Site- and enantioselective incorporation of deuterium into organic compounds is of broad interest in organic synthesis, especially within the pharmaceutical industry. While catalytic approaches relying on two-electron reaction manifolds have allowed for stereoselective delivery of a formal deuteride (D–) or deuteron (D+) at benzylic positions, complementary strategies that make use of one-electron deuterium atom transfer and target non-benzylic positions remain elusive. Here we report a photochemical approach for asymmetric radical deuteration by utilizing readily available peptide- or sugar-derived thiols as the catalyst and inexpensive deuterium oxide as the deuterium source. This metal-free platform enables four types of deuterofunctionalization reactions of exocyclic olefins and allows deuteration at non-benzylic positions with high levels of enantioselectivity and deuterium incorporation. Computational studies reveal that attractive non-covalent interactions are responsible for stereocontrol. We anticipate that our findings will open up new avenues for asymmetric deuteration.
An efficient one‐pot synthesis of highly functionalized pyrrolidines by using sulfonyl azides, alkynes, and dimethyl 2‐(phenylamino)maleate catalyzed by copper(I)–Y zeolite under mild reaction conditions was investigated. This cascade process involves an azide–alkyne [3+2] cycloaddition/ring rearrangement/ketenimine formation/intermolecular nucleophilic addition cascade and consequent intramolecular cyclization followed by [1,3]‐H shift. The important advantage of this methodology, which allows selective intramolecular nucleophilic attack of the generated ketenimine carbanion on an ester moiety for the first time, is that the starting materials can be easily prepared.
An elegant copper(I)-Y zeolite-catalyzed tandem process, involving ketenimine-based termolecular [2 + 2 + 2]/[NC + CC + NC] cycloaddition, using sulfonyl azide, alkyne, and quinoline, to prepare pyrimido[1,6-a]quinolines is reported. In this straightforward, highly atom- and step-economical protocol, copper(I) promotes for azide-alkyne [3 + 2] cycloaddition which is followed by ring-rearrangement/ketenimine formation/regio- and stereoselective [2 + 2 + 2] termolecular cycloaddition and dehydrogenation cascade to yield selectively the E-isomer of pyrimido[1,6-a]quinoline.
An efficient one pot synthesis for the construction of novel naphtho[2,1-b]furan-2,5-diones and benzo[de]chromene-2,6-diones using copper(i)-Y zeolite catalyzed reaction of N-sulfonylketenimine with 2-hydroxy-1,4-naphthoquinone and 5-hydroxy-1,4-naphthoquinone followed by the elimination of p-toluenesulfonamide is reported. The intermediate N-sulfonylketenimine, generated by (3+2) cycloaddition/ring-opening reaction/retro-Wolff rearrangement, cascade, and annulation, promotes the reaction involving the inter- and intramolecular nucleophilic addition/dehydration followed by hydrolysis and elimination of p-toluenesulfonamide to afford the target products in good yield.
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