Highly Enantioselective Intramolecular Cyanoamidation: (+)-Horsfiline, (−)-Coerulescine, and (−)-Esermethole

An efficient one-pot synthesis and docking studies of bioactive new antiproliferative dispiro[oxindole/acenaphthylenone‒benzofuranone] pyrrolidine scaffolds

A new and efficient method has been developed to synthesize dispiro[oxindole/acenaphthylenone-benzofuranone]pyrrolidine compounds. This is done by triggering the 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition reaction of azomethine ylides by reacting isatin/acenaphthoquinone with L-picolinic acid/L-proline/sarcosine/L-thioproline/tetrahydroisoquinolines, in a highly regioselective manner in an ionic liquid [DBU][Ac] with 4'-chloro-auron[2-(4-chlorobenzylidene)benzofuran-3(2H)-one]. Single-crystal X-ray diffraction data support the proposed structures of the new compounds. The heterocycles derived from amino acids such as L-picolinic acid, L-proline, and L-thioproline showed significant inhibitory effects against six human solid tumors, including lung, breast, cervix, colon, and others. These new structures were also tested in the active sites of the MDM2 receptor to further study their antiproliferative effects.

Rh-Catalyzed Decarbonylation of Conjugated Ynones via Carbon-Alkyne Bond Activation: Reaction Scope and Mechanistic Exploration via DFT Calculations

In this full article, detailed development of a catalytic decarbonylation of conjugated monoynones to synthesize disubstituted alkynes is described. The reaction scope and limitation has been thoroughly investigated, and a broad range of functional groups including heterocycles were compatible under the catalytic conditions. Mechanistic exploration via DFT calculations has also been executed. Through the computational study, a proposed catalytic mechanism has been carefully evaluated. These efforts are expected to serve as an important exploratory study for developing catalytic alkyne-transfer reactions via carbon-alkyne bond activation.

A General and Practical Palladium-Catalyzed Direct α-Arylation of Amides with Aryl Halides

An efficient system for the direct catalytic intermolecular α-arylation of acetamide derivatives with aryl bromides and chlorides is presented. The palladium catalyst is supported by Kwong's indole-based phosphine ligand and provides monoarylated amides in up to 95% yield. Excellent chemoselectivities (>10:1) in the mono- and diarylation with aryl bromides were achieved by careful selection of bases, solvents, and stoichiometry. Under the coupling conditions, the weakly acidic α-protons of amides (pKa up to 35) were reversibly depotonated by LiO t Bu, NaO t Bu, or NaN(SiMe3)2.

Synthesis of novel 16-spiro steroids: spiro-7'-(aryl)tetrahydro-1H-pyrrolo[1,2-c][1,3]thiazolo-trans-androsterone hybrid heterocycles

The 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition of azomethine ylide derived in situ from the reaction of acenaphthylene-1,2-dione and 1,3-thiazolane-4-carboxylic acid to various exocyclic dipolarophiles synthesized from trans-androsterone and trans-dehydroandrosterone afforded a library of novel spiro[5'.2″]acenaphthylene-1″-one-spiro[16.6']-(7'-aryl)-tetrahydro-1H-pyrrolo [1,2-c][1,3]thiazolo-trans-androsterone/dehydroandrosterone hybrid heterocycles respectively. These reactions proceeded stereo-specifically affording a single isomer of the 16-spiro steroids in excellent yields.

Palladium-catalyzed carbo-heterofunctionalization of alkenes for the synthesis of oxindoles and spirooxindoles

A palladium-catalyzed oxidative carbo-heterofunctionalization of aniline derivatives involving concomitant direct C-H functionalization and C-X bond formation was developed. By simply changing the reaction conditions (solvent and catalyst), either 3,3'-disubstituted oxindole or spirooxindole was accessible from the same starting material.

Asymmetric palladium-catalyzed carboamination reactions for the synthesis of enantiomerically enriched 2-(arylmethyl)- and 2-(alkenylmethyl)pyrrolidines

The enantioselective synthesis of 2-(arylmethyl)- and 2-(alkenylmethyl)pyrrolidine derivatives via Pd-catalyzed alkene carboamination reactions is described. These transformations generate enantiomerically enriched products with up to 94% ee from readily available alkenyl or aryl bromides and N-boc-pent-4-enylamines. The application of this method to a concise asymmetric synthesis of (-)-tylophorine is also discussed.

Total synthesis of (±)-coerulescine and (±)-horsfiline

Wittig olefination-Claisen rearrangement protocol was applied to obtain 3-allyl oxindole. This oxindole was then converted to (±)-coerulescine and (±)-horsfiline.