Molybdenum Complex-Catalyzed N-Alkylation of Bulky Primary and Secondary Amines

Aliphatic allylic amines are present in a large number of complex and pharmaceutically relevant molecules. The direct amination of allylic electrophiles serves as the most common method toward the preparation of these motifs. However, the use of feedstock reaction components (allyl alcohol and aliphatic amine) in these transformations remains a great challenge. Such a challenge primarily stems from the high Lewis basicity and large steric hindrance of aliphatic amines, in addition to the low reactivity of allylic alcohols. Herein, we report a general solution to these challenges. The developed protocol allows an efficient allylic amination of allyl alcohols with sterically bulky aliphatic amines in the presence of an inexpensive earth-abundant molybdenum complex. This simple and economic protocol also enables regioselective branched amination; the practicality of the reaction was shown in an efficient, scaled-up synthesis of several drugs.

Indium Promotes Direct Sulfonamidation of Unactivated Alcohols

An improved protocol has been developed for the direct sulfonamidation of unactivated alkyl alcohols using In(OTf)3 as a Lewis acid catalyst. Although the established methods using Lewis or Brønsted acids have been well-studied for the direct functionalization of alcohols, their substrate scope mainly focuses on the π-activated alcohols. In this reaction, unactivated aliphatic alcohols were evaluated and afforded the desired sulfonamide products with good to excellent yields.

Naturally occurring phytic acid: an advanced Brønsted acid catalyst for direct amination reactions of allylic alcohols

Phytic acid is abundant in various plant-based foods and is considered agricultural waste. Here, we demonstrate the effectiveness of this organophosphorus acid as a sustainable catalyst for the direct amination reactions of allylic alcohols. This approach is successfully performed in air using technical grade solvents, affording allylanilines in moderate to excellent yields. Challenging electron-rich anilines react effectively, and their corresponding Friedel-Crafts side products can be minimised under the optimised reaction conditions. A variety of asymmetrically substituted allylic alcohols are tolerated, while the scope is extended to amide, and C-, O- and S-nucleophiles.

Copper(II)-Catalyzed Three-Component Arylation/Hydroamination Cascade from Allyl Alcohol: Access to 1-Aryl-2-sulfonylamino-propanes

A new straightforward approach to 1-aryl-2-aminopropanes using easily accessible substrates has been developed. Simple allyl alcohol is shown to be an ideal synthetic equivalent of the C3 propane-1,2-diylium bis-cation synthon in three-component cascade reactions with arenes and sulfonamide nucleophiles to regioselectively afford 1-aryl-2-aminopropanes. The reaction is catalyzed by Cu(OTf)2 and is expected to involve a Friedel-Crafts-type allylation of the arene, followed by hydroamination.

Metal-Free Construction of Multisubstituted Indolizines via Intramolecular Amination of Allylic Alcohols

An intramolecular amination of allylic alcohols is developed as an efficient and general access to biologically important multisubstituted indolizines and their variants. Two metal-free synthetic platforms including using aqueous hydrochloric acid solution as the solvent and p-toluenesulfonic acid as the catalyst have been established, enabling the divergent synthesis of these valuable compounds in high yields.

Multicomponent Direct Assembly of N-Heterospirocycles Facilitated by Visible-Light-Driven Photocatalysis

N-heterospirocycles are interesting structural units found in both natural products and medicinal compounds but have relatively few reliable methods for their synthesis. Here, we enlist the photocatalytic generation of N-centered radicals to construct β-spirocyclic pyrrolidines from N-allylsulfonamides and alkenes. A variety of β-spirocyclic pyrrolidines have been constructed, including drug derivatives, in moderate to very good yields. Further derivatization of the products has also been demonstrated as has a viable scale-up procedure, making use of flow chemistry techniques.

Dehydrative Cross-Coupling for C-N Bond Construction under Transition-Metal-Free Conditions

A transition-metal-free catalytic system was designed to address the dehydrative cross-coupling of unactivated primary/secondary alcohols with amines/amides under environmentally benign conditions. Mg²⁺ and counteranion (PF₆^-) worked synergistically to realize C-OH bond cleavage and concomitant C-N bond formation. A wide range of allylic alcohols and amines/amides were tolerated well in this transformation, which allowed C-N bond construction with high efficiency.

Convergent Evolution of Diastereomeric Mixtures of 5-Methoxy-pentylzirconocenes toward Trans-1,2-substituted Cyclopentanes

The access to 1,2- and 1,1,2-substituted trans cyclopentanes via a sequential hydrozirconation/TMSOTf-mediated cyclization applied to 5-methoxypent-1-enes is presented. Involving a transient carbocation, the reaction was shown to be diastereo-convergent. Possibly performed in a nonracemic version, the reaction proved compatible with a range of functional groups affording a large panel of cyclopentanes.

Organic synthesis with the most abundant transition metal–iron: from rust to multitasking catalysts

The promising aspects of iron in synthetic chemistry are being explored for three-four decades as a green and eco-friendly alternative to late transition metals. This present review unveils these rich iron-chemistry towards different transformations.

Sustainable Palladium-Catalyzed Tsuji-Trost Reactions Enabled by Aqueous Micellar Catalysis

Palladium-catalyzed allylic substitution, or "Tsuji-Trost" reactions, can be run under micellar catalysis conditions featuring not only chemistry in water but also numerous combinations of reaction partners that require low levels of palladium, typically on the order of 1000 ppm (0.1 mol %). These couplings are further characterized by especially mild conditions, leading to a number of cases not previously reported in an aqueous micellar medium. Inclusion of diverse nucleophiles, such as N-H heterocycles, alcohols, dicarbonyl compounds, and sulfonamides is described. Intramolecular cyclizations further illustrate the broad utility of this process. In addition to recycling studies, a multigram scale example is reported, indicative of the prospects for scale up.

Synthesis of 3-Aryl-3-Sulfanyl Azetidines by Iron-Catalyzed Thiol Alkylation with N-Cbz Azetidinols

New small-ring derivatives can provide valuable motifs in new chemical space for drug design. 3-Aryl-3-sulfanyl azetidines are synthesized directly from azetidine-3-ols in excellent yield by a mild Fe-catalyzed thiol alkylation. A broad range of thiols and azetidinols bearing electron-donating aromatics are successful, proceeding via an azetidine carbocation. The N-carboxybenzyl group is a requirement for good reactivity and enables the NH-azetidine to be revealed. Further reactions of the azetidine sulfides demonstrate their potential for incorporation in drug discovery programs.

Stereoinversion of Unactivated Alcohols by Tethered Sulfonamides

The direct, catalytic substitution of unactivated alcohols remains an undeveloped area of organic synthesis. Moreover, catalytic activation of this difficult electrophile with predictable stereo-outcomes presents an even more formidable challenge. Described herein is a simple iron-based catalyst system which provides the mild, direct conversion of secondary and tertiary alcohols to sulfonamides. Starting from enantioenriched alcohols, the intramolecular variant proceeds with stereoinversion to produce enantioenriched 2- and 2,2-subsituted pyrrolidines and indolines, without prior derivatization of the alcohol or solvolytic conditions.

N-Alkyl amide synthesis via N-alkylation of amides with alcohols

The present review summarizes the recent development of N-alkylation of amides with alcohols according to the classification of catalysts.

Continuous flow knitting of a triptycene hypercrosslinked polymer

Hypercrosslinked polymers suitable for carbon capture were produced in continuous flow synthesis using 10% of the time required for typical batch reactions, precluding the need for lengthy reactions to produce microporous polymeric adsorbents.

Direct Amination of Alcohols Catalyzed by Aluminum Triflate: An Experimental and Computational Study

Among the best-performing homogeneous catalysts for the direct amination of activated secondary alcohols with electron-poor amine derivatives, metal triflates, such as aluminum triflate, Al(OTf)₃ , stand out. Herein we report the extension of this reaction to electron-rich amines and activated primary alcohols. We provide detailed insight into the structure and reactivity of the catalyst under working conditions in both nitromethane and toluene solvent, through experiment (cyclic voltammetry, conductimetry, NMR spectroscopy), and density functional theory (DFT) simulations. Competition between aniline and benzyl alcohol for Al in the two solvents explains the different reactivities. The catalyst structures predicted from the DFT calculations were validated by the experiments. Whereas a S_N 1-type mechanism was found to be active in nitromethane, we propose a S_N 2 mechanism in toluene to rationalize the much higher selectivity observed when using this solvent. Also, unlike what is commonly assumed in homogeneous catalysis, we show that different active species may be active instead of only one.

Divergent Strategy for the Diastereoselective Synthesis of the Tricyclic 6,7-Diaryltetrahydro-6H-benzo[c]chromene Core via Pt(IV)-Catalyzed Cycloaddition of o-Quinone Methides and Olefin Ring-Closing Metathesis

A divergent strategy for the synthesis of the tricyclic 6,7-diaryltetrahydro-6H-benzo[c]chromene core was successfully developed. The 2,3-trans, 2,4-cis trisubstituted chroman moiety was formed via highly efficient and stereoselective Pt(IV)-catalyzed cycloaddition reactions of the corresponding quinone methides with chalcones. Subsequent steps provided the common diene alcohol, which underwent BF₃·Et₂O-mediated Et₃SiH reduction and olefin ring-closing metathesis (RCM) using Ru(II) catalysts. The sequence of the final two steps provided a handle to diversify the stereochemical outcomes at C6 as well as C10a.

Amidation of 1,3-Diarylallylic Compounds Catalysed by 2,3-Dichloro-5,6-Dicyano-1,4-Benzoquinone with Molecular Oxygen as the Terminal Oxidant

An efficient amidation has been developed of 1,3-diarylpropenes by carboxamides, sulfonamides, carbamates and anilines catalysed by 2,3-dichloro-5,6-dicyano-1,4-benzoquinone and benzoyl peroxide with molecular oxygen. The corresponding products were obtained in moderate to good yields.

Synthetic Studies on Tricyclic Diterpenoids: Direct Allylic Amination Reaction of Isopimaric Acid Derivatives

A selective synthesis of 7- or 14-nitrogen containing tricyclic diterpenoids was completed according to a strategy in which the key step was the catalyzed direct allylic amination of methyl 14α-hydroxy-15,16-dihydroisopimarate with a wide variety of nitrogenated nucleophiles. It was revealed that the selectivity of the reaction depends on the nature of nucleophile. The catalyzed reaction of the mentioned diterpenoid allylic alcohol with 3-nitroaniline, 3-(trifluoromethyl)aniline, and 4-(trifluoromethyl)aniline yield the subsequent 7α-, 7β- and 14αnitrogen-containing diterpenoids. The reaction with 2-nitroaniline, 4-nitro-2-chloroaniline, 4-methoxy-2-nitroaniline, phenylsulfamide, or tert-butyl carbamate proceeds with the formation of 7α-nitrogen-substituted diterpenoids as the main products.

Intramolecular etherification and polyene cyclization of π-activated alcohols promoted by hot water

Hot water, acting as a mildly acidic catalyst, efficiently promoted intramolecular direct nucleophilic substitution reactions of unsaturated alcohols with heteroatom or carbon nucleophiles. In a mixed solvent of water and 1,1,1,3,3,3-hexafluoro-2-propanol (HFIP), polyene cyclizations using allylic alcohols as initiators gave the desired cyclized products, and in neat HFIP, a tricyclization reaction gave a tetracyclic product in 51% chemical yield.