Bio-inspired quinone catalysis

Carbazoquinocin Analogues as Small Molecule Biomimetic Organocatalysts in Dehydrogenative Coupling of Amines

A new series of carbazole-cored biomimetic ortho-quinone catalysts structurally resembling carbazoquinocin alkaloids have been introduced to promote tunable, metal cocatalyst-free, organocatalytic, dehydrogenative amine oxidation under aerobic conditions. Differently substituted benzyl amines were tolerated under optimized conditions to provide imines in excellent yields. Further efficacy of the catalyst was demonstrated by synthesizing cross-coupled imines efficiently. Control experiments and in-depth DFT studies disclosed a covalent transamination pathway as a plausible mechanism for this newly developed catalytic system.

Redox-active molecules as organocatalysts for selective oxidative transformations - an unperceived organocatalysis field

Organocatalysis is widely recognized as a key synthetic methodology in organic chemistry. It allows chemists to avoid the use of precious and (or) toxic metals by taking advantage of the catalytic activity of small and synthetically available molecules. Today, the term organocatalysis is mainly associated with redox-neutral asymmetric catalysis of C-C bond-forming processes, such as aldol reactions, Michael reactions, cycloaddition reactions, etc. Organophotoredox catalysis has emerged recently as another important catalysis type which has gained much attention and has been quite well-reviewed. At the same time, there are a significant number of other processes, especially oxidative, catalyzed by redox-active organic molecules in the ground state (without light excitation). Unfortunately, many of such processes are not associated in the literature with the organocatalysis field and thus many achievements are not fully consolidated and systematized. The present article is aimed at overviewing the current state-of-art and perspectives of oxidative organocatalysis by redox-active molecules with the emphasis on challenging chemo-, regio- and stereoselective CH-functionalization processes. The catalytic systems based on N-oxyl radicals, amines, thiols, oxaziridines, ketone/peroxide, quinones, and iodine(I/III) compounds are the most developed catalyst types which are covered here.

N-Arylation of 3-Formylquinolin-2(1H)-ones Using Copper(II)-Catalyzed Chan-Lam Coupling

3-formyl-2-quinolones have attracted the scientific community's attention because they are used as versatile building blocks in the synthesis of more complex compounds showing different and attractive biological activities. Using copper-catalyzed Chan-Lam coupling, we synthesized 32 new N-aryl-3-formyl-2-quinolone derivatives at 80 °C, in air and using inexpensive phenylboronic acids as arylating agents. 3-formyl-2-quinolones and substituted 3-formyl-2-quinolones can act as substrates, and among the products, the p-methyl derivative 9a was used as a substrate to obtain different derivatives such as alcohol, amine, nitrile, and chalcone.

Bioinspired o-Naphthoquinone-Catalyzed Aerobic Oxidation of Alcohols to Aldehydes and Ketones

A biomimetic alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH)-like oxidation protocol was developed using an ortho-naphthoquinone catalyst in the presence of a catalytic amount of base. The developed organocatalytic aerobic oxidation protocol proceeds through the intramolecular 1,5-hydrogen atom transfer of naphthalene alkoxide intermediates, a mechanistically distinctive feature from the previous alcohol dehydrogenase mimics that require metals in the active form of catalysts. The ADH-like aerobic oxidation protocol should provide green alternatives to the existing stoichiometric and metal-catalyzed alcohol oxidation reactions.

Bio-inspired lanthanum-ortho-quinone catalysis for aerobic alcohol oxidation: semi-quinone anionic radical as redox ligand

Oxidation reactions are fundamental transformations in organic synthesis and chemical industry. With oxygen or air as terminal oxidant, aerobic oxidation catalysis provides the most sustainable and economic oxidation processes. Most aerobic oxidation catalysis employs redox metal as its active center. While nature provides non-redox metal strategy as in pyrroloquinoline quinone (PQQ)-dependent methanol dehydrogenases (MDH), such an effective chemical version is unknown. Inspired by the recently discovered rare earth metal-dependent enzyme Ln-MDH, here we show that an open-shell semi-quinone anionic radical species in complexing with lanthanum could serve as a very efficient aerobic oxidation catalyst under ambient conditions. In this catalyst, the lanthanum(III) ion serves only as a Lewis acid promoter and the redox process occurs exclusively on the semiquinone ligand. The catalysis is initiated by 1e^--reduction of lanthanum-activated ortho-quinone to a semiquinone-lanthanum complex La(SQ^-.)₂, which undergoes a coupled O-H/C-H (PCHT: proton coupled hydride transfer) dehydrogenation for aerobic oxidation of alcohols with up to 330 h⁻¹ TOF.

A decade ago the first rare-earth-metal dependent enzyme was discovered, in which a non-redox lanthanide ion is central in the active site of a methanol dehydrogenase. Inspired by this discovery, here the authors show that an open-shell semi-quinone anionic radical species, complexed with lanthanum, could serve as a very efficient aerobic oxidation catalyst under ambient conditions.

Formal dual C(sp2)–H cross-dehydrogenative C–O bond formation to construct highly functionalized diaryl ethers with O2

A formal dual C(sp2)–H cross-dehydrogenative C–O bond formation reaction between phenols and naphthylamine derivatives to construct diaryl ethers has been developed under mild conditions.

Synthesis of Triptycenemonohydroquinonedibenzoquinone by Comproportionation

Triptycenetribenzoquinone (BQ)₃, where the three benzene rings of triptycene are replaced by 1,4-benzoquinone (BQ) rings, is known to be reduced to triptycenetrihydroquinone (HQ)₃. In contrast, a molecule where both BQ and HQ moieties coexist in a triptycene framework has never been reported. In this study, triptycenemonohydroquinonedibenzoquinone ((HQ)₁(BQ)₂) in which one HQ unit and two BQ units coexist was generated by comproportionation between (BQ)₃ and (HQ)₃ and isolated by recrystallization. We obtained two types of crystals with different hydrogen-bonding structures by changing the cosolvents.

One-Pot Direct Oxidation of Primary Amines to Carboxylic Acids through Tandem ortho-Naphthoquinone-Catalyzed and TBHP-Promoted Oxidation Sequence

Biomimetic oxidation of primary amines to carboxylic acids has been developed where the copper-containing amine oxidase (CuAO)-like o-NQ-catalyzed aerobic oxidation was combined with the aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH)-like TBHP-mediated imine oxidation protocol. Notably, the current tandem oxidation strategy provides a new mechanistic insight into the imine intermediate and the seemingly simple TBHP-mediated oxidation pathways of imines. The developed metal-free amine oxidation protocol allows the use of molecular oxygen and TBHP, safe forms of oxidant that may appeal to the industrial application.

Modification of N-terminal α-amine of proteins via biomimetic ortho-quinone-mediated oxidation

Naturally abundant quinones are important molecules, which play essential roles in various biological processes due to their reduction potential. In contrast to their universality, the investigation of reactions between quinones and proteins remains sparse. Herein, we report the development of a convenient strategy to protein modification via a biomimetic quinone-mediated oxidation at the N-terminus. By exploiting unique reactivity of an ortho-quinone reagent, the α-amine of protein N-terminus is oxidized to generate aldo or keto handle for orthogonal conjugation. The applications have been demonstrated using a range of proteins, including myoglobin, ubiquitin and small ubiquitin-related modifier 2 (SUMO2). The effect of this method is further highlighted via the preparation of a series of 17 macrophage inflammatory protein 1β (MIP-1β) analogs, followed by preliminary anti-HIV activity and cell viability assays, respectively. This method offers an efficient and complementary approach to existing strategies for N-terminal modification of proteins.

Methods for selective modification of the N-terminus of proteins are of high interest, but mostly require specific amino acid residues. Here, the authors report a selective and fast method for N-terminal modification of proteins based on quinone-mediated oxidation of the alpha-amine to aldehyde or ketone, and apply it to diverse proteins.

Aerobic primary and secondary amine oxidation cascade by a copper amine oxidase inspired catalyst

A CAO inspired catalyst catalyzed the cascade aerobic oxidation of primary and secondary amines for the synthesis of quinazolin-4(3H)-one core in high yields. Like the natural CAOs, a copper ion improves the o-quinone cofactor's catalytic activity.

Aerobic catalytic systems inspired by copper amine oxidases

The goal of sustainable development has been accepted as a common policy in current society. In response to this challenge, the development of green processes which utilize environmentally benign oxidants, reduce chemical waste and handling costs, is highly desirable. Given the widespread importance of imines as pivotal synthetic intermediates and essential pharmacophores in numerous biologically active compounds, various catalytic methods allowing the aerobic oxidation of amines to imines have been developed. Recently, noticeable progress has arisen from the discovery of various quinone-based catalytic systems, inspired by copper amine oxidase enzymes (CuAOs), which are able to reproduce the selectivity of CuAOs for primary amines and even to expand the amine substrates scope. However, the need for synthesizing these catalysts prior use adversely affects the economics as well as the eco-friendly nature of the method. To surpass these drawbacks, the “second-order” biomimicry idea has been recently advanced to describe a system in which in situ modification of pre-catalyst components affords the active biomimetic catalyst. This minireview especially covers our recent contribution to the design of bioinspired quinone-based catalysts for the aerobic oxidation of amines to imines which has culminated in a dual bioinspired protocol as an example of “second-order” biomimicry.

ortho-Naphthoquinone-catalyzed aerobic oxidation of amines to fused pyrimidin-4(3H)-ones: a convergent synthetic route to bouchardatine and sildenafil

A facile access to fused pyrimidin-4(3H)-one derivatives has been established by using the metal-free ortho-naphthoquinone-catalyzed aerobic cross-coupling reactions of amines. The utilization of two readily available amines allowed a direct coupling strategy to quinazolinone natural product, bouchardatine, as well as sildenafil (Viagra™) in a highly convergent manner.

Fused pyrimidin-4(3H)-one derivatives have been accessed by using the ortho-naphthoquinone-catalyzed aerobic cross-coupling reactions of amines.

Dearomatization of Electron-Deficient Phenols to ortho-Quinones: Bidentate Nitrogen-Ligated Iodine(V) Reagents

Despite their broad utility, the synthesis of ortho-quinones remains a significant challenge, in particular, access to electron-deficient derivatives remains an unsolved problem. Reported here is the first general method for the synthesis of electron-deficient ortho-quinones by direct oxidation of phenols. The reaction is enabled by a novel bidentate nitrogen-ligated iodine(V) reagent, a previously unexplored class of compounds which we have termed Bi(N)-HVIs. The reaction is extremely general and proceeds with excellent regioselectivity for the ortho over para isomer. Functionalization of the ortho-quinone products was examined, resulting in a facile one-pot synthesis of catechols, as well as the incorporation of a variety of heteroatom nucleophiles. This method represents the first synthetic application of Bi(N)-HVIs and demonstrates their potential as a platform for the further development of highly reactive, but also highly tunable, I(V) reagents.

Mechanistic Studies on Bioinspired Aerobic C-H Oxidation of Amines with an ortho-Quinone Catalyst

We report herein our mechanistic studies of the ortho-quinone-catalyzed aerobic oxidation of primary, secondary, and tertiary amines. Two different catalytic pathways were discovered for the reductive half reactions: for primary amines, the reaction was found to proceed via a transamination pathway, while the reactions with secondary amines and tertiary amines proceeded via hydride transfer. We also found that the amine substrates could significantly promote the regeneration of the ortho-quinone catalyst in the oxidative half reaction, in which a proton transfer occurs between the amine substrates and catechol derivatives (the reduced form of the ortho-quinone catalyst).