Pd/Cu Dual-Catalyzed Asymmetric Synthesis of Highly Functional All-Carbon Quaternary Stereocenters from Vinyl Carbonates.

The challenging metal-catalyzed asymmetric synthesis of highly functional quaternary carbon centers using decarboxylative C(sp3 )-C(sp3 ) bond formation reactions is reported. The key substrate, a vinyl cyclic carbonate, is activated to provide concomitantly both the requisite nucleophile (by formal umpolung) and electrophile reaction partner preceding the asymmetric cross-coupling process. A wide screening of reaction conditions, additives and catalyst precursors afforded a protocol that gave access to a series of compounds featuring densely functionalized, elusive quaternary carbon stereocenters in appreciable yield and with enantiomeric ratios (er's) of up to 90 : 10.

New Dyes Based on Extended Fulvene Motifs: Synthesis through Redox Reactions of Naphthoquinones with Donor-Acceptor Cyclopropanes and Their Spectroelectrochemical Behavior.

Novel dyes based on extended fulvene motifs are reported. The carbon skeleton was generated by a catalyzed addition of donor-acceptor cyclopropanes to naphthoquinone. The hydroxy group at the central ring of the tricyclic fulvene motif was converted into the triflate, which reacted efficiently with a wide range of nucleophiles, resulting in substitution and thereby providing new derivatives. The synthetic versatility allowed us to investigate the absorption, electrochemical, and UV/Vis-NIR spectroelectrochemical properties of these dyes as a function of the substituents. The dyes were shown to participate in reductive electrochemistry, the reversibility of which can be improved by appropriate selection of the substituents. Additionally, first signs of NIR electrochromism are presented, opening new avenues for the future investigations of such dyes.

Kinetic Studies of Donor-Acceptor Cyclopropanes: The Influence of Structural and Electronic Properties on the Reactivity.

The kinetics of (3+2) cycloaddition reactions of 18 different donor-acceptor cyclopropanes with the same aldehyde were studied by in situ NMR spectroscopy. Increasing the electron density of the donor residue accelerates the reaction by a factor of up to 50 compared to the standard system (donor group=phenyl), whereas electron-withdrawing substituents slow down the reaction by a factor up to 660. This behavior is in agreement with the Hammett substituent parameter σ. The obtained rate constants from the (3+2) cycloadditions correlate well with data from additionally studied (3+n) cycloadditions with a nitrone (n=3) and an isobenzofuran (n=4). A comparison of the kinetic data with the bond lengths in the cyclopropane (obtained by X-ray diffraction and computation), or the 1 H and 13 C NMR shifts, revealed no correlation. However, the computed relaxed force constants of donor-acceptor cyclopropanes proved to be a good indicator for the reactivity of the three-membered ring.

Reactions of Donor-Acceptor Cyclopropanes with Naphthoquinones: Redox and Lewis Acid Catalysis Working in Concert.

Reactions of 2-arylcyclopropane dicarboxylates with naphthoquinones are reported. The key feature was the use of catalytic amounts of SnCl2 , which acts as both an electron donor and a Lewis acid. By an in situ umpolung of naphthoquinone the formerly electrophilic species is converted into a nucleophile that is able to trigger the ring-opening of the three-membered ring with formation of a new C-C bond. Treatment of these products with base under oxidative conditions resulted-through loss of methyl formate-in cyclopentannulated products with fully conjugated π systems exhibiting intensive absorptions in the visible range.