An efficient Cu-catalyzed one-pot approach for the synthesis of unsymmetrical diaryl thioethers using potassium ethyl xanthogenate as a thiol surrogate is developed. This new protocol avoids usage of intricate thiols and makes use of its easily available xanthate as a precursor, and thiol will be generated in situ to prepare the diaryl thioethers through a Cu-catalyzed double arylation. This strategy was further successfully utilized for the synthesis of symmetrical diaryl thioethers, aryl alkyl thioethers, and benzothiazoles.

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An efficient domino process for the synthesis of thioflavanones has been described using a copper catalyst without addition of any external ligand. A variety of thioflavanones have been synthesized from easily accessible 2'-iodochalcones or 2'-bromochalcones in excellent yield through in situ incorporation of sulfur using xanthate as an odorless sulfur source. This domino process proceeds through Cu-catalyzed C(aryl)-S bond formation by the coupling reaction of xanthate with 2'-halochalcones followed by C-S bond cleavage of thioester then S-C bond formation by intramolecular Michael addition.

Copper complexes of chiral pyridine bis(diphenyloxazoline)-type ligands have been studied as catalysts for the enantioselective allylic oxidation of olefins. Using 2.5−5 mol % of these chiral catalysts and tert-butyl perbenzoate as oxidant, optically active allylic benzoates were obtained in up to 86% ee. A variety of copper salts was studied under different conditions and in different solvents. Acetone was found to be a superior solvent for the reaction. Use of phenylhydrazine in conjunction with the chiral copper complex played a crucial role in increasing the rate of the reaction. Use of 4 Å molecular sieves increased the optical yield of product in almost every case.

Metal-free halogen(I) catalysts were used for the selective oxidation of aryl(heteroaryl)methanes [C(sp )-H] to ketones [C(sp )=O] or esters [C(sp )-O]. The synthesis of ketones was performed with a catalytic amount of NBS in DMSO solvent. Experimental studies and density functional theory (DFT) calculations supported the formation of halogen bonding (XB) between the heteroarene and N-bromosuccinimide, which enabled imine-enamine tautomerism of the substrates. No additional activator was required for this crucial step. Isotope-labeling and other supporting experiments suggested that a Kornblum-type oxidation with DMSO and aerobic oxygenation with molecular oxygen took place simultaneously. A background XB-assisted electron transfer between the heteroarenes and halogen(I) catalysts was responsible for the formation of heterobenzylic radicals and, thus, the aerobic oxygenation. For selective acyloxylation (ester formation), a catalytic amount of iodine was employed with tert-butyl hydroperoxide in aliphatic carboxylic acid solvent. Several control reactions, spectroscopic studies, and Time-Dependent Density Functional Theory (TD-DFT) calculations established the presence of acetyl hypoiodite as an active halogen(I) species in the acetoxylation process. With the help of a selectivity study, for the first time we report that the strength of the XB interaction and the frontier orbital mixing between the substrates and acyl hypoiodites determined the extent of the background electron-transfer process and, thus, the selectivity of the reaction.

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CBr has been employed as a halogen bond donor catalyst for the selective activation of aldehyde, to achieve an efficient solvent- and metal-free C═C bond forming reaction in the presence of strong acid sensitive groups such as methoxy, cyanide, ester, and ketal for the synthesis of α,β-unsaturated ketones. This unique capability of CBr to act as a halogen bond donor has been explored and established using UV-vis as well as IR spectroscopy. Moreover, this unprecedented methodology enables the synthesis of the pharmaceutically important molecule licochalcone A.

With the growing demand of environmentally friendly reagents for organic reactions, for the first time the utility of D-glucose as a ligand in its direct form has been described using a typical example of copper-catalyzed coupling reaction for phenol synthesis with a high degree of selectivity and easy catalyst removal.