Nickel-Catalyzed Chemoselective Acetalization of Aldehydes With Alcohols under Neutral Conditions

Kinetics of Aldehyde Flavorant-Acetal Formation in E-Liquids with Different E-Cigarette Solvents and Common Additives Studied by 1H NMR Spectroscopy

Flavorants, nicotine, and organic acids are common additives found in the e-liquid carrier solvent, propylene glycol (PG) and/or glycerol (GL), at various concentrations. Some of the most concentrated and prevalent flavorants in e-liquids include trans-cinnamaldehyde, vanillin, and benzaldehyde. Aldehyde flavorants have been shown to react with PG and GL to form flavorant-PG and -GL acetals that have unique toxicity properties in e-liquids before aerosolization. However, there is still much that remains unknown about the effects of different e-cigarette solvents, water, nicotine, and organic acids on the rate of acetalization in e-liquids. We used 1H NMR spectroscopy to determine the first-order initial rate constant, half-life, and % acetal formed at equilibrium for flavorant-acetal formation in simulated e-liquids. Herein, we report that acetalization generally occurs at a faster rate and produces greater yields in e-liquids with higher ratios of GL (relative to PG). trans-Cinnamaldehyde acetals formed the fastest in 100% PG-simulated e-liquids, followed by benzaldehyde and vanillin based on their half-lives and rate constants. The acetal yield was greatest for benzaldehyde in PG e-liquids, followed by trans-cinnamaldehyde and vanillin. Acetalization in PG e-liquids containing aldehyde flavorants was inhibited by water and nicotine but catalyzed by benzoic acid. Flavorant-PG acetal formation was generally delayed in the presence of nicotine, even if benzoic acid was present at 2-, 4-, or 10-fold the nicotine concentration, as compared to the PG e-liquids with 2.5 mg/mL flavorant. Thus, commercial e-liquids with aldehyde flavorants containing a higher GL ratio (relative to PG), little water, no nicotine, nicotine with excess organic acids, or organic acids without nicotine would undergo acetalization the fastest and with the highest yield. Many commercial e-liquids must therefore contain significant amounts of flavorant acetals.

Applications of Nickel(II) Compounds in Organic Synthesis

This review article summarizes the applications of nickel(II) compounds in organic synthesis since 2016. In recent years, the field of nickel(II) catalysis is gaining considerable interest due to readily available, low-cost nickel(II)-compounds and several key properties of nickel. This review article is organized by the reaction type, although some reactions can be placed in multiple sections.

First-Row Transition-Metal Catalyzed Acceptorless Dehydrogenation and Related Reactions: A Personal Account

The development of sustainable catalytic protocols that circumvent the use of expensive and precious metal catalysts and avoid toxic reagents plays a crucial role in organic synthesis. Indeed, the direct employment of simple and abundantly available feedstock chemicals as the starting materials broadens their synthetic application in contemporary research. In particular, the transition metal-catalyzed diversification of alcohols with various nucleophilic partners to construct a wide range of building blocks is a powerful and highly desirable methodology. Moreover, the replacement of precious metal catalysts by non-precious and less toxic metals for selective transformations is one of the main goals and has been paid significant attention to in modern chemistry. In view of this, the first-row transition metal catalysts find extensive applications in various synthetic transformations such as catalytic hydrogenation, dehydrogenation, and related reactions. Herein, we have disclosed our recent developments on the base-metal catalysis such as Mn, Fe, Co, and Ni for the acceptorless dehydrogenation reactions and its application in the C-C and C-N bond formation via hydrogen auto-transfer (HA) and acceptorless dehydrogenation coupling (ADC) reactions. These HA/ADC protocols employ alcohol as alkylating agents and eliminate water and/or hydrogen gas as by-products, representing highly atom-efficient and environmentally benign reactions. Furthermore, diverse simple to complex organic molecules synthesis by C-C and C-N bond formation using feedstock alcohols are also overviewed. Overall, this account deals with the contribution and development of efficient and novel homogeneous as well as heterogeneous base-metal catalysts for sustainable chemical synthesis.

Catalytic application of sulfamic acid-functionalized magnetic Fe3O4 nanoparticles (SA-MNPs) for protection of aromatic carbonyl compounds and alcohols: experimental and theoretical studies

Protection techniques of functional groups within the structure of organic compounds are important synthetic methods against unwanted attacks from various reagents during synthetic sequences. Acetal and thioacetal groups are well known as protective functional groups in organic reactions. In this study, acetalization of carbonyl compounds with diols and dithiols and methoxymethylation of alcohols with formaldehyde dimethyl acetal (FDMA) have been carried out using sulfamic acid-functionalized magnetic Fe3O4 nanoparticles (SA-MNPs) as a heterogeneous solid acid catalyst. Products were characterized by FT-IR and NMR spectroscopies. The structural and electronic properties of some products were computed by quantum mechanical (QM) methods. Depending on the stereochemistry and electronic properties that were obtained by computational results, we have suggested that hyperconjugation plays a key role in the structural properties of 2-phenyl-1,3-dioxolane derivatives, and also the electron transfer between π-electrons of the aromatic ring with the 3d orbital of S-atoms influences the 2-phenyl-1,3-dithiane derivatives' structure.