Indium(III)-catalyzed reductive bromination and iodination of carboxylic acids to alkyl bromides and iodides: scope, mechanism, and one-pot transformation to alkyl halides and amine derivatives.

Highly effective indium(III)-catalyzed reductive bromination or iodination of a variety of carboxylic acids with 1,1,3,3-tetramethyldisiloxane (TMDS) and a source of bromine or iodine is described. This functional group interconversion has high tolerance for several functional groups, such as halogens, a hydroxy group, a nitro group, an olefin part, and a sulfide moiety. This indium catalytic system is also applicable to the reductive iodination of aldehyded, acyl chlorides, and esters. Furthermore, this reducing system can be applied to the one-pot synthesis of alkyl halides and amine derivatives via the addition of nucleophiles. Insight into the reaction mechanism was gained via the time course of (1)H and (13)C NMR monitoring experiments and the corresponding stepwise reactions.

Cooperative catalysis of metal and O-H···O/sp3-C-H···O two-point hydrogen bonds in alcoholic solvents: Cu-catalyzed enantioselective direct alkynylation of aldehydes with terminal alkynes.

Catalyst-substrate hydrogen bonds in artificial catalysts usually occur in aprotic solvents, but not in protic solvents, in contrast to enzymatic catalysis. We report a case in which ligand-substrate hydrogen-bonding interactions cooperate with a transition-metal center in alcoholic solvents for enantioselective catalysis. Copper(I) complexes with prolinol-based hydroxy amino phosphane chiral ligands catalytically promoted the direct alkynylation of aldehydes with terminal alkynes in alcoholic solvents to afford nonracemic secondary propargylic alcohols with high enantioselectivities. Quantum-mechanical calculations of enantiodiscriminating transition states show the occurrence of a nonclassical sp(3)-C-H···O hydrogen bond as a secondary interaction between the ligand and substrate, which results in highly directional catalyst-substrate two-point hydrogen bonding.

Indium-catalyzed reductive bromination of carboxylic acids leading to alkyl bromides.

The combination of 1,1,3,3-tetramethyldisiloxane (TMDS) and trimethylbromosilane (Me(3)SiBr) with a catalytic amount of indium bromide (InBr(3)) undertook direct bromination of carboxylic acids, which produced the corresponding alkyl bromides in good to excellent yields. The reducing system was tolerant to several functional groups.

Single-step thioetherification by indium-catalyzed reductive coupling of carboxylic acids with thiols.

Direct thioetherification from a variety of aromatic carboxylic acids and thiols using a reducing system combined with InBr(3) and 1,1,3,3-teramethyldisiloxane (TMDS) in a one-pot procedure is demonstrated. It was also found that a system combined with InI(3) and TMDS underwent thioetherification of aliphatic carboxylic acids with thiols.

Cu(I)-catalyzed intramolecular hydroamination of unactivated alkenes bearing a primary or secondary amino group in alcoholic solvents.

The Cu-Xantphos system [Cu(O-t-Bu)-Xantphos, 10-15 mol %] catalyzes the intramolecular hydroamination of unactivated terminal alkenes bearing an unprotected aminoalkyl substituent in alcoholic solvents, giving pyrrolidine and piperidine derivatives in excellent yields. This system is applicable to both primary and secondary amines and tolerates a variety of functional groups.

An efficient one-pot synthesis of unsymmetrical ethers: a directly reductive deoxygenation of esters using an InBr3/Et3SiH catalytic system.

This study describes a novel one-pot procedure for a directly reductive conversion of the carbonyl function of esters to the corresponding ethers by Et3SiH in the presence of a catalytic amount of InBr3.