Benzoyl azides were used for the direct and atom economic C–H amidation of electron rich heteroarenes in the presence of phosphoric acid, a photocatalyst and visible light.

Legionella pneumophila, a bacterium that replicates within aquatic amoebae and persists in the environment as a free-living microbe, is the causative agent of Legionnaires' disease. Among the many Legionella species described, L. pneumophila is associated with 90% of human disease, and within the 15 serogroups (Sg), L. pneumophila Sg1 causes more than 84% of Legionnaires' disease worldwide. Thus, rapid and specific identification of L. pneumophila Sg1 is of the utmost importance for evaluation of the contamination of collective water systems and the risk posed. Previously we had shown that about 20 kb of the 33-kb locus carrying the genes coding for the proteins involved in lipopolysaccharide biosynthesis (LPS gene cluster) by L. pneumophila was highly specific for Sg1 strains and that three genes (lpp0831, wzm, and wzt) may serve as genetic markers. Here we report the sequencing and comparative analyses of this specific region of the LPS gene cluster in L. pneumophila Sg6, -10, -12, -13, and -14. Indeed, the wzm and wzt genes were present only in the Sg1 LPS gene cluster, which showed a very specific gene content with respect to the other five serogroups investigated. Based on this observation, we designed primers and developed a classical and a real-time PCR method for the detection and simultaneous identification of L. pneumophila Sg1 in clinical and environmental isolates. Evaluation of the selected primers with 454 Legionella and 38 non-Legionella strains demonstrated 100% specificity. Sensitivity, specificity, and predictive values were further evaluated with 209 DNA extracts from water samples of hospital water supply systems and with 96 respiratory specimens. The results showed that the newly developed quantitative Sg1-specific PCR method is a highly specific and efficient tool for the surveillance and rapid detection of high-risk L. pneumophila Sg1 in water and clinical samples.Legionella pneumophila is ubiquitous in natural, aqueous environments, where it parasitizes aquatic protozoa (1). From these environments Legionella can contaminate artificial water circuits and then grow and proliferate to high numbers, in particular in hot water systems, including aerosol-producing devices such as air conditioning systems or cooling towers (18,19,37). Upon aerosol formation via man-made water systems, Legionella can enter the human lung and cause a severe form of pneumonia. Since transmission of Legionella from person to person has never been observed, prevention needs to concentrate on the elimination of this pathogen from water and aerosol-producing systems. Thus, rapid and precise detection of Legionella in water systems is of the utmost importance for risk prediction and the elimination of Legionella from possible infection sources.Water contamination by Legionella is currently monitored by culture-based methods approved by the International Organization for Standardization (29) and the French organization for standardization (2). The alert and action thresholds defined by the national authorities that obli...

We report the synthesis of various phthalazines via a new cascade reaction, initiated by visible light photocatalysis, involving a radical hydroamination reaction followed by a radical Smiles rearrangement.

The synthesis and structure-activity relationships associated with a series of 1,1-diarylethylene tubulin polymerization inhibitors 3 and 4 are described. The key step for their preparation involves a palladium-catalyzed coupling of N-arylsulfonylhydrazones with aryl halides, thus providing flexible and convergent access to tri- and tetrasubstituted 1,1-diarylolefins 3 and 4 related to isocombretastatin A-4 (isoCA-4). These compounds have been evaluated for tubulin polymerization inhibitory activity as well as for cytotoxic activity. The most potent compounds are 1,1-diaryl-2-methoxyethylenes 4b, 4d and 4e having a trisubstituted double bond. They exhibited good antiproliferative activity against various human cancer cell lines (GI(50) = 8-80 nM). Compounds 4b and 4e strongly inhibited tubulin polymerization with IC(50) values of 2 and 3 μM, respectively, and induced cell cycle arrest in the G(2)/M phase in the K562 cell line. Docking studies in the colchicine binding site of tubulin allowed identification of residues most likely to interact with these inhibitors and explain their potent anti-tubulin activity.

PdCl(2)(MeCN)(2) in combination with dppp proved to be a powerful and efficient catalyst for the coupling of sterically hindered N-arylsulfonylhydrazones with aryl halides, thus providing a flexible and convergent access to tetrasubstituted olefins related to iso-combretastatin A4 in good yields. This new protocol has been applied successfully to the formal synthesis of biphenylisopropylidene 4-pyridine CYP17 inhibitor, 12b, of biological interest.

Carbon–carbon bond formation reactions are of longstanding interest in organic chemistry. Improvements of the methods targeting its creation are still being performed, especially thanks to the development of innovative methodologies in transition metal catalysis and photocatalysis. This review will tackle the combination of transition metal and photoredox cycles to create carbon–carbon bonds, focusing on the four transition metals most reported in the literature in this domain: Ni, Pd, Au and Cu.

Unprotected thioglycosides were effective nucleophiles for Ni(0)-catalyzed C-S bond-forming reaction with functionalized (hetero)aryl, alkenyl, and alkynyl halides. The functional-group tolerance on the electrophilic partner was typically high and the anomeric selectivities of the thioglycosides were high in all cases. The efficiency of this general procedure was well-demonstrated by the synthesis of 4-methyl-7-thioumbelliferyl-β-D-cellobioside (MUS-CB).

An efficient and unprecedented palladium‐catalyzed S‐glycosylation reaction of a range of alkenyl and alkynyl halides by using thiosugars as nucleophile partners has been established. With palladium diacetate in combination with Xantphos as the catalytic system, a variety of β‐alkenylthioglycosides as well as β‐alkynylthioglycosides can be prepared in good to excellent yields. The efficiency of this general protocol was well‐demonstrated by the formal synthesis of a leaf‐closure β‐glucosidase inhibitor.magnified image