Publications related to Exploitation of Unconventional Electrophiles in Enantioselective Pd(0)-Catalyzed C-H Functionalizations

Lewis acid catalyzed [4+2] annulation of bicyclobutanes with dienol ethers for the synthesis of bicyclo[4.1.1]octanes

Bicyclic carbocycles containing a high fraction of Csp3 have become highly attractive synthetic targets because of the multiple applications they have found in medicinal chemistry. The formal cycloaddition of bicyclobutanes (BCBs) with two- or three-atom p ...

Royal Soc Chemistry2024

Influence of the hydrophile-lipophile balance of perfluorinated surfactants on the emulsion stability

Esther Amstad, Gaia De Angelis

Emulsions are omnipresent in our everyday life; for example, in food, certain drug and cosmetic formulations, agriculture, and as paints. Moreover, they are frequently used to perform high-throughput screening assays with minimum sample volumes. Key to the ...

Springer Heidelberg2024

Direct conversion of lignin to functionalized diaryl ethers via oxidative cross-coupling

Paul Joseph Dyson, Mingyang Liu

Efficient valorization of lignin, a sustainable source of functionalized aromatic products, would reduce dependence on fossil-derived feedstocks. Oxidative depolymerization is frequently applied to lignin to generate phenolic mono- mers. However, due to th ...

Nature Research2023

A general and robust Ni-based nanocatalyst for selective hydrogenation reactions at low temperature and pressure

Paul Joseph Dyson, Yelin Hu, Matthias Beller, Mingyang Liu

Catalytic hydrogenations are important and widely applied processes for the reduction of organic compounds both in academic laboratories and in industry. To perform these reactions in sustainable and practical manner, the development and applicability of n ...

Amer Assoc Advancement Science2023

Photochemical [2+2] Cycloaddition of Alkynyl Boronates

Jérôme Waser, Oleksandr Liashuk

A photochemical [2+2] cycloaddition of alkynyl boronates and maleimides is reported. The developed protocol provided 35–70 % yield of maleimide-derived cyclobutenyl boronates and demonstrated wide compatibility with various functional groups. The synthetic ...

2023

Development of Hetero-Vinylbenziodoxolone Reagents for Applications in Synthetic Methodology and Biomolecule Functionalization

Nina Declas

Among the numerous existing chemical motifs, alkenes, alkynes, enol ethers and enamides, with an unsaturated carbon-carbon bond, are versatile functional groups that are found in many natural products and bioactive compounds. They are widely used as valuab ...

EPFL2023

Synthesis of propargyl silanes from terminal alkynes via a migratory Sonogashira reaction

Jérôme Waser, Mikus Purins, Lucas Antoine Théo Eichenberger

Herein we report a mild synthesis of propargyl silanes from terminal alkynes. We exploit a bromonaphthyl-substituted silane as a silylmethyl electrophile surrogate, which participates in a Sonogashira reaction after an aryl-to-alkyl Pd-migration. Twenty-se ...

Royal Society of Chemistry2023

TiCl3-Mediated Reductive Cyclization of Tetrasubstituted Alkenes and Enol Esters Bearing a 2-Nitrophenyl Substituent

Dina Boyarskaya

Indole is one of the most important heterocycles widely present in bioactive natural products, pharmaceuticals, agrochemicals and materials. Being easily accessible, the 2-nitrostyrenes are attractive starting materials for the indole synthesis and the Cad ...

EPFL2023

Electro- and photochemical H-2 generation by Co(ii) polypyridyl-based catalysts bearing ortho-substituted pyridines

Rosario Scopelliti, Euro Solari, Albert Ruggi, Vincent Artero, Fiorella Lucarini

Cobalt(II) complexes featuring hexadentate amino-pyridyl ligands have been recently discovered as highly active catalysts for the Hydrogen Evolution Reaction (HER), whose high performance arises from the possibility of assisting proton transfer processes v ...

ROYAL SOC CHEMISTRY2023

Palladium-Catalyzed trans-Hydroalkoxylation: Counterintuitive Use of an Aryl Iodide Additive to Promote C-H Bond Formation

Jérôme Waser, Ashis Kumar Das, Luca Buzzetti, Mikus Purins

We report an enantioselective palladium-catalyzed trans-hydroalkoxylation of propargylic amines with a trifluoroacetaldehydederived tether to build chiral oxazolidines. Diastereoselective hydrogenation using a heterogeneous palladium catalyst then gave acc ...

2022

Development of Cyclopentadienylcobalt(III) Catalyzed Asymmetric C-H Functionalizations

Kristers Ozols

Transition metal catalyzed C-H activation plays a major role in modern organic chemistry, affording mild, selective and atom-efficient protocols. Most of current developments in the field rely on the use of several precious metals. As a consequence, an int ...

EPFL2022

Development of metal-organic frameworks based on N-heterocyclic ligands

Ilia Kochetygov

Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) have firmly established in the field of porous materials since their early discovery in the 1990s. With a plethora of applications, these materials offer endless possibilities owing to their tunable, modular nature. The vast ...

EPFL2022

Rh-catalyzed C-H Bond Heteroarylation with Hypervalent Iodine Reagents and Pd-Catalyzed Tethered Functionalizations of Carbon-Carbon Multiple Bonds

Ashis Kumar Das

Transition metal-catalyzed C-H activation is a powerful tool for the synthesis of organic building blocks, materials, and natural products. Over the last decade, directing-group-assisted metal-catalyzed C-H functionalization has attracted increasing intere ...

EPFL2022

Catalytic Enantioselective Pictet–Spengler Reaction of α‐Ketoamides Catalyzed by a Single H‐Bond Donor Organocatalyst

Jieping Zhu, Qiang Wang, Rémi Julien Sylvain Andres

The asymmetric Pictet–Spengler reaction (PSR) with aldehydes is well known. However, PSR involving ketones as electrophilic partners is far-less developed. We report herein the first examples of catalytic enantioselective PSR of tryptamines with α-ketoamid ...

Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH2022

Oxidase-Type C-H/C-H Coupling Using an Isoquinoline-Derived Organic Photocatalyst

Xile Hu, Lei Zhang

Oxidase-type oxidation is an attractive strategy in organic synthesis due to the use of O-2 as the terminal oxidant. Organic photocatalysis can effect metal-free oxidase chemistry. Nevertheless, current methods are limited in reaction scope, possibly due t ...

Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH2022

Visible-Light-Driven Catalytic Deracemization of Secondary Alcohols

Xile Hu, Zhikun Zhang

Deracemization of racemic chiral compounds is an attractive approach in asymmetric synthesis, but its development has been hindered by energetic and kinetic challenges. Here we describe a catalytic deracemization method for secondary benzylic alcohols whic ...

Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH2021

Catalytic Enantioselective Synthesis of Morpholinones Enabled by Aza-Benzilic Ester Rearrangement

Qian Wang, Jieping Zhu, Hua Wu, Yuping He

Chiral morpholinone is an important building block in organic synthesis and a pharmacophore in medicinal chemistry. However, catalytic enantioselective methods for the construction of this N,O-heterocycle remain scarce. We report herein a chiral phosphoric ...

2021

Uncovering the Activity of Alkaline Earth Metal Hydrogenation Catalysis Through Molecular Volcano Plots

Shubhajit Das

Recent advances in alkaline earth (Ae) metal hydrogenation catalysis have broadened the spectrum of potential catalysts to include candidates from the main group, providing a sustainable alternative to the commonly used transition metals. Although Ae-amide ...

2022

Construction of Functional Superhydrophobic Biochars as Hydrogen Transfer Catalysts for Dehydrogenation of N-Heterocycles

Feng Zhou, Zhaowen Dong

To endow metal-free materials with the high catalytic activity that is typically featured by a metal-based catalyst is yet a constant pursuit in the field of catalytic chemistry. In this work, novel functional biochars (DCNs) were prepared from wheat straw ...

AMER CHEMICAL SOC2021

Asymmetric azide-alkyne Huisgen cycloaddition on chiral metal surfaces

Harald Brune, Roland Widmer, Roland Hany, Michael Bauer, Samuel Thomas Stolz

Achieving fundamental understanding of enantioselective heterogeneous synthesis is marred by the permanent presence of multitudinous arrangements of catalytically active sites in real catalysts. In this study, we address this issue by using structurally co ...

NATURE RESEARCH2021