Mn-Catalyzed Chlorination

John Groves and co-worker at Princeton have published in JACS on a manganese porphyrin mediated C-H chlorination reaction using sodium hypochlorite as the chlorine source.  The yields and regioselectivity are modest for the more complex systems but it’s cool nonetheless.

JACS paper

DBU Mediated Cyclization

Rachid Baati and co-workers at CNRS have published in Tetrahedron on a method to synthesize cyclohexnones starting from a beta-ketoester.

Tetrahedron paper

Rhenium Catalyzed Approach to Aminoindanes

Kazuhiko Takai and co-workers at Okayama University have published in Organic Letters on a rhenium catalyzed cyclization reaction between an arylimin and allene to form amino-indanes.

OL paper

Monanchocidin

Tatyana Makarieva and co-workers at the Far-East Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences have published in Organic Letters on the isolation of monanchocidin.  This guanidine alkaloid from the Far-Eastern sponge Monanchora pulchra had IC50 values of 5.1, 11.8 and 12.3 micromolar against human leukemia THP-1, human cervix epithelioid carcinoma HeLa, and mouse epidermal JB6 Cl41, respectively.

OL paper

Carbonylative Heck

Erik Alexanian and co-worker at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill have published in JACS on a carbonylative Heck reaction using palladium tetrakis(triphenyl)phosphine as the catalyst.  This reaction works best with non-polar solvents such as toluene because of a possible formation of phosphonium salts in polar solvents (THF:ACN).

JACS paper

Oxidative Prins-Pinacol

Sylvain Canesi and co-workers have published in Chemistry a European Journal on an oxidative Prins-Pinacol rearrangement to access the 5,6-spirobicyclic portion of platensimycin.

Chemistry – A European Journal paper

Hydration/Alkylation/Fluorination of Alkynes

Bo Xu and co-workers at the University of Louisville have published in ACIEE on a multicomponent approach to synthesize alpha-fluoro ketones – basically a hydration of an alkyne in addition to alkylating and fluorinating.

ACIEE paper

Asymmetric Iodolactonization

Eric Jacobsen and co-worker have published in ACIEE on a urea catalyzed intramolecular iodolactonization reaction of an alkene.

ACIEE paper

1,2-Addition/Oxy-Cope

Jeremy Wulff and co-workers at the University of Victoria have published in Organic Letters on a tandem 1,2-addition/oxy-Cope reaction to access a bicyclic sulfone.

OL paper

Synthesis of Rhazinilam

Armen Zakarian and co-worker have published in UCSB on a Heck cyclization approach to access rhazinilam.

OL paper