Recent advances in copper-catalyzed imine-based multicomponent reactions

Metal-Catalysed A3 Coupling Methodologies: Classification and Visualisation

The multicomponent reaction of aldehydes, amines, and alkynes, known as A3 coupling, yields propargylamines, a valuable organic scaffold, and has received significant interest and attention in the last years. In order to fully realise the potential of the metal-based catalytic protocols that facilitate this transformation, we summarise substrates, in situ and well-characterised synthetic methods that provide this scaffold and attempt a monumental classification considering several variables (Metal, Coordinating atom(s), Ligand type and name, in-situ or well-characterised, co-catalyst, catalyst and ligand Loading (mol%), solvent, volume, atmosphere, temperature, microwave, time, yield, selectivity (e.e. d.r.), substrate name, functionality, loading (amines, aldehydes, alkynes), and use of molecular sieves). This pioneering work creates a valuable database that contains 2376 entries and allows us to produce graphs and better visualise their impact on the reaction.

Four-component one-pot synthesis of novel dicyanoaniline anchored triazoles

A four-component reaction was developed by taking the advantage of the reactivity of the propargyl functional groups, residing on the primarily formed dicyanoaniline products. Various enolizable cyclic ketones were reacted with malononitrile and 4-(prop-2-yn-1-yloxy)benzaldehyde derivatives in an aqueous <i>t</i>-BuOH/NaOH medium, and the resulting dicyanoanilines were subjected to a subsequent in situ click reaction to afford the final dicyanoaniline-anchored-triazole products. The enhanced photophysical properties of the novel products are under current study.

Asymmetric Deoxygenative Alkynylation of Tertiary Amides Enabled by Iridium/Copper Bimetallic Relay Catalysis

A variety of inert tertiary amides have been successfully transformed into synthetically important chiral propargylamines in high yields with good to excellent enantioselectivities via a relayed sequence of Ir catalyzed partial reduction and Cu/GARPHOS catalyzed asymmetric alkynylation with terminal alkynes. The reaction was readily extended to some drug molecules and the transformations of representative products have been demonstrated, thus attesting the practical utilities and the robust nature of the protocol.

A new silver coordination polymer based on 4,6-diamino-2-pyrimidinethiol: synthesis, characterization and catalytic application in asymmetric Hantzsch synthesis of polyhydroquinolines

A highly efficient and stable heterogeneous coordination polymer (CP) was successfully prepared by hydrothermal combination of silver and 4,6-diamino-2-pyrimidinethiol. The prepared coordination polymer was characterized by FT-IR, XRD, TGA, SEM, EDX, X-ray mapping and Nitrogen adsorption–desorption analysis. The prepared Ag–CP exhibit excellent catalytic activity in multicomponent Hantzsch synthesis of polyhydroquinolines under mild reaction conditions in relatively short reaction times. The heterogeneity of the catalyst was confirmed by the hot filtration test; also, the catalyst was reused for at least four times under the optimized reaction conditions without any significant loss of its catalytic activity.

Diversity-oriented synthesis as a tool to expand the chemical space of DNA-encoded libraries

DNA-encoded libraries (DEL) represent a powerful technology for generating compound collections for drug discovery campaigns, that have allowed for the selection of many hit compounds over last three decades. However, the application of split-and-pool combinatorial methodologies, as well as the limitation imposed by DNA-compatible chemistry, has often brought to a limited exploration of the chemical space, with an over-representation of flat aromatic or peptide-like structures, whereas a higher scaffold complexity is generally associated with a more successful biological activity of the library. In this context, the application of Diversity-Oriented Synthesis, capable of creating sp³-rich molecular entities even starting from simple flat building blocks, can represent an efficient strategy to significantly broaden the chemical space explored by DELs. In this review, we present selected examples of DNA-compatible complexity-generating reactions that can be applied for the generation of DNA-encoded DOS libraries, including: (i) multicomponent reactions; (ii) C-H/C-X functionalization; (iii) tandem approaches; (iv) cycloadditions; (v) reactions introducing privileged elements. Also, selected case studies on the generation of DELs with high scaffold diversity are discussed, reporting their application in drug discovery programs.