General access to cubanes as benzene bioisosteres.

The replacement of benzene rings with sp3-hybridized bioisosteres in drug candidates generally improves pharmacokinetic properties while retaining biological activity1-5. Rigid, strained frameworks such as bicyclo[1.1.1]pentane and cubane are particularly well suited as the ring strain imparts high bond strength and thus metabolic stability on their C-H bonds. Cubane is the ideal bioisostere as it provides the closest geometric match to benzene6,7. At present, however, all cubanes in drug design, like almost all benzene bioisosteres, act solely as substitutes for mono- or para-substituted benzene rings1-7. This is owing to the difficulty of accessing 1,3- and 1,2-disubstituted cubane precursors. The adoption of cubane in drug design has been further hindered by the poor compatibility of cross-coupling reactions with the cubane scaffold, owing to a competing metal-catalysed valence isomerization8-11. Here we report expedient routes to 1,3- and 1,2-disubstituted cubane building blocks using a convenient cyclobutadiene precursor and a photolytic C-H carboxylation reaction, respectively. Moreover, we leverage the slow oxidative addition and rapid reductive elimination of copper to develop C-N, C-C(sp3), C-C(sp2) and C-CF3 cross-coupling protocols12,13. Our research enables facile elaboration of all cubane isomers into drug candidates, thus enabling ideal bioisosteric replacement of ortho-, meta- and para-substituted benzenes.

Enantioselective hydrogenation of annulated arenes: controlled formation of multiple stereocenters in adjacent rings.

We report a method for the enantioselective hydrogenation of annulated arenes using 4H-pyrido[1,2-a]pyrimidinones as substrates. The method selectively generates multiple stereocenters in adjacent rings leading to architecturally complex motifs, which resemble bioactive molecules. The mechanistic study of the stereochemical outcome revealed that the catalyst is able to overcome substrate stereocontrol providing all-cis-substituted products predominantly. In a sequential protocol, a matching interaction between catalyst and substrate stereocontrol is achieved that facilitates diastereo- and enantioselective access to trans-products.

Polarity Matters: Dielectric Relaxation in All-cis-Multifluorinated Cycloalkanes.

The polarity of all-cis-multifluorinated cyclohexanes can be fine-tuned by the number and relative orientation of fluoro substituents, giving rise to a series of compounds with strong dipole moments. Simulations provided the energetics, the dipole moments, and the respective molecular polarizabilities, while dielectric spectroscopy gave information on the dielectric permittivities and the molecular dynamics. In special cases, dipole moments in excess of 6 D and dielectric permittivities of over 300 were obtained by simulation and experiment. Melting temperatures within a given family of multifluorinated cyclohexanes were found to scale with the molecular volume. The less-symmetric all-cis-octafluorotetrahydronaphthalene did not readily crystallize, permitting an investigation of the molecular dynamics in an energetically unfavorable yet rigid and facially polarized isomer. The resulting dynamics above the glass temperature conform to the structural α-relaxation and to the celebrated Johari-Goldstein ß-relaxation.

Mechanistic Understanding of the Heterogeneous, Rhodium-Cyclic (Alkyl)(Amino)Carbene-Catalyzed (Fluoro-)Arene Hydrogenation.

Recently, chemoselective methods for the hydrogenation of fluorinated, silylated, and borylated arenes have been developed providing direct access to previously unattainable, valuable products. Herein, a comprehensive study on the employed rhodium-cyclic (alkyl)(amino)carbene (CAAC) catalyst precursor is disclosed. Mechanistic experiments, kinetic studies, and surface-spectroscopic methods revealed supported rhodium(0) nanoparticles (NP) as the active catalytic species. Further studies suggest that CAAC-derived modifiers play a key role in determining the chemoselectivity of the hydrogenation of fluorinated arenes, thus offering an avenue for further tuning of the catalytic properties.

Selective Arene Hydrogenation for Direct Access to Saturated Carbo- and Heterocycles.

Arene hydrogenation provides direct access to saturated carbo- and heterocycles and thus its strategic application may be used to shorten synthetic routes. This powerful transformation is widely applied in industry and is expected to facilitate major breakthroughs in the applied sciences. The ability to overcome aromaticity while controlling diastereo-, enantio-, and chemoselectivity is central to the use of hydrogenation in the preparation of complex molecules. In general, the hydrogenation of multisubstituted arenes yields predominantly the cis isomer. Enantiocontrol is imparted by chiral auxiliaries, Brønsted acids, or transition-metal catalysts. Recent studies have demonstrated that highly chemoselective transformations are possible. Such methods and the underlying strategies are reviewed herein, with an emphasis on synthetically useful examples that employ readily available catalysts.

Silylarene Hydrogenation: A Strategic Approach that Enables Direct Access to Versatile Silylated Saturated Carbo- and Heterocycles.

We report a method to convert readily available silylated arenes into silylated saturated carbo- and heterocycles by arene hydrogenation. The scope includes alkoxy- and halosilyl substituents. Silyl groups can be derivatized into a plethora of functionalities and find application in organic synthesis, materials science, and pharmaceutical, agrochemical, and fragrance research. However, silylated saturated (hetero- ) cycles are difficult to access with current technologies. The yield of the hydrogenation depends on the amount of the silica gel additive. This silica effect also enables a significant improvement of a previously disclosed method for the hydrogenation of highly fluorinated arenes (e.g., to all-cis-C6 H6 F6 ).

Enantioselective Hydrogenation of Imidazo[1,2-a]pyridines.

The enantioselective synthesis of tetrahydroimidazo[1,2-a]pyridines by direct hydrogenation was achieved using a ruthenium/N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC) catalyst. The reaction forgoes the need for protecting or activating groups, proceeds with complete regioselectivity, good to excellent yields, enantiomeric ratios of up to 98:2, and tolerates a broad range of functional groups. 5,6,7,8-Tetrahydroimidazo[1,2-a]pyridines, which are found in numerous bioactive molecules, were directly obtained by this method, and its applicability was demonstrated by the (formal) synthesis of several functional molecules.

Hydrogenation of fluoroarenes: Direct access to all-cis-(multi)fluorinated cycloalkanes.

All-cis-multifluorinated cycloalkanes exhibit intriguing electronic properties. In particular, they display extremely high dipole moments perpendicular to the aliphatic ring, making them highly desired motifs in material science. Very few such motifs have been prepared, as their syntheses require multistep sequences from diastereoselectively prefunctionalized precursors. Herein we report a synthetic strategy to access these valuable materials via the rhodium-cyclic (alkyl)(amino)carbene (CAAC)-catalyzed hydrogenation of readily available fluorinated arenes in hexane. This route enables the scalable single-step preparation of an abundance of multisubstituted and multifluorinated cycloalkanes, including all-cis-1,2,3,4,5,6-hexafluorocyclohexane as well as cis-configured fluorinated aliphatic heterocycles.

Ruthenium-NHC-Diamine Catalyzed Enantioselective Hydrogenation of Isocoumarins.

A novel and practical chiral ruthenium-NHC-diamine system is disclosed for the enantioselective hydrogenation of isocoumarins, which provides a new concept to apply (chiral) NHC ligands in asymmetric catalysis. A variety of optically active 3-substituted 3,4-dihydroisocoumarins were obtained in excellent enantioselectivities (up to 99% ee). Moreover, this methodology was utilized in the synthesis of O-methylmellein, mellein, and ochratoxin A.