Aminoselenation and Dehydroaromatization of Cyclohexanones with Anilines and Diselenides

A three-component cascade reaction involving cyclohexanones, anilines, and diaryl diselenides under metal-free conditions is reported. The ortho-selenation of cyclohexanones with diaryl diselenides, followed by sequential dehydroaromatization with anilines, enables the preparation of a variety of o-selanyl anilines in moderate to excellent yields. This innovative transformation is notable for its excellent tolerance of functional groups and is suitable for the late-stage modification of complex pharmaceuticals.

Light-Driven Carbon-Carbon Coupling of α-sp3-CH of Aliphatic Alcohols with sp2-CH Bond of 1,4-Naphthoquinones

Here, an α-selective C_sp3-H bond functionalization of primary aliphatic alcohols with 1,4-naphthoquinones yielded C_sp²-C_sp² coupled products driven by blue-LED light under catalyst, metal, base, and reagent-free conditions. In this transformation, cleavage of three C-H bonds (two sp³-C-H, one sp²-C-H, and one O-H) and four new bonds formed, leading to fluorescent 2-acylated-1,4-naphthohydroquinones.

Recent advances in photochemical construction of aromatic C–P bonds via C–hetero bond cleavage

Photochemical C–P bond cross-coupling in aromatics via C–X (X = F, Cl, Br, I), C–N bond and C–O bond cleavages with/without photosensitizer were summarized in this review.

Site-Selective Synthesis of Aryl Sulfides via Oxidative Aromatization of Cyclohexanones with Thiophenols

We have introduced a metal-free facile access for the thiolation/aromatization of cyclohexanones with thiophenols to the corresponding aryl sulfides. The dehydroaromatic reaction of non-aromatic cyclohexanones proceeded smoothly using oxygen as a green oxidant.

Photoinduced transition-metal and external photosensitizer free cross-coupling of aryl triflates with trialkyl phosphites

Photoinduced phosphonation of aryl triflates with trialkyl phosphites via a tandem single-electron-transfer, C-O bond cleavage and Arbuzov rearrangement process in the absence of transition-metal and external photosensitizer is reported herein. The protocol features good functional group compatibility and mild reaction conditions, providing various aryl phosphates in good to high yields. Furthermore, this strategy allows the late-stage phosphonation of complex and biologically active compounds.

Coupling without Coupling Reactions: En Route to Developing Phenols as Sustainable Coupling Partners via Dearomatization-Rearomatization Processes

Transition-metal-catalyzed cross-coupling reactions represent one of the most straightforward and efficient protocols to assemble two different molecular motifs for the construction of carbon-carbon or carbon-heteroatom bonds. Because of their importance and wide applications in pharmaceuticals, agrochemicals, materials, etc., cross-coupling reactions have been well recognized in the 2010 Nobel Prize in chemistry. However, in the classical transition-metal-catalyzed cross-coupling reactions (e.g., the Suzuki-Miyaura, the Buchwald-Hartwig, and the Ullmann cross-coupling reactions), organohalides, which mainly stem from the nonrenewable fossil resources, are often utilized as coupling partners with halide wastes being generated after the reactions. To make cross-coupling reactions more sustainable, we initiated a general research program by employing phenols and cyclohexa(e)nones (the reduced forms of phenols) as pivotal feedstocks (coupling partners), instead of the commonly used fossil-derived organohalides, for cross-coupling reactions to build C-O, C-N, and C-C bonds. Phenols (cyclohexa(e)nones) are widely available and can be obtained from lignin biomass, highlighting their renewable and sustainable features. Moreover, water is expected to be the only stoichiometric byproduct, thus avoiding halide wastes.Notably, the cross-coupling reactions utilizing phenols/cyclohexa(e)nones are not based on the traditional transition-metal-catalyzed "oxidative-addition and reductive-elimination" mechanism, but via a novel "phenol-cyclohexanone" redox couple. This new working mechanism opens up new horizons of designing cross-coupling reactions via simple nucleophilic addition of cyclohexanones along with aromatization processes, thereby simplifying the design and avoiding laborious optimization of transition-metal precursors (e.g., Pd, Ni, Cu, etc.), as well as ligands in classical transition-metal-catalyzed cross-coupling reactions. Specifically, in this Account, we will summarize and discuss our related research work in the following three categories: "formal oxidative couplings of cyclohexa(e)nones", "formal reductive couplings of phenols", and "formal redox-neutral couplings of phenols". The successes of these research projects clearly demonstrated our initial inspirations and rational designs to develop cross-coupling reactions without the "conventional cross-coupling conditions" by pushing the reaction frontiers from initial cyclohexanones, ultimately, to the sustainable phenol targets.

Photoinduced transition-metal- and external-photosensitizer-free intramolecular aryl rearrangement via C(Ar)-O bond cleavage

The use of photochemical reactions that do not require expensive photocatalysts or transition metals is an environmentally friendly strategy for accomplishing a variety of structural transformations. Herein, we report a protocol for photoinduced transition-metal- and external-photocatalyst-free intramolecular heteroaryl/aryl rearrangement reactions of 2-heteroaryl/aryloxybenzaldehydes. The protocol was compatible with a variety of functionalities, including methyl, methoxy, cyano, ester, trifluoromethyl, halogen, and heteroaromatic rings. Control experiments suggested that the reaction proceeded via a photoinduced intramolecular heteroaryl/aryl rearrangement process involving photoexcitation of the aldehyde carbonyl group, radical addition, C-C bond formation and C(Ar)-O bond cleavage.

Base-mediated cascade amidination/N-alkylation of amines by alcohols

An efficient base mediated N-alkylation with nitriles as a water acceptor was described, providing a convenient method to construct the different substituted diamino compounds, ¹⁵N labeled amine molecules and could scaled up to 1 mol scale.