Preparation of Functionalized Amides Using Dicarbamoylzincs.

We report a new convenient preparation of dicarbamoylzincs of type (R1 R2 NCO)2 Zn by the treatment of ZnCl2 and formamides R1 R2 NCHO with LiTMP in THF (15 °C, 15 min) or by the reaction of formamides R1 R2 NCHO with TMP2 Zn (25 °C, 16 h). This second method tolerates sensitive groups such as an ester, ketone or nitro function. Reaction of these dicarbamoylzincs with allylic, benzylic, aryl, alkenyl bromides, acid chlorides, aldehydes or enones provided various polyfunctional amides in 47-97 % yields. 13 C NMR characterization of these new carbamoylzinc derivatives is reported.

Selective Acylation of Aryl- and Heteroarylmagnesium Reagents with Esters in Continuous Flow.

A selective acylation of readily accessible organomagnesium reagents with commercially available esters proceeds at convenient temperatures and short residence times in continuous flow. Flow conditions allow us to prevent premature collapse of the hemiacetal intermediates despite noncryogenic conditions, thus furnishing ketones in good yields. Throughout, the coordinating ability of the ester and/or Grignard was crucial for the reaction outcome. This was leveraged by the obtention of several bisaryl ketones using 2-hydroxy ester derivatives as substrates.

Mild Homologation of Esters through Continuous Flow Chloroacetate Claisen Reactions.

The selective chloromethylenation of functionalized esters using chloroacetic acid (CA) and LiHMDS (HMDS=hexamethyldisilazide) in a continuous-flow setup is reported. This Claisen homologation is for the first time extended to bis-chloromethylenation using dichloroacetic acid (DCA), thus giving access to under-explored α,α'-bis-chloroketones. The use of flow conditions enables efficient generation and reaction of the unstable chloroacetate dianion intermediates, leading to unprecedented mild and scalable reaction conditions at an economical reagent stoichiometry (-10 °C, <1 min, 1.0-2.4 equiv dianion). The clean reaction profiles allow subsequent use of the unpurified crude products, which is demonstrated in the synthesis of various heterocycles of broad interest. Furthermore, we report a novel, catalyst-free substitution of the obtained monochloro ketone products with (hetero)aryl zinc enolates to give valuable 1,4-diketones.

Synthesis of Polyfunctional Diorganomagnesium and Diorganozinc Reagents through In Situ Trapping Halogen-Lithium Exchange of Highly Functionalized (Hetero)aryl Halides in Continuous Flow.

We report a halogen-lithium exchange performed in the presence of various metal salts (ZnCl2 , MgCl2 ⋅LiCl) on a broad range of sensitive bromo- or iodo(hetero)arenes using BuLi or PhLi as the exchange reagent and a commercially available continuous-flow setup. The resulting diarylmagnesium or diarylzinc species were trapped with various electrophiles, resulting in the formation of polyfunctional (hetero)arenes in high yields. This method enables the functionalization of (hetero)arenes containing highly sensitive groups such as an isothiocyanate, nitro, azide, or ester. A straightforward scale-up was possible without further optimization.

Barbier Continuous Flow Preparation and Reactions of Carbamoyllithiums for Nucleophilic Amidation.

An ambient temperature continuous flow method for nucleophilic amidation and thioamidation is described. Deprotonation of formamides by lithium diisopropylamine (LDA) affords carbamoyllithium intermediates that are quenched in situ with various electrophiles such as ketones, allyl bromides, Weinreb and morpholino amides. The nature of the reactive lithium intermediates and the thermodynamics of the metalation were further investigated by ab initio calculations and kinetic experiments.

Synthesis and Reactivity of Triazaphenanthrenes.

Pyridonaphthyridines (triazaphenanthrenes) were prepared in 4 steps and in 13-52% overall yield using Negishi cross-couplings between iodopicolines and 2-chloro-pyridylzinc derivatives. After chlorination, Gabriel amination and spontaneous ring-closure, the final aromatization leading to the triazaphenanthrenes was achieved with chloranil. This heterocyclic scaffold underwent a nucleophilic addition at position 6 leading to further functionalized pyridonaphthyridines. The influence of these chemical modifications on the optical properties was studied by steady-state and time-resolved optical spectroscopy. While the thiophene-substituted heterocycles exhibited the most extended absorption, the phenyl- and furan-substituted compounds showed a stronger photoluminescence, reaching above 20% quantum yield and lifetimes of several nanoseconds.

Continuous Flow Magnesiation or Zincation of Acrylonitriles, Acrylates, and Nitroolefins. Application to the Synthesis of Butenolides.

Scalable continuous flow procedures are reported for the metalation and downstream functionalization of ß-substituted acrylates. The flow conditions allow the metalation of acrylonitriles, acrylates, and nitroolefins at 0.25-2.50 mmol/min conversion rates. Magnesiations can be performed with short residence times (1-20 min) and near-ambient temperature using TMPMgCl·LiCl. Further, high temperature zincation (≤90 °C) using TMPZnCl·LiCl is possible. This method allows a simple entry to 2(5H)-furanones by flow generation of magnesiated acrylates and a subsequent reaction with aldehydes.

Practical and economic lithiations of functionalized arenes and heteroarenes using Cy2NLi in the presence of Mg, Zn or La halides in a continuous flow.

The economic amide base lithium dicyclohexylamide (Cy2NLi) allows fast and convenient (40 s, 0 °C) in situ trapping flow metalations of a broad range of functionalized arenes, heteroarenes and acrylate derivatives in the presence of various metal salts (ZnCl2·2LiCl, MgCl2, LaCl3·2LiCl). The resulting Zn-, Mg- or La-organometallic intermediates are trapped with various electrophiles in high yields. These flow metalations are easily scaled-up without further optimization.