Capture of pharmaceutical pollutants from water was studied using a novel fluorine-bearing covalent organic framework TpBD-(CF ) , which showed ibuprofen adsorption capacity of 119 mg g at neutral pH. This value is further enhanced at pH 2, highlighting the potential of this class of materials to serve as adsorbents even under harsh conditions. The adsorbed pharmaceutical can be recovered from TpBD-(CF ) in high yield, offering the option of recycling both the adsorbent and the pharmaceutical. The high efficiency of ibuprofen capture as compared to other less lipophilic pharmaceuticals suggests that COFs can be pre-designed for selective capture of contaminants.

Carbon dioxide can be used as a convenient carbonylating agent in the synthesis of 2-oxazolidinones, 2-oxazinones, and cyclic ureas. The transient carbamate anion generated by treating a primary or secondary amine group in basic media can be activated with phosphorylating agents such as Diphenylphosphoryl azide (DPPA) and Diphenyl chlorophosphate (DPPCl) but also with other types of electrophiles such as SOCl(2), TsCl, or AcCl. The intramolecular trapping of the activated carbamate by a hydroxyl group leads to the formation of 2-oxazolidinones or 2-oxazinones in good to excellent yields. This methodology was successfully applied to the synthesis of cyclic ureas up to 7-membered rings from the corresponding diamines.

Treatment of primary amines with tetramethylphenylguanidine (PhTMG) and a cyanophosphonate at -10 degrees Celsius under an atmosphere of carbon dioxide provides cyanoformamides in very high to excellent yields. The reaction proceeds efficiently within a short time. By-products were not detected in most runs and epimerization was not found when optically pure alpha-aminoesters were used as substrates. As an example, the reaction was applied to the synthesis of the marine natural product ceratinamine.

The carbamoylating agents carbamoyl azides and carbamoyl cyanides (aka cyanoformamides) react with hydroxylamine in different ways, leading in the first case to N-hydroxyureas and, in the case of carbamoyl cyanides, to carbamoyl amidoxime derivatives. The synthetic procedure developed for the latter type of compound, which represents an interesting precursor for heterocyclic structures, allowed the highly efficient preparation of a wide selection of examples. The Z configuration of the double bond in the amidoxime moiety was proposed on the basis of comparison between experimental and calculated 13C and 15N NMR chemical shift values for the isopropyl and benzyl derivatives.

The condensation of carbamoyl nitroso compounds, obtained by oxidation of N-hydroxyureas, with amines unexpectedly afforded semicarbazones (aka carbamoyl hydrazones). Although the substitution of the nitrosyl moiety might compete to afford the corresponding urea, an excess of amine led to the semicarbazone as the major product, which is presumably formed via isomerization of an initially generated acyl azo compound.