Cr-Catalyzed Intramolecular Arylative Cross-Coupling of Unactivated C-H Bonds with C-Halide Bonds.

We report here a chromium-catalyzed intramolecular arylation of unactivated C-H bonds with C-halide bonds under mild conditions. This reaction was enabled by using a low-cost CrCl2 salt as the precatalyst in combination with allylmagnesium bromide and E/Z-mixed 1-halo-2-styrylarenes as substates, providing a strategy for the construction of functionalized phenanthrene compounds without using external ligands.

Chromium-Catalyzed Alkene Isomerization with Switchable Selectivity.

We report a single additive-responsive chromium-catalyzed system for selectively producing either of two different internal alkene isomers. The chromium catalyst, in the presence of HBpin/LiOtBu, enables the isomerization of alkenes over multiple carbon atoms to give the most thermodynamically stable isomers. The same catalyst allows for the selective isomerization of terminal alkenes over one carbon atom without an additive, exhibiting efficient and controllable alkene transposition selectivity.

Cr-catalyzed borylation of C(aryl)-F bonds using a terpyridine ligand.

The defluoroborylation of fluoroarenes by chromium-catalyzed cleavage of unactivated C-F bonds is described. The reaction uses HBpin as the boron source, low-cost and commercially available chromium salt as the precatalyst, and terpyridine as a crucial ligand, providing a protocol with atom-efficient benefits and a wide range of applicable substrates for the functionalization of aryl C-F bonds. Preliminary mechanistic studies indicate that an unprecedented Cr-catalyzed magnesiation of the unactivated C-F bond occurred. The generated arylmagnesium intermediates then participated in the subsequent borylation reaction. The application of the strategy in the preparation of valuable derivatives is demonstrated by the late-stage functionalization of boronate ester groups.

Reductive transamidation of tertiary amides with nitroarenes enabled by magnesium and chlorosilane.

Reported here is the reductive transamidation of tertiary amides with nitroarenes promoted by main group metal magnesium and chlorosilane. The reaction uses commercially available and air-stable nitroarenes as nitrogen sources, so it can occur under transition-metal- and ligand-free conditions, thus providing a step-economic and cost-effective strategy for forming centrally important secondary amides. Several biologically interesting amide motifs are readily accessible by the Mg-promoted reductive transamidation.

Chromium-Catalyzed Three-Component Synthesis of Monofluoroalkenes from gem-Difluoroalkenes via C-O/C-H and C-F Bond Activation.

We report here the chromium-catalyzed three-component defluorinative cross-couplings of gem-difluoroalkenes with benzyl 2-pyridinyl ethers and aryl Grignard reagents under mild conditions, enabling the convenient synthesis of diarylmethylated monofluoroalkenes in good chemo- and stereoselectivity.

Chromium-catalyzed stereodivergent E- and Z-selective alkyne hydrogenation controlled by cyclic (alkyl)(amino)carbene ligands.

The hydrogenation of alkynes allows the synthesis of olefins, which are important feedstock for the materials, pharmaceutical, and petrochemical industry. Thus, methods that enable this transformation via low-cost metal catalysis are desirable. However, achieving stereochemical control in this reaction is a long-standing challenge. Here, we report on the chromium-catalyzed E- and Z-selective olefin synthesis via hydrogenation of alkynes, controlled by two carbene ligands. A cyclic (alkyl)(amino)carbene ligand that contains a phosphino anchor enables the hydrogenation of alkynes in a trans-addition manner, selectively forming E-olefins. With an imino anchor-incorporated carbene ligand, the stereoselectivity can be switched, giving mainly Z-isomers. This ligand-enabled geometrical stereoinversion strategy by one metal catalysis overrides common methods in control of the E- and Z-selectivity with two different metal catalysis, allowing for highly efficient and on-demand access to both E- and Z-olefins in a stereo-complementary fashion. Mechanistic studies indicate that the different steric effect between these two carbene ligands may mainly dominate the selective forming E- or Z-olefins in control of the stereochemistry.

Chromium-catalyzed couplings of C(aryl)-SMe bonds for accessing arylated and alkylated benzaldehyde derivatives.

Described here is the chromium-catalyzed cleavage of C(aryl)-SMe bonds leading to coupling with organomagnesium to give functionalized benzaldehydes under mild conditions. This reaction was promoted specifically by a low-cost and simple CrCl2 salt used as a precatalyst, enabling synchronous activations of ortho-C(aryl)-SMe and ortho'-C(aryl)-H bonds to achieve difunctionalization of benzaldimines. This work provided a strategy for accessing arylated, alkylated, and diarylated benzaldehyde derivatives as a result of the couplings of C(aryl)-SMe and C(aryl)-SMe/C(aryl)-H bonds promoted with cost-effective Cr catalysis.

Catalytic Cleavage of Unactivated C(aryl)-P Bonds by Chromium.

We describe here the coupling to transform aryl phosphine derivatives by the cleavage of unactivated C(aryl)-P bonds with chromium catalysis, allowing us to achieve the reaction with alkyl bromides and arylmagnesium reagents under mild conditions. Mechanistic studies indicate that catalytic cleavage of unactivated C(aryl)-P bonds is due to the in situ formed reactive Cr, followed by transmetalation and coupling with alkyl bromides.

Cyclic (Alkyl)(amino)carbene Ligand-Promoted Nitro Deoxygenative Hydroboration with Chromium Catalysis: Scope, Mechanism, and Applications.

Transition metal catalysis that utilizes N-heterocyclic carbenes as noninnocent ligands in promoting transformations has not been well studied. We report here a cyclic (alkyl)(amino)carbene (CAAC) ligand-promoted nitro deoxygenative hydroboration with cost-effective chromium catalysis. Using 1 mol % of CAAC-Cr precatalyst, the addition of HBpin to nitro scaffolds leads to deoxygenation, allowing for the retention of various reducible functionalities and the compatibility of sensitive groups toward hydroboration, thereby providing a mild, chemoselective, and facile strategy to form anilines, as well as heteroaryl and aliphatic amine derivatives, with broad scope and particularly high turnover numbers (up to 1.8 × 106). Mechanistic studies, based on theoretical calculations, indicate that the CAAC ligand plays an important role in promoting polarity reversal of hydride of HBpin; it serves as an H-shuttle to facilitate deoxygenative hydroboration. The preparation of several commercially available pharmaceuticals by means of this strategy highlights its potential application in medicinal chemistry.

Reductive Cross-Coupling between Unactivated C(aryl)-N and C(aryl)-O Bonds by Chromium Catalysis Using a Bipyridyl Ligand.

Reductive cross-coupling between two chemically inert bonds remains a great challenge in synthetic chemistry. We report here the reductive cross-coupling between unactivated C(aryl)-N and C(aryl)-O bonds that was achieved by chromium catalysis. The simple and inexpensive CrCl2 salt, combined with important bipyridyl ligand and magnesium reductant, shows high reactivity in the successive cleavage of C(aryl)-N bonds of aniline derivatives and C(aryl)-O bonds of aryl esters, allowing the cross-coupling of these two unactivated and different bonds to occur in a reductive fashion to form a C(aryl)-C(aryl) bond. Mechanistic studies by deuterium-labeling experiments indicate that the C(aryl)-N bonds in anilines are preferentially cleaved by reactive Cr species, in which the ligation of bipyridyl with Cr by adopting a coordination model in 1:1 ratio can be considered.

Chemoselective Cross-Coupling between Two Different and Unactivated C(aryl)-O Bonds Enabled by Chromium Catalysis.

We report here the first example of cross-coupling between two different and unactivated C(aryl)-O bonds with chromium catalysis. The combination of a low-cost Cr(II) salt, 4,4'-di-tert-butyl-2,2'-dipyridyl (dtbpy) as the ligand, and magnesium as the reductant shows high reactivity in promoting the reductive cross-coupling of aryl methyl ether derivatives with aryl esters by cleavage and coupling of two different C(aryl)-O bonds under mild conditions. The formation of active low-valent Cr species by reduction of CrCl2 with Mg can be considered, which prefers to initially activate the C(aryl)-O bond of phenyl methyl ether with the chelation help of dtbpy and an o-imine auxiliary. The subsequent consecutive reduction, second C(aryl)-O activation, and reductive elimination allow for the achievement of selective cross-coupling of C(aryl)-O/C(aryl)-O bonds.

Accessing Difluoromethylated and Trifluoromethylated cis-Cycloalkanes and Saturated Heterocycles: Preferential Hydrogen Addition to the Substitution Sites for Dearomatization.

Reported here is a straightforward process in which a cyclic (alkyl)(amino)carbene/Rh catalyst system facilitates the preferential addition of hydrogen to the substitution sites of difluoromethylated and trifluoromethylated arenes and heteroarenes, leading to dearomative reduction. This strategy enables the diastereoselective synthesis of cis-difluoromethylated and cis-trifluoromethylated cycloalkanes and saturated heterocycles, and even allows formation of all-cis multi-trifluoromethylated cyclic products with a defined equatorial orientation of the di- and trifluoromethyl groups. Deuterium-labeling studies indicate that hydrogen preferentially attacks the substitution sites of planar arenes, resulting in dearomatization, possibly with heterogeneous Rh as the reactive species, followed by either reversible or irreversible hydrogen addition to the nonsubstitution sites.

Modular Arene Difunctionalization of Unactivated C-O and C-H Bonds by Sequential Chromium-Catalyzed Transformations.

Sequential transformations of unactivated C-O and C-H bonds under chromium catalysis are described. The use of a N-benzyl-substituted imino group as an auxiliary combined with chromium(II) chloride as a precatalyst and 2,3-dichlorobutane as an oxidant allows the arene C-O and C-H bonds to sequentially couple to arylmagnesium reagents to incorporate two identical or different aryl groups into the ortho positions of benzaldehydes.

Chromium-Catalyzed Activation of Acyl C-O Bonds with Magnesium for Amidation of Esters with Nitroarenes.

Here, we report a chromium-catalyzed activation of acyl C-O bonds with magnesium for amidation of esters with nitroarenes. Low-cost chromium(III) chloride shows high reactivity in promoting amidation by using magnesium as reductant and chlorotrimethylsilane as additive. It provides a step-economic strategy to the synthesis of centrally important amide motifs using inexpensive and air-stable nitroarenes as amino sources.

Hydrogenation of (Hetero)aryl Boronate Esters with a Cyclic (Alkyl)(amino)carbene-Rhodium Complex: Direct Access to cis-Substituted Borylated Cycloalkanes and Saturated Heterocycles.

We herein report the hydrogenation of substituted aryl- and heteroaryl boronate esters for the selective synthesis of cis-substituted borylated cycloalkanes and saturated heterocycles. A cyclic (alkyl)(amino)carbene-ligated rhodium complex with two dimethyl groups at the ortho-alkyl scaffold of the carbene showed high reactivity in promoting the hydrogenation, thereby enabling the hydrogenation of (hetero)arenes with retention of the synthetically valuable boronate group. This process constitutes a clean, atom-economic, as well as chemo- and stereoselective route for the generation of cis-configured, diversely substituted borylated cycloalkanes and saturated heterocycles that are usually elusive and difficult to prepare.

Chromium-Catalyzed Regioselective Kumada Arylative Cross-Coupling of C(aryl)-O Bonds with a Traceless Activation Strategy.

We report here the chromium-catalyzed regioselective Kumada arylative cross-coupling of C(aryl)-O bonds at ambient temperature. By using a simple and low-cost chromium(II) chloride salt as a precatalyst, accompanied by a 2-pyridyl ligation, the catalytic cleavage and arylative coupling of C(aryl)-O bonds were achieved with a traceless activation strategy, overcoming the regioselectivity obstacle when several C-O bonds coexist in the Kumada coupling system.

Regioselective and Chemoselective Reduction of Naphthols Using Hydrosilane in Methanol: Synthesis of the 5,6,7,8-Tetrahydronaphthol Core.

A regioselective and chemoselective method for catalytic synthesis of biologically interesting 5,6,7,8-tetrahydronaphthols by reduction of naphthols was described. The side aromatic hydrocarbons in naphthols were site-selectively reduced, using hydrosilanes in methanol, allowing for retaining functional phenol scaffolds intact. It presents a rare example of using low-cost and air-stable hydrosilane for catalytic reduction of unactivated aromatic hydrocarbons under mild conditions. This reaction is scalable and proceeds in high selectivity without the formation of 1,2,3,4-tetrahydronaphthol byproducts with toleration of sensitive functionalities such as bromide, chloride, fluoride, ketone, ester, and amide.

Direct ortho-Selective Amination of 2-Naphthol and Its Analogues with Hydrazines.

Described herein is a regioselective ortho-amination of 2-naphthol and its analogues with substituted hydrazines. It provides a direct methodology for the synthesis of N-arylaminated naphthol derivatives without the formation of related 1,1'-biaryl-2,2'-diamine or carbazole byproducts. Specifically, using N, N-disubstituted hydrazine precursors, N-unsubstituted ortho-aminated derivatives and related secondary amines can be formed in ethylene glycol in moderate to excellent yields. Variation of substrates to N, N'-diarylhydrazines and N-methyl- N, N'-diarylhydrazines led to N-aryl-1-amino-2-naphthol compounds. It is noted that biologically interesting indazole motifs can be facilely created by the reaction of N, N'-dialkylhydrazines with 2-naphthols. These ortho-amination reactions have the advantage of one-pot operation without the use of transition metal catalysts.

Low-Valent, High-Spin Chromium-Catalyzed Cleavage of Aromatic Carbon-Nitrogen Bonds at Room Temperature: A Combined Experimental and Theoretical Study.

The cleavage of aromatic carbon-nitrogen bonds catalyzed by transition metals is of high synthetic interest because such bonds are common in organic chemistry. However, few metal catalysts can be used to selectively break C(aryl)-N bonds in electronically neutral molecules. We report here the first low-valent, high-spin chromium-catalyzed cleavage of C(aryl)-N bonds in electronically neutral aniline derivatives at room temperature. By using simple and inexpensive chromium(II) chloride as precatalyst, accompanied by an imino auxiliary, the selective arylative and alkylative C-C coupling of C(aryl)-N bonds can be achieved. Crossover experiments indicate that a low-valent chromium species, formed in situ by reduction of CrCl2 with Grignard reagent, is responsible for the catalytic cleavage of C(aryl)-N bonds. DFT calculations show that facile insertion of the C(aryl)-N bond by chromium(0) can take place in a high-spin quintet (S = 2) ground state, whereas the lower-spin singlet (S = 0) and triplet (S = 1) states are inaccessible in energy. It was found that both donation of the sole paired d electrons in the d6 shell of high-spin chromium(0) to the antibonding orbital of the C(aryl)-N bond and the nitrogen ligating interaction to the metal center with its lone pair play important roles in the cleavage of the C(aryl)-N bond by the zerovalent chromium species.

Iron-catalyzed synthesis of benzoxazoles by oxidative coupling/cyclization of phenol derivatives with benzoyl aldehyde oximes.

An iron-catalyzed oxidative coupling/cyclization reaction for the synthesis of benzoxazoles at room temperature is reported. This reaction was enabled by an inexpensive iron(iii) catalyst by treating readily available phenol derivatives with benzoyl aldehyde oximes. Mechanistic studies show that benzoyl aldehyde oxime is not only used as a substrate, but also serves as an ancillary ligand to support the iron salt in the promotion of the transformation.