Nickel-Catalyzed Enantioconvergent and Diastereoselective Allenylation of Alkyl Electrophiles: Simultaneous Control of Central and Axial Chirality.

In recent years, remarkable progress has been described in the development of methods that simultaneously control vicinal stereochemistry, wherein both stereochemical elements are central chirality; in contrast, methods that control central and axial chirality are comparatively rare. Herein we report that a chiral nickel catalyst achieves the enantioconvergent and diastereoselective coupling of racemic secondary alkyl electrophiles with prochiral 1,3-enynes (in the presence of a hydrosilane) to generate chiral tetrasubstituted allenes that bear an adjacent stereogenic center. A carbon-carbon and a carbon-hydrogen bond are formed in this process, which provides good stereoselectivity and is compatible with an array of functional groups.

Copper's rapid ascent in visible-light photoredox catalysis.

Visible-light photoredox catalysis offers a distinct activation mode complementary to thermal transition metal catalyzed reactions. The vast majority of photoredox processes capitalizes on precious metal ruthenium(II) or iridium(III) complexes that serve as single-electron reductants or oxidants in their photoexcited states. As a low-cost alternative, organic dyes are also frequently used but in general suffer from lower photostability. Copper-based photocatalysts are rapidly emerging, offering not only economic and ecological advantages but also otherwise inaccessible inner-sphere mechanisms, which have been successfully applied to challenging transformations. Moreover, the combination of conventional photocatalysts with copper(I) or copper(II) salts has emerged as an efficient dual catalytic system for cross-coupling reactions.

Visible-Light-Accelerated Copper(II)-Catalyzed Regio- and Chemoselective Oxo-Azidation of Vinyl Arenes.

The visible-light-accelerated oxo-azidation of vinyl arenes with trimethylsilylazide and molecular oxygen as stoichiometric oxidant was achieved. In contrast to photocatalysts based on iridium, ruthenium, or organic dyes, [Cu(dap)2 ]Cl or [Cu(dap)Cl2 ] were found to be unique for this transformation, which is attributed to their ability to interact with the substrates through ligand exchange and rebound mechanisms. CuII is proposed as the catalytically active species, which upon coordinating azide will undergo light-accelerated homolysis to form CuI and azide radicals. This activation principle (CuII -X→CuI +X. ) opens up new avenues for copper-based photocatalysis.

Temperature Controlled Selective C-S or C-C Bond Formation: Photocatalytic Sulfonylation versus Arylation of Unactivated Heterocycles Utilizing Aryl Sulfonyl Chlorides.

A visible-light-induced photocatalytic method for the arylsulfonylation of heterocycles has been developed. The synthetic utility of this reaction is reflected by the direct use of commercially available sulfonyl chlorides and heterocycles under room temperature conditions. Complementarily, the photocatalytic arylation of heterocycles by sulfonyl chlorides via extrusion of SO2 is feasible at elevated temperature conditions, allowing switching between arylation or arylsulfonylation with excellent chemoselectivity.

Photosensitised regioselective [2+2]-cycloaddition of cinnamates and related alkenes.

An efficient method for the synthesis of substituted cyclobutanes from cinnamates, chalcones, and styrenes has been developed utilizing a visible-light triplet sensitisation mode. This reaction provides a diverse range of substituted cyclobutanes in high yields under mild conditions without the need of external additives. Good regioselectivity is obtained due to strong π-π-stacking of arene moieties, whereas diastereoselectivity relies on the electronic effects or ortho-substitution of the arene substrate. The utility of this transformation is demonstrated by the formal synthesis of the lignane natural product (±)-Tanegool.

Valuable building block for the synthesis of lunularic acid, hydrangeic acid and their analogues.

A new functionalised sulphone-based building block has been synthesised that enabled C-C bond formation through Julia olefination. The utility of developed building block was demonstrated by successful synthesis of two natural products lunularic acid, hydrangeic acid and initial libraries of their analogues.

Synthesis of Trifluoromethylated Sultones from Alkenols Using a Copper Photoredox Catalyst.

A photo-redox-catalyzed procedure for the one-step formation of sultones from α,ω-alkenols and trifluoromethylsulfonyl chloride is described. Using [Cu(dap)2]Cl (1 mol %), a wide range of substrates can be cleanly converted to the target compounds, while commonly employed photoelectron transfer catalysts such as [Ru(bpy)3]Cl2 or fac-Ir(ppy)3 fail in this transformation. The obtained fluorinated sultones are attractive as potential electrolyte additives or as structural motifs in drug synthesis, with the latter being demonstrated with the synthesis of a trifluoroethyl-substituted analogue of a benzoxathiin that has high anti-arrhythmic activity.