DoE-Driven Development of an Organocatalytic Enantioselective Addition of Acetaldehyde to Nitrostyrenes in Water

Rapid, iterative syntheses of unsymmetrical di- and triarylboranes from crystalline aryldifluoroboranes

A one-pot procedure to synthesise aryldifluoroboranes, ArBF2, from bench-stable arylsilanes is presented. These ArBF2 react conveniently with aryllithium reagents to form unsymmetrical ArAr'BF and BArAr'Ar'' in high yield. Examples of all three classes of borane have been characterised crystallographically, allowing for elucidation of geometric and crystal packing trends in crystalline ArBF2.

DoE-Assisted Development of a 2H-MoS2 -Catalyzed Approach for the Production of Indole Derivatives

2H-MoS2 is an appealing semiconductor because of its Earth-abundant nature, cheapness, and low toxicity. This material has shown promising catalytic activity for various energy-related processes, but its use in catalysis for C-C bond forming reactions towards useful organic compounds is still largely unexplored. The lack of examples in organic synthesis is mainly due to the intrinsic difficulties of using bulk 2H-MoS2 (e. g., low surface area), which implies the reliance on high catalytic loadings for obtaining acceptable yields. This makes the optimization process more expensive and tedious. Here, we report the development of a 2H-MoS2 -mediated synthesis of valuable bis(indolyl)methane derivatives, using indoles and benzaldehydes as starting materials. Exploiting the Design of Experiments (DoE) method, we identified the critical parameters affecting the catalytic performance of commercial 2H-MoS2 powder and optimized the reaction conditions. Lastly, we demonstrated that the catalytic system has versatility and good tolerance towards functional group variations of the reagents.

Acetaldehyde in the Enders triple cascade reaction via acetaldehyde dimethyl acetal

Asymmetric organocatalyzed multicomponent reactions represent an important toolbox in the field of organic synthesis to build complex scaffolds starting from simple starting materials. The Enders three-component cascade reaction was a cornerstone in the field and a plethora of organocatalyzed cascade reactions followed. However, acetaldehyde was not shown as a successful reaction partner, probably because of its high reactivity. Herein, we report the Enders-type cascade reaction using acetaldehyde dimethyl acetal, as a masked form of acetaldehyde. This strategy directly converts acetaldehyde, nitroalkenes and enals into stereochemically dense cyclohexenals in good yield and excellent enantioselectivity.

Asymmetric Organocatalysis—A Powerful Technology Platform for Academia and Industry: Pregabalin as a Case Study

Enantioselective organocatalysis has quickly established itself as the third pillar of asymmetric catalysis. It is a powerful technology platform, and it has a tremendous impact in both academic and industrial settings. By focusing on pregabalin, as a case study, this Perspective aims to show how a process amenable to industry of a simple chiral molecule can be tackled in several different ways using organocatalysis.

Asymmetric Michael Addition in Synthesis of β-Substituted GABA Derivatives

γ-Aminobutyric acid (GABA) represents one of the most prolific structural units widely used in the design of modern pharmaceuticals. For example, β-substituted GABA derivatives are found in numerous neurological drugs, such as baclofen, phenibut, tolibut, pregabalin, phenylpiracetam, brivaracetam, and rolipram, to mention just a few. In this review, we critically discuss the literature data reported on the preparation of substituted GABA derivatives using the Michael addition reaction as a key synthetic transformation. Special attention is paid to asymmetric methods featuring synthetically useful stereochemical outcomes and operational simplicity.