Transition-metal-free access to primary anilines from boronic acids and a common (+)NH2 equivalent.

Diversely substituted anilines are prepared by treatment of functionalized arylboronic acids with a common, inexpensive source of electrophilic nitrogen (H2N-OSO3H, HSA) under basic aqueous conditions. Electron-rich substrates are found to be the most reactive by this method. However, even moderately electron-poor substrates are well tolerated under the room temperature conditions. Sterically hindered substrates appear to be equally effective compared to unhindered ones. Highly electron-deficient substrates afford product in very low yields at room temperature, but moderate to good yields are obtained at refluxing temperatures. Our method is also amenable to electrophilic amination of several common boronic acid derivatives (e.g., pinacol esters). We demonstrate that it can be combined with metal-halogen exchange reactions or a variety of directed ortho metalation protocols in a "one-pot" sequence for the synthesis of aromatic amines with unique substitution patterns. DFT studies, in combination with experimental results, suggest that the reaction occurs via base-mediated activation of HSA, followed by 1,2 aryl B-N migration. This mode of activation appears to be critical for the success of the reaction and allows, for the first time, a general, electrophilic amination of boronic acids at ambient temperature.

Mild and tunable benzoic acid catalysts for rearrangement reactions of allylic alcohols.

An efficient and simple catalytic method for the isomerization of readily prepared allylic alcohols is described. We focus particularly on cyclic examples and the synthesis of unusual enyne and dienols. The benzoic acid catalysts employed are commercially available and very inexpensive and can be tuned for reactivity and substrate sensitivity.

Iterative protecting group-free cross-coupling leading to chiral multiply arylated structures.

The Suzuki-Miyaura cross-coupling is one of the most often utilized reactions in the synthesis of pharmaceutical compounds and conjugated materials. In its most common form, the reaction joins two sp(2)-functionalized carbon atoms to make a biaryl or diene/polyene unit. These substructures are widely found in natural products and small molecules and thus the Suzuki-Miyaura cross-coupling has been proposed as the key reaction for the automated assembly of such molecules, using protecting group chemistry to affect iterative coupling. We present herein, a significant advance in this approach, in which multiply functionalized cross-coupling partners can be employed in iterative coupling without the use of protecting groups. To accomplish this, the orthogonal reactivity of different boron substituents towards the boron-to-palladium transmetalation reaction is exploited. The approach is illustrated in the preparation of chiral enantioenriched compounds, which are known to be privileged structures in active pharmaceutical compounds.