Ligand-free Pd/Cu-catalyzed decarboxylative coupling of aryl iodides with α-oxocarboxylates

Nickel-catalysed highly regioselective synthesis of β-acyl naphthalenes under reductive conditions

Over the past decade, significant progress has been made in the direct C-H acylation of naphthalenes, occurring at the α or β-positions to yield valuable ketones through Friedel-Crafts acylation or transition-metal-catalysed carbonylative coupling reactions. Nevertheless, highly regioselective acylation of naphthalenes remains a formidable challenge. Herein, we developed a nickel-catalysed reductive ring-opening reaction of 7-oxabenzonorbornadienes with acyl chlorides as the electrophilic coupling partner, providing a new method for the exclusive preparation of β-acyl naphthalenes.

A Practically Unified Electrochemical Strategy for Ni-Catalyzed Decarboxylative Cross-Coupling of Aryl Trimethylammonium Salts

By merging electrocatalysis and nickel catalysis, a unified strategy has been successfully applied to achieve the decarboxylative cross-coupling of four types of α-oxocarboxylic acids and their derivatives with aryl trimethylammonium salts under mild conditions. Our strategy provides a practical way for preparing aryl ketones, amides, esters, or aldehydes.

A copper-promoted synthesis of epoxy-bridged [60]fullerene-fused lactones and further derivatization

A facile copper-promoted decarboxylative annulation of [60]fullerene (C60) with two identical α-oxocarboxylic acids via an unprecedented cascade addition pathway has been exploited to synthesize the unique epoxy-bridged C60-fused lactones for the first time. Further transformations into the rare epoxy-bridged C60-fused hemiacetals and bicyclic-fused 1,2,3,4-adducts as well as application in a perovskite solar cell device of the obtained products have also been demonstrated. The structures of the epoxy-bridged C60-fused lactones and derived reductive products have been unequivocally established by single-crystal X-ray crystallography. Plausible reaction mechanisms leading to the observed products are proposed.

Ag(i)/persulfate-catalyzed decarboxylative coupling of α-oxocarboxylates with organotrifluoroborates in water under room temperature

The decarboxylative coupling of α-oxocarboxylates and organotrifluoroborates was carried out smoothly in water under room temperature. This novel and simple method is efficient, using AgNO₃/K₂S₂O₈ catalytic system to generate diarylketone products.