The structures of naturally occurring germination stimulants for seeds of the parasitic weeds Striga spp. and Orobanche spp. are described. The bioactiphore in this strigolactone family of stimulants is deduced from a structure-activity relationship and shown to reside in the CD part of the stimulant molecule. A molecular mechanism for the initial stages of seed germination is proposed. The influence of stereochemistry on the stimulant activity is significant. Combining this molecular information leads to a model for the design of synthetic strigolactones. Nijmegen-1 is a typical example of a highly active, newly designed synthetic stimulant. The occurrence of natural stimulants not belonging to the strigolactone family, such as cotylenin and parthenolide, is briefly described. The biosynthesis of natural strigolactones from beta-carotene is analysed in terms of isolated and predicted stimulants. This scheme will be helpful in the search for new strigolactones from root exudates. Protein fishing experiments to isolate and characterise the receptor protein using biotin-labelled GR 24 are described. A receptor protein of 60 kD was identified by this method. Nijmegen-1 has been tested as a suicidal germination agent in field trials on tobacco infested by Orobanche ramosa L. The preliminary results are highly rewarding. Finally, some future challenges in synthesis are described. These include synthesising new natural and synthetic stimulants and establishing the molecular connection between strigolactones as germination stimulants, as the branching factor for arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi and as an inhibitor of shoot branching.
The classical heterocoupling of a 1-haloalkyne with a terminal alkyne catalyzed by copper salts in the presence of a base for the synthesis of unsymmetrical diynes is termed the Cadiot-Chodkiewicz coupling reaction. The diynes are of great importance due to their biological, optical and electronic properties. A number of modifications have been developed recently to improve the efficiency of Cadiot-Chodkiewicz coupling reactions in terms of selectivity and yield. This is the first review on the Cadiot-Chodkiewicz cross-coupling reaction which highlights the modern approaches and protocols developed for the synthesis and applications of unsymmetrical 1,3-diynes.
Coupling reactions form an important class of reactions in organic synthesis and these reactions are usually catalysed by metals and are of great significance. Copper due to its versatility and low toxicity has always gained much attention. This first review on copper‐catalysed amination of aryl and heteroaryl halides summarises the developments in this area and covers literature upto 2019.
Manganese‐catalysed reactions have attracted great attention recently due to the high relative abundance and cheap and eco‐friendly behaviour. Applications of manganese catalysis in cross‐dehydrogenative coupling are among the hottest areas since 90% of the contributions are very recent. Dehydrogenation of alcohols using Mn‐pincer systems is highly explored nowadays for cross‐coupling to synthesise a variety of products and Mn‐catalysed C−H activation, and radical reactions are applied in dehydrogenative couplings of various synthons. This review focuses on the synthesis of synthetically as well as biologically important motifs such as carbonyl compounds, olefins, nitrogen heterocycles, amines, imines, etc. using manganese‐catalysed dehydrogenative cross‐coupling reactions.
Aryl nitriles are an inevitable part of synthetic organic chemistry. This review summarizes the recent developments in palladium-catalyzed cyanation of aryl halides from 2012–2020.
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