C-H acylation of aniline derivatives with α-oxocarboxylic acids using ruthenium catalyst

An efficient and convenient synthetic strategy for ruthenium(II)-catalyzed ortho-acylation of N-(2-pyridyl)-anilines using α-oxycarboxylic acids as acyl sources is described. The procedure can smoothly proceed under mild conditions, showing good functional group tolerance. Valuable ortho-acylated aniline products have been obtained with moderate to good yields. Furthermore, the reaction could be easily scaled up to the gram scale.

Nickel-Catalyzed Decarbonylative Thioetherification of Carboxylic Acids with Thiols

A nickel-catalyzed decarbonylative thioetherification of carboxylic acids with thiols was developed. Under the reaction conditions, benzoic acids, cinnamic acids, and benzyl carboxylic acids coupled with various thiols including both aromatic and aliphatic ones produce the corresponding thioethers in up to 99% yields. Moreover, this reaction was applicable to the modification of bioactive molecules such as 3-methylflavone-8-carboxylic acid, probenecid, and flufenamic acid, and the synthesis of acaricide chlorbenside. These results well demonstrated the potential synthetic value of this new reaction in organic synthesis.

Activation of Aryl Carboxylic Acids by Diboron Reagents towards Nickel-Catalyzed Direct Decarbonylative Borylation

The Ni-catalyzed decarbonylative borylation of (hetero)aryl carboxylic acids with B₂ cat₂ has been achieved without recourse to any additives. This Ni-catalyzed method exhibits a broad substrate scope covering poorly reactive non-ortho-substituted (hetero)aryl carboxylic acids, and tolerates diverse functional groups including some of the groups active to Ni⁰ catalysts. The key to achieve this decarbonylative borylation reaction is the choice of B₂ cat₂ as a coupling partner that not only acts as a borylating reagent, but also chemoselectively activates aryl carboxylic acids towards oxidative addition of their C(acyl)-O bond to Ni⁰ catalyst via the formation of acyloxyboron compounds. A combination of experimental and computational studies reveals a detailed plausible mechanism for this reaction system, which involves a hitherto unknown concerted decarbonylation and reductive elimination step that generates the aryl boronic ester product. This mode of boron-promoted carboxylic acid activation is also applicable to other types of reactions.

Bimetallic Cooperative Catalysis for Decarbonylative Heteroarylation of Carboxylic Acids via C-O/C-H Coupling

Cooperative bimetallic catalysis is a fundamental approach in modern synthetic chemistry. We report bimetallic cooperative catalysis for the direct decarbonylative heteroarylation of ubiquitous carboxylic acids via acyl C-O/C-H coupling. This novel catalytic system exploits the cooperative action of a copper catalyst and a palladium catalyst in decarbonylation, which enables highly chemoselective synthesis of important heterobiaryl motifs through the coupling of carboxylic acids with heteroarenes in the absence of prefunctionalization or directing groups. This cooperative decarbonylative method uses common carboxylic acids and shows a remarkably broad substrate scope (>70 examples), including late-stage modification of pharmaceuticals and streamlined synthesis of bioactive agents. Extensive mechanistic and computational studies were conducted to gain insight into the mechanism of the reaction. The key step involves intersection of the two catalytic cycles via transmetallation of the copper-aryl species with the palladium(II) intermediate generated by oxidative addition/decarbonylation.

Mechanochemical Solvent-Free Catalytic C-H Methylation

The mechanochemical, solvent-free, highly regioselective, rhodium-catalyzed C-H methylation of (hetero)arenes is reported. The reaction shows excellent functional-group compatibility and is demonstrated to work for the late-stage C-H methylation of biologically active compounds. The method requires no external heating and benefits from considerably shorter reaction times than previous solution-based C-H methylation protocols. Additionally, the mechanochemical approach is shown to enable the efficient synthesis of organometallic complexes that are difficult to generate conventionally.

Allyl-Palladium-Catalyzed α,β-Dehydrogenation of Carboxylic Acids via Enediolates

A highly practical and step-economic α,β-dehydrogenation of carboxylic acids via enediolates is reported through the use of allyl-palladium catalysis. Dianions underwent smooth dehydrogenation when generated using Zn(TMP)₂ ⋅2 LiCl as a base in the presence of excess ZnCl₂ , thus avoiding the typical decarboxylation pathway of these substrates. Direct access to 2-enoic acids allows derivatization by numerous approaches.

Nickel-Catalyzed Methylation of Aryl Halides with Deuterated Methyl Iodide

A nickel-catalyzed methylation of aryl halides with cheap and readily available CH3 I or CD3 I is described. The reaction is applicable to a wide range of substrates and allows installation of a CD3 group under mild reaction conditions without deuterium scrambling to other carbon atoms. Initial mechanistic studies on the stoichiometric and catalytic reactions of the isolated [(dppp)Ni(C6 H4 -4-CO2 Et)Br] [dppp=1,3-bis(diphenylphosphanyl)propane] suggest that a Ni(0) /Ni(II) catalytic cycle is favored.

Carboxylic acids as traceless directing groups for the rhodium(III)-catalyzed decarboxylative C-H arylation of thiophenes

A rhodium(III)-catalyzed carboxylic acid directed decarboxylative C-H/C-H cross-coupling of carboxylic acids with thiophenes has been developed. With a slight adjustment of the reaction conditions based on the nature of the substrates, aryl carboxylic acids with a variety of substituents could serve as suitable coupling partners, and a broad variety of functional groups were tolerated. This method provides straightforward access to biaryl scaffolds with diverse substitution patterns, many of which have conventionally been synthesized through lengthy synthetic sequences. An illustrative example is the one-step gram-scale synthesis of a biologically active 3,5-substituted 2-arylthiophene by way of the current method.