Acrolein (ACR) and 4-hydroxy-trans-2-nonenal (HNE) are two cytotoxic lipid-derived alpha,beta-unsaturated aldehydes which have been implicated as causative agents in the development of carbonyl stress-associated pathologies. In this study, 21 natural polyphenols were screened to identify effective scavenging agents of ACR and/or HNE in simulated physiological conditions. It was found that flavan-3-ols, theaflavins, cyanomaclurin, and dihydrochalcones effectively trapped ACR and HNE by working as sacrificial nucleophiles. The most effective one was phloretin, which quenched up to 99.6% ACR in 90 min and 90.1% HNE in 24 h. Subsequent LC-MS/MS analysis showed that these effective polyphenols formed adducts with ACR and HNE. A major adduct formed from phloretin and ACR was purified, and its structure was characterized by LC-MS and NMR spectroscopy as diACR-conjugated phloretin. The chemical nature of interactions between ACR and polyphenols was proposed as the Michael addition reaction of phloretin to the C horizontal lineC double bond of ACR, followed by the formation of hemiacetal between the hydroxyl group in the A ring of phloretin and the C horizontal lineO carbonyl group in ACR, thus yielding more stable products. Findings of the present study highlighted certain classes of polyphenols as promising sequestering agents of alpha,beta-unsaturated aldehydes to inhibit or restrain carbonyl stress-associated diseases.

Using α,α-difluoromethylene alkyne as a nontraditional one-carbon reaction partner, a synthetically novel method for the construction of isoindolin-1-one derivatives via Rh(III)-catalyzed [4+1] annulation reaction is reported. The 2-fold C-F bond cleavage not only enables the generation of desired product under an overall oxidant-free condition but also results in a net migration of carbon-carbon triple bond. In addition, the present reaction protocol exhibits a tolerance of a wide spectrum of functional groups due to the mild reaction conditions employed.

Copper-catalyzed olefinic trifluoromethylation and oxytrifluoromethylation of enamides is reported. The direct olefinic C-H trifluoromethylation constitutes an efficient method for the stereoselective synthesis of b-trifluoromethyl substituted enamides. Recently, the groups of Buchwald, 16 Wang 17 and Liu 18 reported, independently, the ene type trifluoromethylation of simple olefins, whereby an allylic sp 3 C-CF 3 moiety is selectively formed. Shortly after that, Sodeoka et al. 19a and GouverneurScheme 1 Copper-or iron-catalyzed olefinic trifluoromethylation.

No abstract

Cyclopropanes represent a class of versatile building blocks in modern organic synthesis. While the release of ring strain offers a thermodynamic driving force, the control of selectivity for C–C bond cleavage and the subsequent regiochemistry of the functionalization remains difficult, especially for unactivated cyclopropanes. Here we report a photoredox-coupled ring-opening oxo-amination of electronically unbiased cyclopropanes, which enables the expedient construction of a host of structurally diverse β-amino ketone derivatives. Through one electron oxidation, the relatively inert aryl cyclopropanes are readily converted into reactive radical cation intermediates, which in turn participate in the ensuing ring-opening functionalizations. Based on mechanistic studies, the present oxo-amination is proposed to proceed through an SN2-like nucleophilic attack/ring-opening manifold. This protocol features wide substrate scope, mild reaction conditions, and use of dioxygen as an oxidant both for catalyst regeneration and oxygen-incorporation. Moreover, a one-pot formal aminoacylation of olefins is described through a sequential cyclopropanation/oxo-amination.

Fluoroalkenes represent a class of privileged structural motifs, which found widespread use in medicinal chemistry. However, the synthetic access to fluoroalkenes was much underdeveloped with previous reported methods suffering from either low step economy or harsh reaction conditions. Here we present a RhIII-catalysed tandem C–H/C–F activation for the synthesis of (hetero)arylated monofluoroalkenes. The use of readily available gem-difluoroalkenes as electrophiles provides a highly efficient and operationally simple method for the introduction of α-fluoroalkenyl motifs onto (hetero)arenes under oxidant-free conditions. Furthermore, the employment of alcoholic solvent and the in-situ generated hydrogen fluoride are found to be beneficial in this transformation, indicating the possibility of the involvement of hydrogen bond activation mode with regards to the C–F bond cleavage step.

Rh(III)-catalyzed C-H olefinic alkynylation of enamides for the stereospecific construction of synthetically useful Z-type enynamides is reported. This protocol displays good functionality tolerance and operational simplicity thus providing an alternative synthetic opportunity for the ease of access to specific 1,3-enyne derivatives.

The rhodium(III)-catalyzed ortho C-H alkynylation of non-electronically activated arenes is disclosed. This process features a straightforward and highly effective protocol for the synthesis of functionalized alkynes and represents the first example of merging a hypervalent iodine reagent with rhodium(III) catalysis. Notably, this reaction proceeds at room temperature, tolerates a variety of functional groups, and more importantly, exhibits high selectivity for monoalkynylation.