Skeletal Editing of Isatins for Heterocycle Molecular Diversity

Isatins have been widely used in the preparation of a variety of heterocyclic compounds, where the skeletal editing of isatins has shown significant advantages for the construction of diverse heterocycles. This review highlights the progress made in the last decade (2013-2023) in the skeletal editing of the isatin scaffold. A series of ring expansion reactions for the construction of quinoline skeleton, quinolone skeleton, polycyclic quinazoline skeleton, medium-sized ring skeleton, as well as a series of ring opening reactions for the generation of 2-(azoly)aniline skeleton by the cleavage of C-C bond and C-N bond are highlighted. It is hoped that this review will provide some understanding of the chemical transformations of isatins and contribute to the further realization of its molecular diversity.

Hypervalent Iodine Reagents Enable C(sp2)-H Amidation of (Hetero)arenes with Iminophenylacetic Acids

Sulfonamide-containing (hetero)arenes are widely present in bioactive molecules. Here, we report the sulfonamidyl (hetero)arenes synthesis by the C(sp²)-H amidation from bench-stable amidyl-iminophenylacetic acids. The hypervalent iodine reagents covalently activated iminophenylacetic acids for the facile sulfonamidyl radical generation under mild photocatalytic oxidative conditions. Diversified indoles, pyrroles, imidazopyridines, and fused arenes underwent the C(sp²)-H amidation with excellent chemoselectivity and regioselectivity. This reaction performs well under neutral aqueous conditions with potential biological applications.

The preparation, characterization and catalytic activity of Ni NPs supported on porous alginate-g-poly(p-styrene sulfonamide-co-acrylamide)

Herein, we report the synthesis of nickel nanoparticles under mild conditions using porous alginate-g-poly(p-styrene sulfonamide-co-acrylamide) as a protecting/stabilizing agent and sodium borohydride as a reducing agent. The porous cross-linked polymeric support was prepared via combining the use of sol-gel, nanocasting, and crosslinking techniques, in which the p-styrene sulfonamide monomer (PSSA) and N,N'-methylene-bis (acrylamide) (MBA) cross-linker underwent copolymerization on the surface of sodium alginate in the presence of a SiO2 nanoparticle (NP) template (Alg-PSSA-co-ACA). The prepared catalyst (Alg-PSSA-co-ACA@Ni) showed high catalytic activity for the one-step synthesis of 1,3,4-oxadiazoles from the reaction of hydrazides and aryl iodides through isocyanide insertion/cyclization.

Tunable Electrosynthesis of Anthranilic Acid Derivatives via a C-C Bond Cleavage of Isatins

A facile and direct electrocatalytic C-C bond cleavage/functionalization reaction of isatins was developed. With isatins as the amino-attached C1 sources, a variety of aminobenzoates, and aminobenzamides were synthesized in moderate to good yields under mild conditions.

A transition-metal-free, base-promoted annulation/ring-cleavage/ring-reconstruction cascade reaction: a facile access to N-protection free indole-indenones

An unprecedented base-promoted reaction of 2-halogenated arylglyoxals with 2-oxindoles is accomplished under metal-free conditions, furnishing a wide range of biologically important (NH)-indeno[2,1-b]indol-6(5H)-ones in useful to good yields.

FeCl3-Mediated Synthesis of 2-(Trifluoromethyl)quinazolin-4(3H)-ones from Isatins and Trifluoroacetimidoyl Chlorides

An FeCl₃-mediated cascade coupling/decarbonylative annulation reaction for the efficient construction of 2-(trifluoromethyl)quinazolin-4(3H)-ones has been developed. This transformation employs readily available isatins and trifluoroacetimidoyl chlorides as the starting materials, providing a facile and practical route to diverse biologically relevant quinazolin-4(3H)-one derivatives. A plausible reaction pathway has been proposed based on the mechanistic observations.

Isatin as a 2-aminobenzaldehyde surrogate: transition metal-free efficient synthesis of 2-(2'-aminophenyl)benzothiazole derivatives

A transition metal-free, convenient, and efficient practical approach has been devised for the synthesis of substituted 2-(2'-aminophenyl)benzothiazoles via a sulfur insertion strategy using isatin derivatives as 2-aminobenzaldehyde surrogates. KI assisted one-pot operation of isatin, arylamines and elemental sulfur resulted in the formation of a C-N and two C-S bonds and cascade cleavage of the isatin ring resulting in the formation of 2-(2'-aminophenyl)benzothiazoles. The significant features of this strategy are the readily available and inexpensive starting materials, broad substrate scope, sustainable reaction conditions and high yield of products. Importantly, the strategy was found to be appropriate for gram scale synthesis (>10 g) of 2-(2'-aminophenyl)benzothiazole derivatives. Moreover, the excellent photophysical properties (ΦF up to 60%) of 2-(2'-aminophenyl)benzothiazole derivatives provide huge scope in materials science.

Annulation Reactions of In-Situ-Generated N-(Het)aroyldiazenes with Isothiocyanates Leading to 2-Imino-1,3,4-oxadiazolines

A novel annulation reaction of N-(het)aroyldiazenes and isothiocyanates has been established. This transformation involves a sequential cyclization and desulfurization/intramolecular rearrangement to produce 2-imino-1,3,4-oxadiazolines. The less-stable N-(het)aroyldiazenes can be conveniently generated in situ by I₂-mediated oxidation of hydrazides, which allows a one-pot synthesis of the products directly from readily accessible hydrazide and isothiocyanate substrates. This operationally simple synthetic process requires no use of malodorous isocyanides and can be conveniently conducted on a gram scale.

A transition metal-free approach towards synthesis of β-carboline tethered 1,3,4-oxadiazoles via oxidative C–O bond formation

An efficient protocol has been developed for one-pot synthesis of biologically interesting β-carboline substituted 1,3,4-oxadiazoles via an I₂-assisted oxidative C–O bond formation strategy.

Iodine-mediated one-pot intramolecular decarboxylation domino reaction for accessing functionalised 2-(1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)anilines with carbonic anhydrase inhibitory action

A practical and transition metal-free one-pot domino synthesis of diversified (1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)anilines has been developed employing isatins and hydrazides as the starting materials, in the presence of molecular iodine. The prominent feature of this domino process involves consecutive condensation, hydrolytic ring cleavage, and an intramolecular decarboxylation, in a one-pot process that leads to the oxidative formation of a C–O bond. Fluorescence properties of some of the representative molecules obtained in this way were studied. The synthesised 2-(1,3,4-oxadiazolo-2-yl)aniline-benzene sulphonamides (8a–o) were screened for their carbonic anhydrase (CA, EC 4.2.1.1) inhibitory activity. Most of the compounds exhibited low micromolar to nanomolar activity against human (h) isoforms hCA I, hCA II, hCA IV, and XII, with some compounds displaying selective CA inhibitory activity towards hCA II with K_Is of 6.4–17.6 nM.

Synthetic fermentation of bioactive molecules

The concept of synthetic fermentation is to 'grow' complex organic molecules in a controlled and predictable manner by combining small molecule building blocks in water-without the need for reagents, enzymes, or organisms. This approach mimics the production of small mixtures of structurally related natural products by living organisms, particularly microbes, under conditions compatible with direct screening of the cultures for biological activity. This review discusses the development and implementation of this concept, its use for the discovery of protease inhibitors, its basis as a chemistry outreach program allowing non-specialists to make and discover new antibiotics, and highlights of related approaches.

1,3,4-Oxadiazole and Heteroaromatic-Fused 1,2,4-Triazole Synthesis using Diverted Umpolung Amide Synthesis

Umpolung Amide Synthesis (UmAS) has emerged as a superior alternative to conventional amide synthesis methods based on carbonyl electrophiles in a range of situations, particularly when epimerization-prone couplings are prescribed. In an unanticipated development during our most recent studies, it was discovered that diacyl hydrazide products from UmAS were not formed as intermediates when using an acyl hydrazide as the amine acceptor. This resulted in a new preparation of 1,3,4-oxadiazoles from α-bromonitroalkane donors. We hypothesized that a key tetrahedral intermediate in UmAS was diverted toward a more direct pathway to the heterocycle product rather than through formation of the diacyl hydrazide, a typical oxadiazole progenitor. In studies reported here, diversion to 1,2,4-triazole products is described, a behavior hypothesized to also result from an analogous tetrahedral intermediate, but one formed from heteroaromatic hydrazine acceptors.

Synthetic fermentation of β-peptide macrocycles by thiadiazole-forming ring-closing reactions

A new thiadiazole-forming macrocyclization reaction enables the one-pot synthesis of cyclic β-peptide libraries from readily accessible building blocks without additional reagents.

Macrocyclic β-peptides were efficiently prepared using a thiadiazole-forming cyclization reaction between an α-ketoacid and a thiohydrazide. The linear β-peptide precursors were assembled from isoxazolidine monomers by α-ketoacid-hydroxylamine (KAHA) ligations with a bifunctional initiator – a process we have termed ‘synthetic fermentation’ due to the analogy of producing natural product-like molecules from simpler building blocks. The linear synthetic fermentation products underwent Boc-deprotection/thiadiazole-forming macrocyclization under aqueous, acidic conditions to provide the cyclic products in a one-pot process. This reaction sequence proceeds from easily accessed initiator and monomer building blocks without the need for additional catalysts or reagents, enabling facile production of macrocyclic β-peptides, a relatively underexplored structural class.

Copper-catalyzed ambient-temperature decarboxylative annulation of isatins with amidine hydrochlorides: a facile access to 2-(1,3,5-triazin-2-yl)aniline derivatives

A copper-catalyzed domino protocol for the synthesis of 2-(1,3,5-triazin-2-yl)anilines has been developed from isatins and amidine hydrochlorides at ambient temperature.

Oxidant- and hydrogen acceptor-free palladium catalyzed dehydrogenative cyclization of acylhydrazones to substituted oxadiazoles

An efficient method for the synthesis of 2,5-disubstituted 1,3,4-oxadiazoles has been developed through palladium(0) catalyzed dehydrogenative cyclization ofN-arylidenearoylhydrazides without oxidants and hydrogen acceptors.

A concise construction of 12H-benzo[4,5]thiazolo[2,3-b]quinazolin-12-ones via an unusual TBHP/Na2CO3 promoted cascade oxidative cyclization and interrupted Dimroth rearrangement

An interrupted Dimroth rearrangement was merged into the oxidative cyclization between isatins and 2-haloaryl isothiocyanates, giving 12H-benzo[4,5]thiazolo[2,3-b]quinazolin-12-one derivatives.

Palladium-catalyzed one-pot synthesis of diazoles via tert-butyl isocyanide insertion

An efficient one-pot palladium-catalyzed reaction for the synthesis of diazoles from readily available hydrazides and aryl halide via isocyanide insertion/cyclization sequence has been developed. This methodology efficiently constructs diazoles in good to excellent yields with the advantages of wide functional group tolerance and operational simplicity.

Assembly of three stable POM-based pillar-layer CuI coordination polymers with visible light driven photocatalytic properties

Three new 3D POM-based Cu^I coordination polymers have been successfully prepared by a hydrothermal reaction. Compounds 1–3 show remarkably high heat stability, acid and alkali resistance, and effectively degrade methylene blue within visible light range.

Diversity Oriented Synthesis of Indoloazepinobenzimidazole and Benzimidazotriazolobenzodiazepine from N(1)-Alkyne-1,2-diamines

A one-pot protocol for the diversity oriented synthesis of two N-polyheterocycles indoloazepinobenzimidazole and benzimidazotriazolobenzodiazepine from a common N(1)-alkyne-1,2-diamine building block is described. The approach involves sequential formation of benzimidazole through cyclocondensation and oxidation, which is followed by the formation of either an azepine ring (through alkyne activation and 6-endo-dig cyclization, 1,2-migration with ring expansion, and re-aromatization), or diazepine and triazole rings through 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition.