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Enantiopure propargylic amines are highly valuable synthetic building blocks. Much effort has been devoted to develop methods for their preparation. The arguably most important strategy is the 1,2-addition of alkynes to imines. Despite remarkable progress, the known methods using Zn and Cu catalysts suffer from the need for high catalyst loadings, typically ranging from 2-60 mol % for neutral aldimine substrates. Here we report a planar chiral Pd complex acting as very efficient catalyst for direct asymmetric alkyne additions to imines, requiring very low catalyst loadings. Turnover numbers of up to 8700 were accomplished. Our investigation suggests that a Pd-acetylide complex is generated as a catalytically relevant intermediate by the aid of an acac ligand acting as internal catalytic base. It is shown that the catalyst is quite stable under the reaction conditions and that product inhibition is not an issue. A total of 39 examples is shown which all yielded almost enantiopure products.

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Furan is an environmental pollutant also present in heat-treated food. The compound is toxic and carcinogenic to rats, and classified as a possible human carcinogen. Mechanisms laying behind the furan carcinogenicity remain unclear, however scientific data indicate the involvement of bioactivation catalysed by cytochrome P450 2E1. The resulted initial metabolite of furan, cis-2-butene-1,4-dial (BDA) is an extremely reactive conjugated dialdehyde able to damage important cellular components such as glutathione, proteins and nucleic acids. Earlier works showed that BDA induces protein cross-linking leading to the formation of modifications containing substituted pyrrole ring, and that the cysteine and lysine residues are prone to undergo such processes. The resulted cross-linked protein adducts are important for research aimed at exploring biomarkers of furan exposure. Due to furan's high volatility, biomarker-based methods appear to be a reliable approach to measure a level of exposure to this chemical. To date, numerous urinary and hepatocyte metabolites were identified. However, all the metabolites contain 3-substituted pyrrole ring resulted from the 1,4-addition of the cysteine thiol function to BDA followed by the condensation with the lysine free amino group. In this work we provide evidence that also 2-substituted pyrrole cross-links are formed at the physiological pH, when BDA is subjected to the reaction with N-acetylcysteine and Nα-acetyllysine, Nε-acetyllysine or lysine, respectively. The 2-substituted cross-links arise from the initial 1,2-addition of N-acetylcysteine to BDA accomplished by the condensation with lysine or its N-acetylated derivatives. Formation of the 2-substituted pyrroles sheds new light on the reactivity of cis-2-butene-1,4-dial towards amino acids, and contributes to complete characterisation of the compound chemistry. Our studies show that the 2- and 3-substituted cross-links are indistinguishable based on their MS and MS/MS spectra, and that for reliable qualitative and quantitative measurements the use of isotope-substituted synthetic internal standards is necessary. In the light of these facts, our results are important for research into furan exposure biomarkers.

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The development of efficient synthetic methods for accessing enantioenriched α-chiral amines is of great importance in the disciplines of medicinal and synthetic organic chemistry. Enantioselective Rh-catalyzed 1,2-addition reactions to activated imine derivatives are regarded as useful protocols for forming α-chiral amines. This personal account outlines our efforts to develop chiral bicyclo[2.2.1]heptadiene ligands for Rh-catalyzed asymmetric additions of various organoboron reagents to a wide range of imine derivatives. Transformations of the thus-obtained adducts into known natural products or molecules of pharmaceutical importance serve to confirm their synthetic usefulness.

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Microemulsions provide a unique opportunity to tailor the polarity and liquid confinement in asymmetric catalysis via nanoscale polar and nonpolar domains separated by a surfactant film. For chiral diene Rh complexes, the influence of counterion and surfactant film on the catalytic activity and enantioselectivity remained elusive. To explore this issue chiral norbornadiene Rh(X) complexes (X=OTf, OTs, OAc, PO2 F2 ) were synthesized and characterized by X-ray crystallography and theoretical calculations. These complexes were used in Rh-catalyzed 1,2-additions of phenylboroxine to N-tosylimine in microemulsions stabilized either exclusively by n-octyl-ß-D-glucopyranoside (C8 G1 ) or a C8 G1 -film doped with anionic or cationic surfactants (AOT, SDS and DTAB). The Rh(OAc) complex showed the largest dependence on the composition of the microemulsion, yielding up to 59 % (90 %ee) for the surfactant film doped with 5 wt% of AOT as compared to 52 % (58 %ee) for neat C8 G1 at constant surfactant concentration. Larger domains, determined by SAXS analysis, enabled further increase in yield and selectivity while the reaction rate almost remained constant according to kinetic studies.

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A novel protocol for the transition metal-free 1,2-addition of polyfluoroaryl boronate esters to aldehydes and ketones is reported, which provides secondary alcohols, tertiary alcohols, and ketones. Control experiments and DFT calculations indicate that both the ortho-F substituents on the polyfluorophenyl boronates and the counterion K+ in the carbonate base are critical. The distinguishing features of this procedure include the employment of commercially available starting materials and the broad scope of the reaction with a wide variety of carbonyl compounds giving moderate to excellent yields. Intriguing structural features involving O-H⋅⋅⋅O and O-H⋅⋅⋅N hydrogen bonding, as well as arene-perfluoroarene interactions, in this series of racemic polyfluoroaryl carbinols have also been addressed.

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This article describes our research work for the past decade, which involves the transition-metal-catalyzed cyclization reactions of the C-N multiple bonds containing species and their synthetic applications to access various heterocyclic compounds. The concepts of reactions including four types of coupling with a subsequent cyclization are (1) the transition-metal performs as a Lewis acid to activate a nitrile and accelerate the nucleophilic addition, (2) the transition-metal-catalyzed 1,2-insertion reaction of nitrile, (3) the Cu-catalyzed C-N coupling reaction of imine, and (4) the Co-catalyzed addition/cyclization reaction of imine. These methods can be used to synthesize various N-containing aromatic heterocycles with higher efficiency, and can be applied to the synthesis of relevent natural alkaloids, their derivatives as well as biologically active compounds.

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An efficient, metal free approach to synthesize multi-substituted Δ2 -pyrroline derivatives by mild base catalyzed cyclocondensation of malononitrile with Erlenmeyer azlactones via 1,2 addition was developed. The modularity of this reaction was used to assemble a range of poly-substituted pyrrolines. Further, synthesized products were screened for cytotoxic properties on different cancer cell lines such as A549 (Human lung adenocarcinoma cells), HeLa (Human cervical adenocarcinoma cells), Jurkat (Human chronic myeloid leukemia cells) and K562 (Human leukemic T cell Lymphoblast cells). Among the synthesized library of compounds, 6f and 6q displayed potent cytotoxic activity.

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Aryl and heteroaryl halides (X=Br, I) undergo a fast and convenient halogen-lanthanum exchange with nBu2 LaMe, which leads to functionalized diaryl- and diheteroaryllanthanum derivatives. Subsequent trapping reactions with selected electrophiles, such as ketones, aldehydes, or amides, proceeded smoothly at -50 °C in THF, affording polyfunctionalized alcohols and carbonyl derivatives. Kinetic competition experiments revealed a similar reactivity trend as for Br/Mg exchange, but 106 -times higher rates, making it comparable to Br/Li exchange.

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Dihydrogen is easily activated by a scandium terminal imido complex containing the weakly coordinated THF. The reaction proceeds through a 1,2-addition mechanism, which is distinct from the σ-bond metathesis mechanism reported to date for rare-earth metal-mediated H2 activation. This reaction yields a scandium terminal hydride, which is structurally well-characterized, being the first one to date. The reactivity of this hydride is reported with unsaturated substrates, further shedding light on the existence of the terminal hydride complex. Interestingly, the H2 activation can be reversible. DFT investigations further eludciate the mechanistic aspects of the reactivity of the scandium anilido-terminal hydride complex with PhNCS but also on the reversible H2 activation process.

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Herein we describe the design and synthesis of a novel family of bifunctional, chiral bicyclo[2.2.1]heptadiene ligands bearing aryl and secondary amido groups, and demonstrate their usefulness in the RhI -catalyzed enantioselective addition reaction of arylboronic acids to N-diphenylphosphinyl (N-DPP)-protected aldimines. Unlike the analogous RhI -catalysts comprising diene ligands substituted with aryl and carboxylic ester groups, or only with aryl groups, the addition reaction proceeded with high stereoselectivity. The protocol tolerated a range of N-DPP-aldimines and arylboronic acids, producing the desired optically active N-DPP-protected amines with yields between 31-99 % and with ee values up to 91-99 %. The synthetic utility of the method was demonstrated by the conversion of N-DPP-protected amine 3 ae into the antifungal agent, bifonazole (13).

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It was found that 1,2-trifluoromethylation reactions of ketones, enones, and aldehydes were easily accomplished using the Prakash reagent in the presence of catalytic amounts of cesium carbonate, which represents an experimentally convenient, atom-economic process for this anionic trifluoromethylation of non-enolisable aldehydes and ketones.

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Starting from γ-ketoesters with an o-iodobenzyl group we studied a palladium-catalyzed cyclization process that stereoselectively led to bi- and tricyclic compounds in moderate to excellent yields. Four X-ray crystal structure analyses unequivocally defined the structure of crucial cyclization products. The relative configuration of the precursor compounds is essentially transferred to that of the products and the formed hydroxy group in the newly generated cyclohexane ring is consistently in trans-arrangement with respect to the methoxycarbonyl group. A transition-state model is proposed to explain the observed stereochemical outcome. This palladium-catalyzed Barbier-type reaction requires a reduction of palladium(II) back to palladium(0) which is apparently achieved by the present triethylamine.

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5-Nor stemmadenine alkaloids, isolated from the genus Tabernaemontana, display a range of bioactivity. 16-Hydroxy-16,22-dihydroapparicine, the active component of an extract from the Tabernaemontana sp. (dichotoma, elegans, and divaricate), exhibited potent antimalarial activity, representing the first such report of the antimalarial property of 5-nor stemmadenine alkaloids. We, therefore, decided to attempt the total synthesis of the compound to explore its antimalarial activity and investigate structure and bioactivity relationships. As a result, we completed the first total synthesis of 16-hydroxy-16,22-dihydroapparicine, by combining a phosphine-mediated cascade reaction, diastereoselective nucleophilic addition of 2-acylindole or methylketone via a Felkin-Anh transition state, and chirality transferring intramolecular Michael addition. We also clarified the absolute stereochemistries of the compound. Furthermore, we evaluated the activity of the synthetic compound, as well as that of some intermediates, all of which showed weak activity against chloroquine-resistant Plasmodium falciparum (K1 strain) malaria parasites.

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The direct addition of Csp(2) -H bonds onto polar C=C, C=O, and C=N bonds is both synthetically and mechanistically important, because using aromatic C-H substrates in place of organometallic reagents provides a more direct and atom-economical alternative to many important compounds without the pre-generation of organometallic compounds from stoichiometric halides and the unavoidable generation of stoichiometric metal halide waste. In this account, we summarize our contributions to the transition-metal-catalyzed addition of aromatic C-H bonds to polar C=C, C=O, and C=N bonds via directing-group-assisted regiospecific reactions. These synthetic methods provide efficient access to benzylic alcohols, alkylbenzenes, 3-substituted phthalides, N-substituted phthalimides, N-aryl benzamides, and indene derivatives from commercially available reagents. It is worth noting that valuable heterocycles such as 3-substituted phthalides and N-substituted phthalimides can be obtained in one step by this approach.

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ß,γ-Unsaturated ketones are an important class of organic molecules. Herein, copper catalysis has been developed for the synthesis of ß-γ-unsaturated ketones through 1,2-addition of α-carbonyl iodides to alkynes. The reactions exhibit wide substrate scope and high functional group tolerance. The reaction products are versatile synthetic intermediates to complex small molecules. The method was applied for the formal synthesis of (±)-trichostatin A, a histone deacetylase inhibitor.

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Based on the asymmetric copper-catalyzed 1,2-addition of Grignard reagents to ketones, (R,R,R)-γ-tocopherol has been synthesized in 36 % yield over 12 steps (longest linear sequence). The chiral center in the chroman ring was constructed with 73 % ee by the 1,2-addition of a phytol-derived Grignard reagent to an α-bromo enone prepared from 2,3-dimethylquinone.

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