The first use of phosphenium cations in asymmetric catalysis is reported. A diazaphosphenium triflate, prepared in two or three steps on a multigram scale from commercially available materials, catalyzes the hydroboration or hydrosilylation of cyclic imines with enantiomeric ratios of up to 97:3. Catalyst loadings are as low as 0.2 mol %. Twenty-two aryl/heteroaryl pyrrolidines and piperidines were prepared using this method. Imines containing functional groups such as thiophenes or pyridyl rings that can challenge transition-metal catalysts were reduced employing these systems.

We demonstrate pyridine hydroboration catalyzed by a diazaphospholene hydride precatalyst. Pyridines bearing electron-withdrawing groups in the 3-position are hydroborated efficiently. This system features low catalyst loadings, fast reaction times at ambient temperature, and tolerance of other reducible functionality. Off-cycle products of pyridine hydrophosphination were also obtained in one case from a stoichiometric reaction and structurally characterized.

YadB and YadC are putative trimeric autotransporters present only in the plague bacterium Yersinia pestis and its evolutionary predecessor, Yersinia pseudotuberculosis. Previously, yadBC was found to promote invasion of epithelioid cells by Y. pestis grown at 37 6C. In this study, we found that yadBC also promotes uptake of 37 6C-grown Y. pestis by mouse monocyte/ macrophage cells. We tested whether yadBC might be required for lethality of the systemic stage of plague in which the bacteria would be pre-adapted to mammalian body temperature before colonizing internal organs and found no requirement for early colonization or growth over 3 days. We tested the hypothesis that YadB and YadC function on ambient temperature-grown Y. pestis in the flea vector or soon after infection of the dermis in bubonic plague. We found that yadBC did not promote uptake by monocyte/macrophage cells if the bacteria were grown at 28 6C, nor was there a role of yadBC in colonization of fleas by Y. pestis grown at 21 6C. However, the presence of yadBC did promote recoverability of the bacteria from infected skin for 28 6C-grown Y. pestis. Furthermore, the gene for the proinflammatory chemokine CXCL1 was upregulated in expression if the infecting Y. pestis lacked yadBC but not if yadBC was present. Also, yadBC was not required for recoverability if the bacteria were grown at 37 6C. These findings imply that thermally induced virulence properties dominate over effects of yadBC during plague but that yadBC has a unique function early after transmission of Y. pestis to skin.

The 1-substituted dibenzothiophene motif is an unusual substitution pattern that has previously been accessed via a multi-step synthesis. We demonstrate a simple one-pot preparation of 1-lithiodibenzothiophene from commercial materials via...

N-phenyl phenothiazine is one of the most reducing photoredox catalysts. Its synthesis commonly requires transition metal catalyzed cross-coupling reactions. Here we show the syntheses of four aryl phenothiazines via a benzyne route, including a multi-gram scale synthesis of N-phenyl phenothiazine. While yields are modest, the simplicity, low cost, and lack of requirement for cross-coupling catalyst in this synthesis will be attractive to users of this photocatalyst.