C-H Allylation

Hon-Wai Lam and co-workers from the University of Nottingham have reported in JACS on a rhodium catalyzed C-H allylation process.

 

JACS paper

Propargylic benzoate to allene

Erick Carreira and colleague have reported in Organic Letters on a rhodium catalyzed synthesis of chiral allenes from propargylic benzoates.

 

OL paper

Rhodium catalyzed decarboxylative coupling

Bernhard Breit and co-workers reported in Chemical Communications on a rhodium catalyzed decarboxylative addition of beta-ketoacids to alkynes.

 

Chem Comm paper

Rh- and Au- Cooperative Catalysis

Here’s a neat cascade reaction from Sreenivas Katukojvala and colleague at Indian Institute of Science Education & Research involving the use of rhodium, gold, and diphenylphosphate to access 1,4-oxazines from enaldiazo ketones and N-propargyl anilines.

 

ACIE paper

Looks like a ring-closing metathesis

At first I thought this was a ring closing metathesis reaction  but the catalyst was rhodium and there is an extra allylic methyl group – it is a cycloisomerization reaction (by Vy Dong’s group).

 

 

JACS paper

Alkyne hydrothiolation with Wilkinson’s catalyst

Jennifer Love and co-workers from the University of British Columbia reported in Organic Letters on the use of Wilkinson’s catalyst to perform a hydrothiolation reaction across an alkyne to synthesize K777, a cysteine protease inhibitor.

 

OL paper

An allene and cyclobutanone walk into a bar…

Guangbin Dong and colleague have reported in JACS on an intramolecular coupling between cyclobutanones and allenes.

JACS paper

ent-Ketorfanol synthesis

Jonathan Ellman and co-workers have reported in ACIE on the synthesis of ent-ketorfanol.

ACIE paper

Brevisin via epoxide ring opening

Timothy Jamison and co-workers have reported in JACS on their formal synthesis of brevisin.

JACS paper

A Formal Metathesis

Zhang Jie-Shi and co-workers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences have reported in JACS on a rhodium catalyzed exchange between an aryl keton and an aryl carboxylic acid to form aliphatic carboxylic acids and biaryl compounds.

JACS paper