Facile synthesis of substituted quinolines by iron(iii)-catalyzed cascade reaction between anilines, aldehydes and nitroalkanes.

A library of substituted quinolines has been synthesized by the reaction of aldehydes, anilines and nitroalkanes using a catalytic amount of Fe(iii) chloride. The reaction is a simple, efficient, one-pot, three-component domino strategy in ambient air which afforded the products in high yields. A probable pathway of the reaction is a sequential aza-Henry reaction/cyclization/denitration. The use of commercially available chemicals as starting materials, an inexpensive metal catalyst, aerobic reaction conditions, tolerance of a wide range of functional groups, and operational simplicity are the notable advantages of this present protocol.

Metal-Free Amidation Reactions of Terminal Alkynes with Benzenesulfonamide.

A novel and efficient approach has been developed to synthesize α-sulfonylamino ketones through the reaction between terminal alkynes and sulfonamides under ambient air using PIDA (diacetoxy iodobenzene). A library of α-sulfonylamino ketone derivatives having a variety of substituents has been synthesized. A plausible reaction pathway has been predicted. This reaction offers a broad substrate scope, metal-free synthesis, excellent regioselectivity, easily accessible reactants, and room temperature reaction conditions under ambient air and is operationally simple. A gram-scale synthesis demonstrates the potential applications of the present method. In addition, we have also synthesized α-acetoxy ketones in the case of absence of sulfonamide.