Facile Friedel-Crafts alkylation of arenes under solvent-free conditions

The Friedel-Crafts alkylation of arenes is an important part of electrophilic aromatic substitution reactions. However, the reactivity of arenes is weakened by electron-withdrawing substituents, leading to limited substrate scopes and applications. Herein, we developed an efficient HOTf-promoted Friedel-Crafts alkylation reaction of broad arenes with α-aryl-α-diazoesters under metal-free and solvent-free conditions.

Mild and selective hydrogen-deuterium exchange for aromatic hydrogen of amines

The direct electrophilic deuteration of the aromatic moiety in aromatic and aralkyl amines is reported. The acid-catalyzed deuteration is facilitated by deuterated trifluoromethanesulfonic acid, [D]triflic acid, CF3 SO3 D, TfOD, which acts as both the reaction solvent and the source of the deuterium label. The mild conditions enable room temperature hydrogen/deuterium exchange for most of the para-substituted aromatic amine derivatives studied. In addition, short reaction times and a high degree of aromatic deuteration are achieved and isolation of the product is simple. The optical activity of the chiral aralkyl amines studied was preserved.