Mechanism of the Stille reaction catalyzed by palladium ligated to arsine ligand: PhPdI(AsPh3)(DMF) is the species reacting with vinylstannane in DMF

Pd-Catalyzed Oxidative C-H Arylation of (Poly)fluoroarenes with Aryl Pinacol Boronates and Experimental and Theoretical Studies of its Reaction Mechanism

We report the synergistic combination of Pd(OAc)2 and Ag2O for the oxidative C-H arylation of (poly)fluoroarenes with aryl pinacol boronates (Ar-Bpin) in DMF as the solvent. This procedure can be conducted easily in air, and without using additional ligands, to afford the fluorinated unsymmetrical biaryl products in up to 98 % yield. Experimental studies suggest that the formation of [PdL2(C6F5)2] in DMF as coordinating solvent does not take place under the reaction conditions as it is stable to reductive elimination and thus would deactivate the catalyst. Thus, the intermediate [Pd(DMF)2(ArF)(Ar)] must be formed selectively to give desired arylation products. DFT calculations predict a low barrier (5.87 kcal/mol) for the concerted metalation deprotonation (CMD) process between C6F5H and the Pd(II) species formed after transmetalation between the Pd(II)X2 complex and aryl-Bpin which forms a Pd-Arrich species. Thus a Pd(Arrich)(Arpoor) complex is generated selectively which undergoes reductive elimination to generate the unsymmetrical biaryl product.

Post-Transition-State Dynamic Effects in the Transmetalation of Pd(II)-F to Pd(II)-CF3

The observation of post-transition-state dynamic effects in the context of metal-based transformation is rare. To date, there has been no reported case of a dynamic effect for the widely employed class of palladium-mediated coupling reactions. We performed an experimental and computational study of the trifluoromethylation of Pd(II)F, which is a key step in the Pd(0)/Pd(II)-catalyzed trifluoromethylation of aryl halides or acid fluorides. Our experiments show that the cis/trans speciation of the formed Pd(II)CF3 is highly solvent- and transmetalation reagent-dependent. We employed GFN2-xTB- and B3LYP-D3-based molecular dynamics trajectory calculations (with and without explicit solvation) along with high-level QM calculations and found that depending on the medium, different transmetalation mechanisms appear to be operative. A statistically representative number of Born-Oppenheimer molecular dynamics (MD) simulations suggest that in benzene, a difluorocarbene is generated in the transmetalation with R3SiCF3, which subsequently recombines with the Pd via two distinct pathways, leading to either the cis- or trans-Pd(II)CF3. Conversely, GFN2-xTB simulations in MeCN suggest that in polar/coordinating solvents an ion-pair mechanism is dominant. A CF3 anion is initially liberated and then rebinds with the Pd(II) cation to give a cis- or trans-Pd(II). In both scenarios, a single transmetalation transition state gives rise to both cis- and trans-species directly, owing to bifurcation after the transition state. The potential subsequent cis- to trans isomerization of the Pd(II)CF3 was also studied and found to be strongly inhibited by free phosphine, which in turn was experimentally identified to be liberated through displacement by a polar/coordinating solvent from the cis-Pd(II)CF3 complex. The simulations also revealed how the variation of the Pd-coordination sphere results in divergent product selectivities.

Conjugated Mesopolymer Achieving 15% Efficiency Single-Junction Organic Solar Cells

The high-performance organic solar cells (OSCs) tend to choose the polymers with high molecular weight as donors, which easily produce good crystallinity to facilitate intermolecular charge transfer. However, these polymers usually accompanied by the low solubility and synthetic difficulty, increasing batch-to-batch variations. The proposal of conjugated mesopolymers (molar mass (M_n ) in 1-10 kDa) can overcome these problems. Herein, a new mesopolymer, MePBDFCl_H as donor material is designed and synthesized, and firstly applied in OSCs. As a comparison, other lower molecular weight mesopolymer of MePBDFCl_L and higher molecular weight polymer of PBDFCl with same structure are also prepared and investigated. Because of its appropriate phase separation and miscibility in the blend film, the MePBDFCl_H exhibits the highest power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 15.06% among the three materials. Meanwhile, the champion PCE is a new record for benzo[1,2-b:4,5-b']difuran-based photovoltaic materials. Importantly, comparing to the pronounced PCE decrease of polymer PBDFCl by about 12%, a slightly PCE difference for mespolymer MePBDFCl_L is only less than 5%, reducing the batch-to-batch variation. This work not only suggests that the benzo[1,2-b:4,5-b']difuran unit is a promising electron-donating core but also shows that the mesopolymers have great potentials to produce the low-differentiated and high-performance organic photovoltaic materials.

Palladium(0) catalyzed Suzuki cross-coupling reaction of 2,5-dibromo-3-methylthiophene: selectivity, characterization, DFT studies and their biological evaluations

Thiophene derivatives have shown versatile pharmacological activities. The Suzuki reaction proved a convenient method for C-C bond formations in organic molecules. In the present research work novel derivatives of 2,5-dibromo-3-methylthiophene (3a-k and 3l-p) has been synthesized, via Suzuki coupling reaction in low to moderate yields. A wide range of functional groups were well tolerated in reaction. Density functional theory investigations on all synthesized derivatives (3a-3p) were performed in order to explore the structural properties. The pharmaceutical potential of synthesized compounds was investigated through various bioassays (antioxidant, antibacterial, antiurease activities). The compounds 3l, 3g, 3j, showed excellent antioxidant activity (86.0, 82.0, 81.3%), respectively by scavenging DPPH. Synthesized compounds showed promising antibacterial activity against tested strains. 3b, 3k, 3a, 3d and 3j showed potential antiurease activity with 67.7, 64.2, 58.8, 54.7 and 52.1% inhibition at 50 µg/ml. Results indicated that synthesized molecules could be a potential source of pharmaceutical agents.

α-Cationic Arsines: Synthesis, Structure, Reactivity, and Applications

A series of structurally differentiated cationic arsines containing imidazolium, cyclopropenium, formamidinium, and pyridinium substituents have been synthesized through short and scalable routes. Evaluation of the donor properties of these compounds by IR spectroscopy and DFT calculations reveals similar σ-electron-releasing abilities for all of them; however, their π-acceptor properties are strongly influenced by the nature of the positively charged group. We describe the coordination chemistry of the newly prepared α-cationic arsines toward different metal centers and their reactivity in the presence of strong oxidants to afford cationic As(V) species. Their unique electronic properties have been exploited in Pt(II) catalysis to develop a new catalyst with remarkable activity in the cycloisomerization of enynes to trisubstituted cyclopropanes. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report on the use of α-cationic arsine ligands in catalysis.

Selective C-arylation of 2,5-dibromo-3-hexylthiophene via Suzuki cross coupling reaction and their pharmacological aspects

The present study reports the synthesis of various new derivatives based on 5-aryl-2-bromo-3-hexylthiophene with moderate-to-good yields via a palladium-catalyzed Suzuki cross-coupling reaction. This coupling method involved the reaction of 2,5-dibromo-3-hexylthiophene with several arylboronic acids in order to synthesize corresponding thiophene derivatives under controlled and optimal reaction conditions. The different substituents (CH₃, OCH₃, Cl, F etc.) present on arylboronic acids are found to have significant electronic effects on the overall properties of new products. The synthesized thiophene molecules were studied for their haemolytic, biofilm inhibition and anti-thrombolytic activities, and almost all products showed potentially good properties. The compound 2-bromo-5-(3-chloro-4-fluorophenyl)-3-hexylthiophenein particular exhibited the highest values for haemolytic and bio-film inhibition activities among all newly synthesized derivatives. In addition, the compound 2-bromo-3-hexyl-5-(4-iodophenyl)thiophene also showed high anti-thrombolytic activity, suggesting the potential medicinal applications of these newly synthesized compounds.

Rh-catalyzed oxidizing group-directed ortho C–H vinylation of arenes by vinylstannanes

An efficient method for the synthesis of functionalized vinyl arenes from the reaction of N-methoxybenzamides or N-phenoxyacetamides with vinylstannanes via rhodium(iii)-catalyzed C–H activation is described. The application of the methodology for the synthesis of a natural product thalactamine and a 7-membered ring oxepine are also demonstrated.

A new library of arsine, stibine-stabilized N-heterocyclic carbene palladium complexes: synthesis, structures and activities in C-C and C-N coupling reactions

A series of new N-heterocyclic carbene palladium complexes bearing AsPh3 and SbPh3 functions PdCl2(IMes)(AsPh3) (1a), PdCl2(IMes)(SbPh3) (1b), PdCl2(IPr)(AsPh3) (1c), PdCl2(IPr)(SbPh3) (1d), PdCl2(SIMes)(AsPh3) (2a), PdCl2(SIMes)(SbPh3) (2b), PdCl2(SIPr)(AsPh3) (2c), and PdCl2(SIPr)(SbPh3) (2d) (IMes = N,N'-bis-(2,4,6-trimethylphenyl)imidazol-2-ylidene; IPr = N,N'-bis-(2,6-di(iso-propyl)phenyl)imidazol-2-ylidene; SIMes = N,N'-bis-(2,4,6-trimethylphenyl)imidazolidin-2-ylidene; SIPr = N,N'-bis-(2,6-di(iso-propyl)phenyl)imidazolidin-2-ylidene) was synthesized and fully characterized by (1)H NMR, (13)C NMR, and FT-IR spectroscopy, elemental analysis and single-crystal X-ray crystallography. The catalytic potential of these arsine and stibine-stabilized carbene palladium complexes for Pd-mediated transformations was investigated with various substrates in the Hiyama cross-coupling reactions and Buchwald-Hartwig aminations. The results demonstrate that these complexes show high catalytic activity and good tolerance to various chemical functions.

Tandem metal relay catalysis: from cyclopropene to polysubstituted furan

Transmetalation is a key step in traditional coupling reactions. An efficient synthetic methodology of tetrasubstituted furans from cyclopropenes with Cu–Pd transmetalation relay catalysis was presented.

Ultrasound promoted Barbier reactions and Csp3-Csp2 Stille coupling for the synthesis of diarylmethanes and substituted benzophenones

Here we present the preparation of a variety of diarylmethanes obtained via ultrasound Stille coupling under palladium catalysis between some substituted aryl compounds and benzyltributyltin compounds generated through sonicated Barbier reaction in a very short time reaction and excellent yield. The study reported below compares different methods to optimize the synthesis of usually unstable benzyltin derivatives and is another contribution to the investigation of Csp(3)-Csp(2) coupling process involving benzyl-aryl reagents. Substituted carboxylated benzophenones were easily prepared in a very good yield by oxidation of some diarylmethanes.

Diphenylphosphinoethane-functionalized polystyrene resin-supported Pd(0) complex — A highly active and recyclable catalyst for the Stille reaction under aerobic conditions

The polymer-supported palladium(II) diphenylphosphinoethane complex is a highly active catalyst that could be used for the Stille coupling reaction between aryl iodides and (or) chlorides and organostannanes at room temperature under aerobic conditions. This heterogeneous palladium catalyst is efficient, air-stable, and recyclable.