We describe a method that allows salicylaldehyde derivatives to be coupled with a wide range of unactivated alkenes at catalyst loadings as low as 2 mol %. A chiral phosphoramidite ligand and the precise stoichiometry of heterogeneous base are key for high catalytic activity and linear regioselectivity. This protocol was applied in the atom- and step-economical synthesis of eight biologically active octaketide natural products, including anticancer drug candidate cytosporone B. Mechanistic studies provide insight on parameters affecting decarbonylation, a side reaction that limits the turnover number for catalytic hydroacylation. Deuterium labeling studies show that branched hydride insertion is fully reversible, whereas linear hydride insertion is largely irreversible and turnover-limiting. We propose that ligand (R(a),R,R)-SIPHOS-PE effectively suppresses decarbonylation, and helps favor a turnover-limiting insertion, by lowering the barrier for reductive elimination in the linear-selective pathway. Together, these factors enable high reactivity and regioselectivity.
We report our finding that by exploiting the synergistic steric effects between substrate and catalyst, an intramolecular Pd-catalyzed alkyne carbohalogenation can be achieved. This operationally simple method uses the bulky Pd/Q-Phos combination and allows access to tetrasubstituted vinyl halides from the corresponding aryl chlorides, bromides, and iodides. Steric effects in the substrate play a key role by promoting C sp 2-halogen reductive elimination and enabling catalytic turnover. Through a reversible oxidative addition mechanism, a thermodynamically driven isomerization reaction is observed at elevated temperatures. Thus by changing the reaction temperature, both stereoisomers of the reaction become readily accessible.
Pharmaceutically relevant methylene oxindoles are synthesized by a palladium(0)-catalyzed intramolecular chlorocarbamoylation reaction of alkynes. A relatively underexplored class of caged phosphine ligands is uniquely suited for this transformation, enabling high levels of reactivity and exquisite trans selectivity. This report entails the first transition-metal-catalyzed atom-economic addition of a carbamoyl chloride across an alkyne.
Air-stable, chalcogen-centered dications have been synthesized and comprehensively characterized. These represent the first diiminopyridine (DIMPY) complexes of the chalcogens as well as the single nonmetallic (sulfur) complex of this ubiquitous ligand. Their stability under ambient conditions is a distinct contrast to other highly charged main-group cations.
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