Si-thiol supported atomic-scale palladium as efficient and recyclable catalyst for Suzuki coupling reaction.

Atomic-scale catalysts leverage the advantages of both heterogeneous catalysts for their stability and reusability and homogeneous catalysts for their isolated active sites. Here, a palladium catalyst supported by Si-thiol, a commercially available mercaptopropyl-modified and TMS-passivated amorphous silica, was synthesized and characterized by SEM,TEM, aberration-corrected STEM-HAADF, XRD, FT-IR and XPS. Statistical analysis revealed that the catalytic Pd species predominantly consisted of intermediate sized nanoparticles (<2 nm), small amounts of essentially isolated atoms (ca. 0.1 nm), and limited amounts of somewhat larger nanoparticles (<5 nm). The nanoscale atomic clusters dominated the reactivity and served as the key active sites for Suzuki coupling. The outcomes of the reaction were greatly affected by the choice of solvents, and Pd/Si-thiol was demonstrated to be reusable for more than three times without a noticeable loss of catalytic activity. [Formula: see text].

Successive copper(I)-catalyzed cross-couplings in one pot: a novel and efficient starting point for synthesis of carbapenems.

An efficient approach for synthesizing a series of 2-sulfide carbapenems has been developed using two successive Cu(I)-catalyzed cross-couplings in a single pot. The method involves highly selective intramolecular coupling of lactam and dihaloalkene using 2,2'-bipyridine as a ligand, followed by intermolecular C-S formation in the presence of another ligand (1,10-phenanthroline, PPh 3) and mercaptan.

A concise formal synthesis of (-)-hamigeran B.

A concise and efficient formal synthesis of (-)-hamigeran B is reported. The critical intermediate was synthesized from 3-methoxy-5-methylphenyl trifluoromethanesulfonate with an 11-steps 7.2% total yield route. The chiral quaternary carbon was efficiently and steroselectively constructed through an intermolecular Pauson-Khand reaction and a Claisen rearrangement reaction with >99% ee; the cyclohexane B was then closed through an aldehyde Friedel-Crafts cyclization. Lastly, the isopropenyl group of ring C was introduced through a Suzuki coupling reaction.

Studies toward the total synthesis of nagelamide K.

A stereocontrolled strategy toward the synthesis of nagelamide K has been developed. The dimeric imidazole acrylate, diimidazolidenesuccinate, was constructed as a synthetic precursor by a Ni-catalyzed coupling reaction; the microwave-promoted intramolecular aza-Michael addition afforded the imidazo[1,5-a]pyridine core structure of nagelamide K in high stereoselectivity. A detaurine-dediamino analogue of nagelamide K has been prepared.