Cobalt-Catalyzed Cross-Coupling of α-Bromo Amides with Grignard Reagents.

A cobalt-catalyzed cross-coupling between α-bromo amides and Grignard reagents is disclosed. The reaction is general and allows access to a large variety of α-aryl and ß,γ-unsaturated amides. Some mechanistic investigations have been undertaken to determine the nature of the intermediate species.

Modular Access to Triarylethylene Units from Arylvinyl MIDA Boronates Using a Regioselective Heck Coupling.

A palladium-catalyzed, silver-mediated Heck coupling between arylvinyl MIDA boronate esters and aryl iodides is disclosed. The reaction provides an efficient and modular access to a range of 1,1-diaryl alkenyl MIDA boronates that can be easily transformed into triarylethylene compounds through a Suzuki coupling.

Linchpin dienes: key building-blocks in the synthesis of polyenic frameworks.

A myriad of biologically active products incorporates polyenic frameworks. Among the syntheses developed to access these moieties, metal-catalyzed cross-couplings emerged as reactions of choice especially due to their high stereoselectivity. Particularly, the use of bifunctionalized compounds (linchpin reagents) allows a fast, modular and efficient access to polyenic chains. In this review, we will focus on the preparation of bifunctionalized dienes and on their utilization in the synthesis of polyenes.