Synthesis of Nitrile‐Bearing Quaternary Centers by an Equilibrium‐Driven Transnitrilation and Anion‐Relay Strategy

Nickel-Catalyzed Reductive Alkyne Hydrocyanation Enabled by Malononitrile and a Formaldehyde Additive

The development of a nickel-catalyzed reductive alkyne hydrocyanation is described using 2-methyl-2-phenylmalononitrile (MPMN), a C-bound electrophilic transnitrilation reagent. Reproducibility issues led to the detection of oxidized hemiaminal impurities within N,N-dimethylacetamide. These impurities release formaldehyde in situ, which was ultimately identified as a critical reaction additive. A range of diaryl and aryl-alkyl alkynes underwent hydrocyanation. Mechanistic experiments revealed that formaldehyde and MPMN undergo a Ni-catalyzed reductive coupling of two π-components, leading to the controlled release of glycolonitrile as the active cyanating agent.

Decyanation-(hetero)arylation of malononitriles to access α-(hetero)arylnitriles

Quaternary α-(hetero)arylnitriles are desirable biologically relevant products, however the existing methods for their synthesis can be unselective or require the use of undesirable reagents, such as cyanide salts. Herein we report a one-pot method for transnitrilation-mediated decyanation-metalation of disubstituted malononitriles, followed by treatment with (hetero)aryl electrophiles to access quaternary α-(hetero)arylnitrile products. A number of products were prepared using this method (34 examples, 27-99% yield). This method highlights the usefulness of malononitriles as precursors for alkylnitrile-containing compounds.

Molecular design aided by random forests and synthesis of potent trypanocidal agents as cruzain inhibitors for Chagas disease treatment

Cruzain is an established target for the identification of novel trypanocidal agents, but how good are in vitro/in vivo correlations? This work describes the development of a random forests model for the prediction of the bioavailability of cruzain inhibitors that are Trypanosoma cruzi killers. Some common properties that characterize drug-likeness are poorly represented in many established cruzain inhibitors. This correlates with the evidence that many high-affinity cruzain inhibitors are not trypanocidal agents against T. cruzi. On the other hand, T. cruzi killers that present typical drug-like characteristics are likely to show better trypanocidal action than those without such features. The random forests model was not outperformed by other machine learning methods (such as artificial neural networks and support vector machines), and it was validated with the synthesis of two new trypanocidal agents. Specifically, we report a new lead compound, Neq0565, which was tested on T. cruzi Tulahuen (β-galactosidase) with a pEC₅₀ of 4.9. It is inactive in the host cell line showing a selectivity index (SI = EC₅₀ ^cyto /EC₅₀ ^T. cruzi ) higher than 50.

Overcoming Selectivity Issues in Reversible Catalysis: A Transfer Hydrocyanation Exhibiting High Kinetic Control

Reversible catalytic reactions operate under thermodynamic control, and thus, establishing a selective catalytic system poses a considerable challenge. Herein, we report a reversible transfer hydrocyanation protocol that exhibits high selectivity for the thermodynamically less favorable branched isomer. Selectivity is achieved by exploiting the lower barrier for C-CN oxidative addition and reductive elimination at benzylic positions in the absence of a cocatalytic Lewis acid. Through the design of a novel type of HCN donor, a practical, branched-selective, HCN-free transfer hydrocyanation was realized. The synthetically useful resolution of a mixture of branched and linear nitrile isomers was also demonstrated to underline the value of reversible and selective transfer reactions. In a broader context, this work demonstrates that high kinetic selectivity can be achieved in reversible transfer reactions, thus opening new horizons for their synthetic applications.

Enantioselective Assembly of Cycloenones with a Nitrile-Containing All-Carbon Quaternary Center from Malononitriles Enabled by Ni Catalysis

Chiral nitriles are valuable molecules in modern organic synthesis and drug discovery. Selectively differentiating the two nitrile groups of widely available malononitrile derivatives is a straightforward yet underdeveloped route to construct enantioenriched nitriles. Here we report an enantioselective nickel-catalyzed desymmetrization of malononitriles for the generation of nitrile-containing all-carbon quaternary stereocenters. This protocol involves a nickel-catalyzed addition of aryl boronic acids to alkynes, followed by a selective nitrile insertion, providing unprecedented access to enantioenriched 5-7-membered α-cyano-cycloenones with a fully substituted olefin from a broad range of substrates. The synthetic utility of these nitrile products is demonstrated by gram-scale synthesis and conversion to several useful functional groups.