Dehydrogenative synthesis of N-functionalized 2-aminophenols from cyclohexanones and amines: Molecular complexities via one-shot assembly.

Polyfunctionalized arenes are privileged structural motifs in both academic and industrial chemistry. Conventional methods for accessing this class of chemicals usually involve stepwise modification of phenyl rings, often necessitating expensive noble metal catalysts and suffering from low reactivity and selectivity when introducing multiple functionalities. We herein report dehydrogenative synthesis of N-functionalized 2-aminophenols from cyclohexanones and amines. The developed reaction system enables incorporating amino and hydroxyl groups into aromatic rings in a one-shot fashion, which simplifies polyfunctionalized 2-aminophenol synthesis by circumventing issues associated with traditional arene modifications. The wide substrate scope and excellent functional group tolerance are exemplified by late-stage modification of complex natural products and pharmaceuticals that are unattainable by existing methods. This dehydrogenative protocol benefits from using 2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidine 1-oxyl (TEMPO) as oxidant that offers interesting chemo- and regio-selective oxidation processes. More notably, the essential role of in situ generated water is disclosed, which protects aliphatic amine moieties from overoxidation via hydrogen bond-enabled interaction.

Substituent-Determined Intramolecular Hydrogen Transfer for Photopromoted Intermolecular Cycloaddition of Anthraquinones with Aryl Olefins.

The formation of intramolecular hydrogen bonds in anthraquinones makes them inert to photoinduced reactions; therefore, it is a great challenge to phototransform these compounds. Herein, we reported a formal visible-light-induced [4 + 2] cycloaddition of both 1-hydroxyanthraquinones and 1-aminoanthraquinones with olefins under external photocatalyst-free conditions with high regioselectivity. More than 60 substrates are disclosed, demonstrating the reliability of this protocol to construct diverse functionalized anthraquinone derivatives.

A Tandem Dehydrogenation-Driven Cross-Coupling between Cyclohexanones and Primary Amines for Construction of Benzoxazoles.

Herein, we report a transition metal-free, operationally simple, general method for straightforward syntheses of 2-substituted benzoxazoles from readily available cyclohexanones and aliphatic primary amines by an imine α-oxygenation-initiated cascade reaction sequence. The key to achieving high selectivity and excellent functional-group tolerance is the use of TEMPO as a mild oxidant that selectively oxidizes the reaction intermediates through its multiple reactivity modes, thus facilitating the individual steps to proceed in succession. More than 70 substrate combinations are disclosed, demonstrating the reliability of this protocol to synthesize structurally diverse products, including marketed drugs, drug candidate, and natural products that are unattainable by the existing methods.

Oxidation of Enones for Regioselective [3+2] Cycloaddition through γ-Enone Radical Intermediates.

Invited for the cover of this issue is the group of Min Zhang and Weiping Su at the Fujian Institute of Research on the Structure of Matter. Read the full text of the article at 10.1002/chem.201903551.

Oxidation of Enones for Regioselective [3+2] Cycloaddition through γ-Enone Radical Intermediates.

Herein, an oxidization reaction of enones with a CuII complex that leads to a new type of regioselective [3+2] cycloaddition is reported. Highly functionalized cyclopentenes and spirocyclic compounds are obtained in moderate-to-good yields. This cycloaddition reaction occurred through the formation of γ-enone radicals, providing a rarely explored reactivity pattern for enones.

Pd-Catalyzed Decarboxylative Sonogashira Reaction via Decarboxylative Bromination.

The decarboxylative alkynylation of (hetero)aryl carboxylic acids with terminal alkynes has been achieved by using a Pd(PPh3)4/PCy3 catalyst. This Pd-catalyzed method exhibits good functional group tolerance for both coupling partners and enables chemical modification of complex molecules. The establishment of this decarboxylative alkynylation reaction is attributed to the discovery of a highly selective decarboxylative bromination of (hetero)aryl carboxylic acids with NBS ( N-bromosuccinimide).