosaccharides to functionalized linkers that can be used for various displays. Oligosaccharides obtained from both synthetic and commercial sources were converted to glycosyl iodides and activated with I2 to form reactive donors that were subsequently trapped with trimethylene oxide to form iodopropyl conjugates in a single step. The terminal iodide served as a chemical handle for further modification. Conversion into the corresponding azide followed by copper-catalyzed azide-alkyne cycloaddition afforded multivalent glycoconjugates of Gb3 for further investigation as anti-cancer therapeutics.