Backbone-Photodegradable Polymers by Incorporating Acylsilane Monomers via Ring-Opening Metathesis Polymerization.

Materials capable of degradation upon exposure to light hold promise in a diverse range of applications including biomedical devices and smart coatings. Despite the rapid access to macromolecules with diverse compositions and architectures enabled by ring-opening metathesis polymerization (ROMP), a general strategy to introduce facile photodegradability into these polymers is lacking. Here, we report copolymers synthesized via ROMP that can be degraded by cleaving the backbone in both solution and solid states under irradiation with a 52 W, 390 nm Kessil LED to generate heterotelechelic low-molecular-weight fragments. To the best of our knowledge, this work represents the first instance of the incorporation of acylsilanes into a polymer backbone. Mechanistic investigation of the degradation process supports the intermediacy of an α-siloxy carbene, formed via a 1,2-photo Brook rearrangement, which undergoes insertion into water followed by cleavage of the resulting hemiacetal.

Crystalline Dioxin-Linked Covalent Organic Frameworks from Irreversible Reactions.

Triangular 2,3,6,7,10,11-hexahydroxytriphenylene (HHTP) and linear tetrafluorophthalonitrile (TFPN) or 2,3,5,6-tetrafluoro-4-pyridinecarbonitrile (TFPC) were linked by 1,4-dioxin linkages to form crystalline 2D covalent organic frameworks, termed COF-316 and -318. Unlike the condensation reactions commonly used to crystallize the great majority of COFs, the reactions used in this report are based on nucleophilic aromatic substitution reactions (SNAr) that are considered irreversible. Our studies show that the reactivity of TFPN and TFPC with HHTP is enhanced by the nitrile substituents leading to facile reactions of planar building units to yield the present 1,4-dioxin linked COFs. Because these reactions are irreversible, the resultant frameworks have high chemical stability in both acid and base. This has led to postsynthetic modifications of COF-316 by reactions necessitating extreme conditions to covalently install functionalities not otherwise accessible. We also report the permanent porosity of these COFs.

Gold Catalysis-Facilitated Rapid Synthesis of the Daphnane/Tigliane Tricyclic Core.

A concise approach to synthesize the 5-7-6 tricyclic carbon skeleton of the daphnane/tigliane diterpene natural products has been accomplished via a sequential gold-catalyzed furan formation and furan-allene [4+3] cycloaddition. This work provides new avenues for rapid and diverted synthesis of the medicinally important daphnane/tigliane diterpenes and their unnatural analogues.

Mild and Selective Cobalt-Catalyzed Chemodivergent Transfer Hydrogenation of Nitriles.

Herein, we describe a selective cobalt-catalyzed chemodivergent transfer hydrogenation of nitriles to synthesize primary, secondary, and tertiary amines. The solvent effect plays a key role for the selectivity control. The general applicability of this procedure was highlighted by the synthesis of more than 70 amine products bearing various functional groups in high chemoselectivity. Moreover, this mild system achieved >2000 TONs (turnover numbers) for the transfer hydrogenation of nitriles.