In situ generation of radical initiators using amine-borane complexes for carbohalogenation of alkenes.

Atom transfer radical addition of alkyl halides to alkenes was developed using a low amount of a stable initiator, amine borane complexes. Thanks to a slow hydroboration step, the overall carbohalogenation process leads to good isolated yields.

Zirconium-Catalyzed Synthesis of Alkenylaminoboranes: From a Reliable Preparation of Alkenylboronates to a Direct Stereodivergent Access to Alkenyl Bromides.

A simple procedure has been optimized for the preparation of alkenylaminoborane from alkynes using diisopropylaminoborane and HZrCp2Cl. Coupled with a magnesium-catalyzed dehydrogenation, it allowed for the use of air- and moisture-stable diisopropylamine. This synthesis has been extended to a one-pot sequence leading directly to bromoalkenes with controlled stereochemistry. As such, it provides an easy, scalable, cheap process to access alkenylboronates and both (E)- and (Z)-bromoalkenes from commercially available alkynes.

Magnesium-Catalyzed Tandem Dehydrogenation-Dehydrocoupling: An Atom Economical Access to Alkynylboranes.

Owing to the unusual reactivity of sterically hindered amine-borane complexes, a catalytic system based on magnesium salts was designed to perform a tandem dehydrogenation-dehydrocoupling between terminal alkynes and boranes. The reaction is providing pure alkynylboranes within few minutes at room temperature, with only two molecules of hydrogen as a byproduct.

Dehydrogenative Silylation of Alcohols Under Pd-Nanoparticle Catalysis.

Pd-nanoparticle-catalyzed dehydrogenative coupling between various hydrosilanes and alcohols was shown to provide silyl ethers in good and reproducible yields. The synthetic methodology is effective for a wide range of simple and bulky silanes and secondary alcohols, while keeping various other functional groups intact. The procedure also exhibits high selectivity for the silylation of primary versus secondary alcohols in 1,2-diols, and allows the successive silylation of alkynols and hydrogenation of the triple bond to afford Z-alkenols in good yields.

Free-Radical Carbo-Alkenylation of Olefins: Scope, Limitations and Mechanistic Insights.

The three-component free-radical carbo-alkenylation of electron-rich olefins has been studied, varying the substitution pattern in the alkene, in the radical precursor and in the final acceptor. New vinylsulfones were also prepared and their reactivity investigated. The scope and limitations of the process was established, and the reaction mechanism clarified using selected dienes as radical clocks. It was thus recognised that the reversible addition onto the olefin of the released sulfonyl group is an important event, which should not be overlooked when using such multicomponent carbo-alkenylation reactions.

Organocatalyzed aldol reaction between pyridine-2-carbaldehydes and α-ketoacids: a straightforward route towards indolizidines and isotetronic acids.

Enantioselective aldol reactions between substituted pyridine carbaldehydes and α-ketoacids were shown to provide isotetronic acids or their corresponding pyridinium salts, depending on the nature of the substituents on the pyridine ring. The pyridinium salts were generated through nucleophilic attack of the pyridine nitrogen atom onto the reactive keto functional group. Moderate-to-good yields of both compounds were typically obtained and high levels of enantioselectivity were observed by using benzimidazole pyrrolidine I as a catalyst. Hydrogenation of the resulting pyridinium salts led to new indolizidines with high ee values and diastereocontrol. X-ray diffraction studies allowed the determination of the relative configuration of the products. Finally, DFT calculations were performed to rationalize the divergent pathway as a function of the pyridine substituents.

Free-radical carbo-alkenylation of enamides and ene-carbamates.

The addition of xanthates and vinyldisulfones across the double bond of enamides and ene-carbamates provides access to the corresponding three-component adducts in good to excellent yields with a high level of diastereocontrol in cyclic systems. This strategy illustrates a complementary reactivity for these versatile olefins and extends their scope of application.

Free-radical carboalkynylation and carboalkenylation of olefins.

Free-radical three-component carboalkynylation and -alkenylation of olefins have been developed. These involve the addition, across the double bond of an unactivated olefin, of a radical species α- to an electron-withdrawing group and an alkenyl or alkynyl moiety, derived from the corresponding sulfones.

Convergent and stereoselective synthesis of iminosugar-containing Galf and UDP-Galf mimicks: evaluation as inhibitors of UDP-Gal mutase.

The synthesis of a UDP-Galf analog incorporating a 1,4-dideoxy-1,4-imino-d-galactitol skeleton alpha-linked to UMP by a 3C-tether and of a series of related pyrrolidine galactofuranose mimicks is reported. These compounds were obtained by way of the highly stereoselective reaction of silylated nucleophiles with a N-Cbz glucofuranosylamine which afforded the corresponding open-chain product with a 1,2-syn stereochemistry, as predicted from pionneering studies from Kobayashi. Cyclization of these intermediates afforded alpha-C-glycosides of imino-galactofuranose carrying various functional groups in the aglycone. Further elaboration of the alpha-C-allyl substituted derivative by cross-metathesis with a uridin-5'-yl vinylphosphonate provided, after deprotection, the desired original UDP-Galf mimicks. Cleavage of the benzyl ether protecting groups in the iminosugar component using BCl3 proved critical to the success of the synthetic plan. Several of the new 1,4-dideoxy-1,4-imino-d-galactitol derivatives were evaluated as inhibitors of UGM (UDP-galactopyranose mutase) from Escherichia coli; however, none of them exhibited less than mM activities toward this enzyme which catalyzes a crucial step of the biosynthesis of galactofuranose-containing bacterial cell-surface glycans.

One-step synthesis of N-protected glycosylamines from sugar hemiacetals.

Protected pentofuranose, hexofuranose and hexopyranose hemiacetals were found to react efficiently with amines carrying a deactivating group (alkoxycarbonyl, tosyl or phosphoryl group) in the presence of a Lewis acid to give the corresponding, stable glycosylamines. Such glycosylamine derivatives are useful substrates for further elaboration into nitrogen-containing natural products and carbohydrate mimetics.

Diastereoselective synthesis of novel iminosugar-containing UDP-Galf mimics: potential inhibitors of UDP-Gal mutase and UDP-Galf transferases.

Tetra-O-benzyl-D-glucofuranose was converted into uridine diphosphono-beta-Galf mimics based on an iminosugar skeleton linked to UMP by a 2-hydroxypropyl tether. The synthesis is based on the highly regio- and stereoselective cycloaddition of an original uridin-5'-yl allylphosphonate with a 1,4-dideoxy-1,4-iminogalactitol-derived cyclic nitrone, followed by the reductive elaboration of the cycloaddition product. The resulting iminogalactose-UMP conjugates are novel sugar nucleotide mimics which could be useful as inhibitors of UDP-Gal mutase and UDP-Galf transferases.

Stereoselective synthesis of alpha-C-Substituted 1,4-dideoxy-1,4-imino-D-galactitols. Toward original UDP-Galf mimics via cross-metathesis.

[reaction: see text] Various alpha-C-substituted 1,4-dideoxy-1,4-imino-d-galactitols were prepared efficiently from 1-O-acetyl-2,3,5,6-tetra-O-benzyl-d-glucofuranose by a four-step sequence involving as the key step the highly syn-selective TMSOTf-catalyzed addition of silylated nucleophiles to a glycofuranosylamine. Cross-metathesis of the alpha-C-allylated iminogalactofuranose derivative with an original uridin-5'-yl vinylphosphonate led to novel UDP-galactofuranose mimics. Such compounds are of interest as potential inhibitors of the mycobacterial galactan biosynthesis pathway.