A copper-catalyzed, pH-neutral construction of high-enantiopurity peptidyl ketones from peptidic s-acylthiosalicylamides in air at room temperature

Direct C(sp3)-H Acylation by Mechanistically Controlled Ni/Ir Photoredox Catalysis

ConspectusSynthetic chemists have consistently aimed to develop efficient methods for synthesizing ketones, which are essential building blocks in organic chemistry and play significant roles in bioactive molecules. Recent efforts have focused on using photoredox catalysis, which enables previously inaccessible activation modes, to synthesize ketones through the cross-coupling of an acyl electrophile and simple C(sp3)-H bonds. Over the past few years, we have worked on developing effective and versatile approaches for directly acylating activated hydrocarbons to forge ketones.Initially, thioesters were explored as the acyl source to achieve the direct acylation of ethers, but an unexpected thioesterification reaction was observed instead. To gain insights into this reactivity, we conducted the optimization of reaction conditions, substrate scope evaluation, and mechanistic studies. Drawing from our understanding of Ni/Ir photocatalysis obtained in this study, we subsequently developed a method for the direct acylation of simple hydrocarbons. The use of less-reactive amides as the acyl electrophiles was found to be critical for suppressing undesired pathways. This seemingly counterintuitive reactivity was carefully studied, revealing a substrate-assisted reaction mechanism in which the suppressed oxidative addition leads to early-stage nickel oxidation and C-H activation.To address the drawbacks of this method, which primarily arose from decarbonylative and transmetallative side pathways, we employed N-acyllutidiniums as the acyl electrophile. This prevented undesired decomposition pathways, enabling the use of α-chiral acyl substrates with the retention of their stereochemistry, particularly those derived from α-amino acids. The developed versatile methodology allowed us to access a diverse range of α-amino ketones and their homologues.Despite the elegant utility of Ni/photoredox catalysis in developing new synthetic methodologies, the precise behavior of nickel catalysts under redox conditions is incompletely understood. To gain insight into this behavior and develop new chemical reactions, we used a combination of experimental and computational methods. Our investigations revealed that devised adjustments to the reaction conditions in nickel/photoredox catalysis can result in significant differences in the reaction outcomes, providing chemists with opportunities to tailor reactions through carefully designed mechanistic strategies. We believe that continued efforts to study and apply nickel redox modulation will lead to the discovery of additional organic transformations.

Stereoretentive cross-coupling of chiral amino acid chlorides and hydrocarbons through mechanistically controlled Ni/Ir photoredox catalysis

The direct modification of naturally occurring chiral amino acids to their amino ketone analogs is a significant synthetic challenge. Here, an efficient and robust cross-coupling reaction between chiral amino acid chlorides and unactivated C(sp³)–H hydrocarbons is achieved by a mechanistically designed Ni/Ir photoredox catalysis. This reaction, which proceeds under mild conditions, enables modular access to a wide variety of chiral amino ketones that retain the stereochemistry of the starting amino acids. In-depth mechanistic analysis reveals that the strategic generation of an N-acyllutidinium intermediate is critical for the success of this reaction. The barrierless reduction of the N-acyllutidinium intermediate facilitates the delivery of chiral amino ketones with retention of stereochemistry. This pathway avoids the formation of a detrimental nickel intermediate, which could be responsible for undesirable decarbonylation and transmetalation reactions that limit the utility of previously reported methods.

Chiral α-amino ketones are privileged motifs in bioorganic and medicinal chemistry. Here, the authors develop an efficient method to synthesize these structures via stereoretentive direct cross-coupling of amino acid chlorides with simple aliphatic substrates.

Nickel-catalyzed Thioester Transfer Reaction with sp2-Hybridized Electrophiles

We report a thioacylation transfer reaction based on nickel-catalyzed C-C bond cleavage of thioesters with sp²-hybridized electrophiles. Aryl bromides, iodides, and alkenyl triflates can participate in thioester transfer reaction of aryl thioesters, affording a wide range of structurally diverse new thioesters in yields of up to 98% under mild reaction conditions. With this protocol, it is possible to construct alkenyl thioesters from the corresponding ketones through the generation of alkenyl triflates.

Transition-metal mediated carbon-sulfur bond activation and transformations: an update

Carbon-sulfur bond cross-coupling has become more and more attractive as an alternative protocol to establish carbon-carbon and carbon-heteroatom bonds. Diverse transformations through transition-metal-catalyzed C-S bond activation and cleavage have recently been developed. This review summarizes the advances in transition-metal-catalyzed cross-coupling via carbon-sulfur bond activation and cleavage since late 2012 as an update of the critical review on the same topic published in early 2013 (Chem. Soc. Rev., 2013, 42, 599-621), which is presented by the categories of organosulfur compounds, that is, thioesters, thioethers including heteroaryl, aryl, vinyl, alkyl, and alkynyl sulfides, ketene dithioacetals, sulfoxides including DMSO, sulfones, sulfonyl chlorides, sulfinates, thiocyanates, sulfonium salts, sulfonyl hydrazides, sulfonates, thiophene-based compounds, and C[double bond, length as m-dash]S functionality-bearing compounds such as thioureas, thioamides, and carbon disulfide, as well as the mechanistic insights. An overview of C-S bond cleavage reactions with stoichiometric transition-metal reagents is briefly given. Theoretical studies on the reactivity of carbon-sulfur bonds by DFT calculations are also discussed.

Cobalt-catalyzed acylation-reactions of (hetero)arylzinc pivalates with thiopyridyl ester derivatives

A cobalt-catalyzed acylation reaction of (hetero)arylzinc pivalates using primary, secondary and tertiary alkyl, benzyl and (hetero)aryl S-pyridyl thioesters has been developed.

A cobalt-catalyzed acylation reaction of various primary, secondary and tertiary alkyl, benzyl and (hetero)aryl S-pyridyl thioesters with (hetero)arylzinc pivalates is reported. The thioesters were prepared directly from the corresponding carboxylic acids under mild conditions, thus tolerating sensitive functional groups. Acylations of α-chiral S-pyridyl esters proceeded with very high stereoretention leading to optically enriched α-chiral ketones.

Metal-free thioesterification of amides generating acyl thioesters

A base-initiated thioesterification of amides with various thiols is reported. This reaction can take place efficiently under metal-free and air-atmospheric conditions, and provides a facile and practically useful approach to the synthesis of valuable acyl thioesters.

Umpolung Reaction of α-Imino Thioesters and the Subsequent C-C Bond Formation with the Unexpected Alkylthio Rearrangement

An umpolung reaction of the α-imino thioester was examined, and we found that α-imino thioesters were more effective substrates for the umpolung N-alkylation than conventional α-imino esters and they gave N-alkylated amino thioesters in high yields under mild reaction conditions in a short time. A new type of C-C bond formation followed by an unexpected rearrangement of the alkylthio group took place with the unsaturated ketones to afford the β-alkylthio-α-amino thioesters in high yields with good diastereoselectivity.

Stereospecific Palladium-Catalyzed Acylation of Enantioenriched Alkylcarbastannatranes: A General Alternative to Asymmetric Enolate Reactions

We report the development of a Pd-catalyzed process for the cross coupling of unactivated primary, secondary, and tertiary alkylcarbastannatrane nucleophiles with acyl electrophiles. Reactions involving optically active alkylcarbastannatranes occur with exceptional stereofidelity and with net retention of absolute configuration. Because the stereochemistry of the resulting products is entirely reagent-controlled, this process may be viewed as a general, alternative approach to the preparation of products typically accessed via asymmetric enolate methodologies. Additionally, we report a new method for the preparation of optically active alkylcarbastannatranes, which should facilitate their future use in stereospecific reactions.

Palladium-catalyzed Suzuki–Miyaura coupling of amides by carbon–nitrogen cleavage: general strategy for amide N–C bond activation

A unified strategy for the palladium-catalyzed Suzuki–Miyaura cross-coupling of amides with boronic acids for the synthesis of ketones by N–C bond activation is reported.

Wool-anchored Pd(OAc)2 complex: a highly active and reusable catalyst for desulfurative coupling reactions

A biomacromolecule-anchored palladium complex, wool-Pd(OAc)₂, was used as a catalyst for the Liebeskind–Srogl desulfurative coupling reactions of pyrimidin-yl thioether derivatives with terminal alkynes and arylboronic acids.

Copper-mediated oxidative transformation of N-allyl enamine carboxylates toward synthesis of azaheterocycles

A method for synthesis of 3-azabicyclo[3.1.0]hex-2-enes has been developed by intramolecular cyclopropanation of readily available N-allyl enamine carboxylates. Two complementary reaction conditions, CuBr-mediated aerobic and CuBr2-catalyzed-PhIO2-mediated systems effectively induced stepwise cyclopropanation via carbocupration of alkenes. Oxidative cyclopropane ring-opening of 5-substituted 3-azabicyclo[3.1.0]hex-2-enes was also developed for synthesis of highly substituted pyridines. In addition, diastereoselective reduction of 3-azabicyclo[3.1.0]hex-2-enes to 3-azabicyclo[3.1.0]hexanes was achieved using NaBH3CN in the presence of acetic acid.

Mechanistic Insights into the Aerobic Cu(I)-Catalyzed Cross-Coupling of S-Acyl Thiosalicylamide Thiol Esters and Boronic Acids

The Density Functional Theory (DFT) method is used to elucidate the nature of the active species and the mechanism of the aerobic Cu^I-catalyzed cross-coupling of S-acyl thiosalicylamide thiol esters and boronic acids reported previously (J. Am. Chem. Soc.2007, 129, 15734-15735; Angew. Chem., Int. Ed.2009,48, 1417-1421). The energetically lowest isomer of the proposed active species [LC(O)R¹]Cu-(O₂)-Cu[LC(O)R¹]²⁺, 2a, (where L = thiolatosalicylamide) is found to be I1_(OO,OO) with a μ-η²:η²-peroxo Cu₂O₂-core, while its isomers I2_(OO,OO) with a bis-(μ-O) Cu₂O₂-core and I3_(OO,OO) with a (μ-η¹:η¹) Cu₂O₂-core lie only a few kcal/mol higher and separated by 4-7kcal/mol energy barriers. In all these isomers, the thiol ester is coordinated to the Cu-centers via its two O-ends. Isomers with (SO,OO) and (SO,SO) coordination modes of the thiol esters lie slightly higher and are separated with moderate energy barriers. We found the latter isomers to be vital for the reported Cu^I-templated cross-coupling of S-acyl thiosalicylamide thiol esters and boronic acids under aerobic conditions. The presence of an anion (halide, carboxylate modeled as formate) in the reaction medium is found to be necessary. Its coordination to the active catalyst I1_(SO,SO) is the first step of the proposed anion-assisted transmetalation by boronic acid. Overall the transmetalation reaction requires 34.0 kcal/mol and is 24.0 kcal/mol exergonic. This conclusion is in reasonable agreement with available experiments. The C-C bond formation in the transmetalation product requires a 6.3 kcal/mol lower energy barrier and is highly exergonic.

Copper-mediated aerobic synthesis of 3-azabicyclo[3.1.0]hex-2-enes and 4-carbonylpyrroles from N-allyl/propargyl enamine carboxylates

Synthetic methods for 3-azabicyclo[3.1.0]hex-2-enes and 4-carbonylpyrroles have been developed that use copper-mediated/catalyzed reactions of N-allyl/propargyl enamine carboxylates under an O(2) atmosphere and involve intramolecular cyclopropanation and carbooxygenation, respectively. These methodologies take advantage of orthogonal modes of chemical reactivity of readily available N-allyl/propargyl enamine carboxylates; the complementary pathways can be accessed by slight modification of the reaction conditions.

A one-pot preparation of N-2-mercaptobenzoyl-amino amides

The HIV-1 nucleocapsid (NCp7), structurally defined by zinc-binding domains, participates in crucial stages of the HIV-1 lifecycle and is mutationally nonpermissive, making it an attractive anti-HIV target. Mode of action studies have shown that the secondary structure and activity of NCp7 can be disrupted by acyl transfer from N-2-mercaptobenzoyl-amino amides. We have developed an improved one-pot reaction that affords N-2-mercaptobenzoyl-amino acids on multi-gram scales. This synthetic route allows for rapid modular construction and has greatly expanded the scope of easily accessible potential NCp7 inhibitors.

Stereocontrolled synthesis of α-amino-α'-alkoxy ketones by a copper-catalyzed cross-coupling of peptidic thiol esters and α-alkoxyalkylstannanes

A stereocontrolled synthesis of α-amino-α'-alkoxy ketones is described. This pH-neutral copper(I) thiophene-2-carboxylate (CuTC)-catalyzed cross-coupling of amino acid thiol esters and chiral nonracemic α-alkoxyalkylstannanes gives α-amino-α'-alkoxy ketones in good to excellent yields with complete retention of configuration at the α-amino- and α-alkoxy-substituted stereocenters.

Mobilizing Cu(I) for carbon-carbon bond forming catalysis in the presence of thiolate. Chemical mimicking of metallothioneins

Copper(I) is rendered catalytically viable in the presence of thiolate by the design of a small molecule chemical analogue of the metallothionein system in which an N-O reactant serves the same conceptual purpose of the S-S reactant of the biological system.

Copper-catalyzed arene C-H bond cross-coupling

A highly regioselective, one-pot sequential iodination-copper-catalyzed cross-coupling of arene C-H bonds has been developed affording an efficient method for biaryl synthesis.