Controlled Regulation of the Nitrile Activation of a Peroxocobalt(III) Complex with Redox-Inactive Lewis Acidic Metals.

Redox-inactive metal ions play vital roles in biological O2 activation and oxidation reactions of various substrates. Recently, we showed a distinct reactivity of a peroxocobalt(III) complex bearing a tetradentate macrocyclic ligand, [CoIII(TBDAP)(O2)]+ (1) (TBDAP = N,N'-di-tert-butyl-2,11-diaza[3.3](2,6)pyridinophane), toward nitriles that afforded a series of hydroximatocobalt(III) complexes, [CoIII(TBDAP)(R-C(═NO)O)]+ (R = Me (3), Et, and Ph). In this study, we report the effects of redox-inactive metal ions on nitrile activation of 1. In the presence of redox-inactive metal ions such as Zn2+, La3+, Lu3+, and Y3+, the reaction does not form the hydroximatocobalt(III) complex but instead gives peroxyimidatocobalt(III) complexes, [CoIII(TBDAP)(R-C(═NH)O2)]2+ (R = Me (2) and Ph (2Ph)). These new intermediates were characterized by various physicochemical methods including X-ray diffraction analysis. The rates of the formation of 2 are found to correlate with the Lewis acidity of the additive metal ions. Moreover, complex 2 was readily converted to 3 by the addition of a base. In the presence of Al3+, Sc3+, or H+, 1 is converted to [CoIII(TBDAP)(O2H)(MeCN)]2+ (4), and further reaction with nitriles did not occur. These results reveal that the reactivity of the peroxocobalt(III) complex 1 in nitrile activation can be regulated by the redox-inactive metal ions and their Lewis acidity. DFT calculations show that the redox-inactive metal ions stabilize the peroxo character of end-on Co-η1-O2 intermediate through the charge reorganization from a CoII-superoxo to a CoIII-peroxo intermediate. A complete mechanistic model explaining the role of the Lewis acid is presented.

Ligand-Controlled Product Selectivity in Electrochemical Carbon Dioxide Reduction Using Manganese Bipyridine Catalysts.

Electrocatalysis is a promising tool for utilizing carbon dioxide as a feedstock in the chemical industry. However, controlling the selectivity for different CO2 reduction products remains a major challenge. We report a series of manganese carbonyl complexes with elaborated bipyridine or phenanthroline ligands that can reduce CO2 to either formic acid, if the ligand structure contains strategically positioned tertiary amines, or CO, if the amine groups are absent in the ligand or are placed far from the metal center. The amine-modified complexes are benchmarked to be among the most active catalysts for reducing CO2 to formic acid, with a maximum turnover frequency of up to 5500 s-1 at an overpotential of 630 mV. The conversion even works at overpotentials as low as 300 mV, although through an alternative mechanism. Mechanistically, the formation of a Mn-hydride species aided by in situ protonated amine groups was determined to be a key intermediate by cyclic voltammetry, 1H NMR, DFT calculations, and infrared spectroelectrochemistry.

Site-Selective 1,1-Difunctionalization of Unactivated Alkenes Enabled by Cationic Palladium Catalysis.

A palladium(II)-catalyzed 1,1-difunctionalization of unactivated terminal and internal alkenes via addition of two nucleophiles was developed using a cationic palladium(II) complex. The palladacycle generated in situ as a result of a regioselective addition of a nucleophile to the alkene can readily undergo regioselective ß-hydride elimination and migratory insertion with a cationic palladium catalyst. The resulting η3-π-allyl palladium(II) complex is the key intermediate that reacts with a second nucleophile to furnish the desired 1,1-difunctionalization of the alkene. Under the optimized reaction conditions, a wide range of indoles and anilines add to alkene units of 3-butenoic or 4-pentenoic acid derivatives to afford the synthetically useful γ,γ- or δ,δ-difunctionalized products with excellent regiocontrol. Furthermore, by employing internal hydroxyl or acid groups and external carbon nucleophiles, this transformation enables unsymmetric 1,1-difunctionalization to forge challenging and important oxo quaternary carbon centers. Combining experiments and DFT calculations on the mechanism of the reaction is investigated in detail.

Discovery of novel leucyladenylate sulfamate surrogates as leucyl-tRNA synthetase (LRS)-targeted mammalian target of rapamycin complex 1 (mTORC1) inhibitors.

According to recent studies, leucyl-tRNA synthetase (LRS) acts as a leucine sensor and modulates the activation of the mammalian target of rapamycin complex 1 (mTORC1) activation. Because overactive mTORC1 is associated with several diseases, including colon cancer, LRS-targeted mTORC1 inhibitors represent a potential option for anti-cancer therapy. In this work, we developed a series of simplified leucyladenylate sulfamate analogues that contain the N-(3-chloro-4-fluorophenyl)quinazolin-4-amine moiety to replace the adenine group. We identified several compounds with comparable activity to previously reported inhibitors and exhibited selective mTORC1 inhibition and anti-cancer activity. This study further supports the hypothesis that LRS is a promising target to modulate the mTORC1 pathway.

Oxidatively induced reactivity in Rh(iii)-catalyzed 7-azaindole synthesis: insights into the role of the silver additive.

A typical synthetic protocol for preparing 7-azaindoles involves the coupling of 2-aminopyridine and alkyne substrates using a Rh(iii)-catalyst. The catalysis requires the assistance of an external Ag+ oxidant that is thought to regenerate the catalyst and increase the turnover efficiency. Density functional theory (DFT) simulations confirm that Ag+ can oxidize various neutral Rh(iii) intermediates encountered at different stages of the catalysis. Among them, the catalytically relevant species is a cationic Rh(iii)-pyridyl+ complex (2A), which undergoes C-H activation of pyridine and couples an internal alkyne substrate into the pyridyl ligand to form the desired 7-azaindole product. Computations reveal that the oxidation also accelerates the reaction steps, including C-H activation via concerted metalation deprotonation (CMD), 1,2-alkyne insertion, and reductive elimination, thus highlighting the role of Ag+ as a catalytic promoter for the oxidatively induced reactivity of the Rh-catalyst in 7-azaindole synthesis. DFT calculations show that the catalysis is inefficient without invoking an oxidatively induced reaction pathway.

Peroxocobalt(iii) species activates nitriles via a superoxocobalt(ii) diradical state.

The dioxygenation of nitriles by [CoIII(TBDAP)(O2)]+ (TBDAP = N,N-di-tert-butyl-2,11-diaza[3.3](2,6)-pyridinophane) is investigated using DFT-calculations. The mechanism proposed previously based on experimental observations, which invoked an outer-sphere cycloaddition, was found to be unreasonable. Instead, calculations suggest that an inner-sphere mechanism involving the cleavage of one of the Co-O bonds assisted by substrate uptake is much more likely. The reactively competent species is a triplet consisting of a Co(ii)-superoxo functionality, which can undergo O-C bond formation and O-O bond cleavage traversing low energy transition states. The role of the structurally rigid TBDAP ligand is to prevent the participation of the pyridyl ligand in the delocalization of the unpaired electron density.

Brønsted acid catalysis of photosensitized cycloadditions.

Catalysis is central to contemporary synthetic chemistry. There has been a recent recognition that the rates of photochemical reactions can be profoundly impacted by the use of Lewis acid catalysts and co-catalysts. Herein, we show that Brønsted acids can also modulate the reactivity of excited-state organic reactions. Brønsted acids dramatically increase the rate of Ru(bpy)3 2+-sensitized [2 + 2] photocycloadditions between C-cinnamoyl imidazoles and a range of electron-rich alkene reaction partners. A combination of experimental and computational studies supports a mechanism in which the Brønsted acid co-catalyst accelerates triplet energy transfer from the excited-state [Ru*(bpy)3]2+ chromophore to the Brønsted acid activated C-cinnamoyl imidazole. Computational evidence further suggests the importance of driving force as well as geometrical reorganization, in which the protonation of the imidazole decreases the reorganization penalty during the energy transfer event.