Synthesis of 2-Oxazolones and α-Aminoketones via Palladium-Catalyzed Reaction of β,β-Dibromoenamides

Mechanistic Insights into Oxazolone Synthesis by Bimetallic Au-Pd-Catalyzed Catalysis and Catalyst Design: DFT Investigations

Bimetallic synergistic catalysis is one of the most effective and powerful strategies for the synthesis of oxazolones, an important species in organic synthesis. In this work, the mechanism of AuCl(PMe₃)/AgOTf-Pd(0) ([Au-Pd]) bimetallic catalyst-catalyzed oxazolone synthesis using N-alkynyl carbamates as precursors was studied in detail by DFT calculations and the catalytic performances of a series of bimetallic catalysts were evaluated. The results show that the reaction begins from the [Au]-catalyzed cycloisomerization of N-alkynyl carbamates. After the five-membered intermediate is formed, the [Pd(0)]-catalyzed cycle starts, which contains three steps: oxidation addition, transmetalation, and reductive elimination. The whole reaction belongs to a catalyzed catalysis, and the reductive elimination is the rate-determining step. In the transmetalation process, both the [Pd(0)] catalyst and the ionic bridge are necessary. For the [Au-Pd]-catalyzed process, it is Cl^- as the bridge, not OTf^-. The cheaper metal compound, AgCl(PMe₃), can serve as the alternative of AuCl(PMe₃) to co-catalyze with the [Pd(0)] catalyst for the title reaction.

Divergent Pd-catalyzed Functionalization of 4-Oxazolin-2-ones and 4-Methylene-2-oxazolidinones and Synthesis of Heterocyclic-Fused Indoles

Palladium-catalyzed functionalization was presently performed on two building blocks: 4-oxazolin-2-ones and 4-methylene-2-oxazolidinones. Direct Heck arylation of 4-oxazolin-2-ones led to a series of 5-aryl-4-oxazolin-2-ones, including analogues with N-chiral auxiliary, in an almost quantitative yield. The Pd(II)-catalyzed homocoupling reaction of 4-oxazolin-2-ones provided novel heterocyclic across-ring dienes. Meanwhile, the intramolecular cross-coupling of N-aryl-4-methylene-2-oxazolidinones furnished a series of oxazolo[3,4-a]indol-3-ones. Further functionalization of 4-methylene-2-oxazolidinones afforded substituted indoles and heterocyclic-fused indoles with aryl, bromo, carbinol, formyl, and vinyl groups. A computational study was carried out to account for the behavior of the formylated derivatives. The currently developed methodology was applied to a new formal total synthesis of ellipticine.

Deconstructive isomerization of azetidinols via C-C bond cleavage enabled by N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC) catalysis

Herein, we describe an N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC)-catalyzed deconstructive isomerization of azetidinols via an inert C-C bond cleavage. It provides a direct and supplementary pathway to access α-amino ketone and oxazol-2-one derivatives in moderate to good yields. DFT calculation supports the proposed mechanism in which NHC undergoes a concerted proton transfer and ring-opening process. This reaction features non-metal catalysis, simple reaction operation, excellent regioselectivity and gram-scale synthesis.

Nickel-Catalyzed Cascade Reaction of 2-Vinylanilines with gem-Dichloroalkenes

An efficient nickel-catalyzed cascade reaction of 2-vinylanilines with gem-dichloroalkenes has been developed to deliver diversely substituted quinolines in good to high yields. This protocol enables effective access to quinolines bearing various functional groups in the cascade process from readily available feedstock chemicals. Mechanistic studies suggest that two plausible pathways are involved in the IPr-nickel catalytic system.

PIFA-Mediated Tandem Hofmann-Type Rearrangement and Cyclization Reaction of α-Acyl-β-aminoacrylamides: Access to Polysubstituted Oxazol-2(3H)-ones

An efficient and straightforward synthesis of polysubstituted oxazol-2(3H)-ones has been developed via a tandem Hofmann-type rearrangement and cyclization reaction of various α-acyl-β-aminoacrylamides mediated by phenyl iodine(III) bis(trifluoroacetate) (PIFA) in the presence of trifloroacetic acid (TFA). This novel protocol features readily available starting materials, mild reaction conditions, simple execution, high chemoselectivity, good functional group tolerance, and a metal-free oxidation process.

Catalyst-free synthesis of oxazol-2(3H)-ones from sulfilimines and diazo compounds through a tandem rearrangement/aziridination/ring-expansion reaction

Oxazol-2(3H)-ones play a significant role in the fields of organic synthesis and drug development.

Chemo- and regioselective synthesis of polysubstituted 2-aminothiophenes by the cyclization of gem-dibromo or gem-dichloroalkenes with β-keto tertiary thioamides

A facile and practical method for the synthesis of 2,3,4-trisubstituted 2-aminothiophenes by the cyclization of gem-dibromoalkenes or gem-dichloroalkenes with β-keto tertiary thioamides has been developed. The cyclization reaction proceeded chemoselectively and regioselectively under metal-catalyst-free conditions, providing various structurally diverse 2,3,4-trisubstituted N,N'-dialkyl 2-aminothiophenes in good to excellent yields.

The Current Status of O-Heterocycles: A Synthetic and Medicinal Overview

O-Heterocycles have been explored in the field of medicinal chemistry for a long time, but their significance has not been duly recognised and they are often shunned in favour of N-heterocycles. The design of bioactive molecules for nearly every pathophysiological condition is primarily focused on novel N-heterocycles. The main reasons for such bias include the ease of synthesis and possible mimicking of physiological molecules by N-heterocycles. But considering only this criterion rarely provides breakthrough molecules for a given disease condition, and instead the risks of toxicity or side effects are increased with such molecules. On the other hand, owing to improved synthetic feasibility, O-heterocycles have established themselves as equally potent lead molecules for a wide range of pathophysiological conditions. In the last decade there have been hundreds of reports validating the fact that equally potent molecules can be designed and developed by using O-heterocycles, and these are also expected to have comparably low toxicity. Even so, researchers tend to remain biased toward the use of N-heterocycles over O-heterocycles. Thus, this review provides a critical analysis of the synthesis and medicinal attributes of O-heterocycles, such as pyrones, oxazolones, furanones, oxetanes, oxazolidinones, and dioxolonones, and others, reported in the last five years, underlining the need for and the advantages guiding researchers toward them.

Pd/Cu-Catalyzed tandem head-to-tail dimerization/cycloisomerization of terminal ynamides for the synthesis of 5-vinyloxazolones

This is the first Pd/Cu-catalyzed tandem head-to-tail dimerization/cycloisomerization of terminal ynamides for the synthesis of 5-vinyl-oxazolones.

Regioselective iodoamination of terminal ynamides for the synthesis of α-amino-β,β-diiodo-enamides

We developed the intermolecular iodoamination of terminal ynamides for the synthesis of α-amino-β,β-diiodo-enamides.

Crystal structure of 4-tert-butyl-2-{2-[N-(3,3-dimethyl-2-oxobut-yl)-N-iso-propyl-carbamo-yl]phen-yl}-1-isopropyl-1H-imidazol-3-ium perchlorate

In the title salt, C26H40N3O2 (+)·ClO4 (-), the positive charge of the organic cation is delocalized between the two N atoms of the imidazole ring. The C N bond distances are 1.338 (2) and 1.327 (3) Å. The substituents on the benzene ring are rotated almost orthogonal with respect to this ring due to the presence of the bulky isopropyl substituents. The dihedral angle between the benzene and imidazole rings is 75.15 (12)°. Three of the O atoms of the anion are disordered over two sets of sites due to rotation around one of the O-Cl bonds. The ratio of the refined occupancies is 0.591 (14):0.409 (14). In the crystal, the cation and perchlorate anion are bound by an N-H⋯O hydrogen bond. In addition, the cation-anion pairs are linked into layers parallel to (001) by multiple weak C-H⋯O hydrogen bonds.

Amphoteric α-boryl aldehydes

A new class of stable molecules, α-boryl aldehydes, has been prepared from oxiranyl N-methyliminodiacetyl boronates by a 1,2-boryl migration with concomitant epoxide scission. A range of boryl imines, alkenes, alcohols, acids, enol ethers, enamides, and other functionalized boronic acid derivatives that are difficult or impossible to prepare using established protocols can be accessed from α-boryl aldehydes. The chemoselective transformations of these building blocks, including the facile synthesis of functionalized unnatural amino acids from silyloxy and amido vinyl boronates, attest to the potential of α-boryl aldehydes in chemical synthesis.