The present review is devoted to summarizing the recent advances (2015–2017) in the field of metal-catalysed group-directed C–H functionalisation.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSEGABAA receptors are the major inhibitory neurotransmitter receptors in the mammalian brain and the target of many clinically important drugs interacting with different binding sites. Recently, we demonstrated that CGS 9895 (2-(4-methoxyphenyl)-2H-pyrazolo [4,3-c]quinolin-3(5H)-one) acts as a null modulator (antagonist) at the high affinity benzodiazepine binding site, but in addition elicits a strong enhancement of GABA-induced currents via a novel drug binding site at the extracellular a+b-interface. Here, we investigated 32 structural analogues of CGS 9895 for their ability to mediate their effects via the a1+b3-interface of GABAA receptors. EXPERIMENTAL APPROACHGABAA receptors were expressed in Xenopus laevis oocytes and investigated by the two-electrode voltage clamp method. KEY RESULTSWe not only identified compounds with higher efficacy/potency than CGS 9895 for stimulating GABA-induced currents via the a1+b3-binding site, but also discovered compounds acting as null modulators at this site. Most of the compounds also acted as null modulators via the benzodiazepine binding site of GABAA receptors. But some of the positive allosteric modulators or null modulators exclusively exerted their action via the a+b-binding site. CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONSPyrazoloquinolinones and pyrazolopyridinones represent the first prototype of drug candidates mediating benzodiazepine like modulatory effects via the a+b-interface of GABAA receptors. The discovery of null modulators acting as inhibitors of the plus modulators provides a highly useful tool for the discovery of additional classes of compounds that can modulate GABAA receptors via this site, which may lead to novel therapeutic principles. LINKED ARTICLEThis article is accompanied by Varagic et al.,

Halogen Dance (HD) reactions are a useful tool for synthetic chemists as they enable access to positions in aromatic and heteroaromatic systems for subsequent functionalization which are often difficult to address by other methods, hence, allowing entry to versatile scaffolds. While the method can be extremely useful, this transformation is often neglected upon designing synthetic sequences. This may be largely attributed to the lack of comprehensive reference works covering the general principles and outlining the versatility and limitations of the technique. The following review tries to present HD reactions in a clear and concise manner in order to convince more chemists of its advantages. It covers the field of HD reactions from their first observation in 1951 until the present. The important contributions leading to the elucidation of the mechanism are briefly outlined followed by a detailed mechanistic section and a discussion of factors which influence HD reactions. Finally, an overview of HD reactions on various carbocyclic and heterocyclic ring systems and its applications in the synthesis of complex compounds is given.

Recent progress in the field of transition‐metal‐catalyzed cross‐coupling reactions on various azole systems is summarized. Most important C–C‐ and C–X‐bond formation methodologies (Negishi, Suzuki–Miyaura, Stille, Kumada–Corriu–Tamao, Hiyama, Sonogashira, Heck, C–H activation) are reviewed and discussed for the imidazole, oxazole, thiazole, pyrazole, isoxazole, and isothiazole system, as well as for azoles with more than two heteroatoms. This review covers the literature that appeared in the past ten years up to the end of 2005 with corresponding azoles used either as metal organyl or halide (including triflates and some other less frequently applied leaving groups); literature describing azole structures only as ligands was not included.(© Wiley‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, 69451 Weinheim, Germany, 2006)

An efficient method for an iron catalyzed oxidative indolation and methoxyphenylation of N-protected tetrahydroisoquinolines and isochroman is described including subsequent facile deprotection.

γ-Aminobutyric acid type A (GABAA) receptors are pentameric GABA-gated chloride channels that are, in mammalians, drawn from a repertoire of 19 different genes, namely α1-6, β1-3, γ1-3, δ, ε, θ, π and ρ1-3. The existence of this wide variety of subunits as well as their diverse assembly into different subunit compositions result in miscellaneous receptor subtypes. In combination with the large number of known and putative allosteric binding sites, this leads to a highly complex pharmacology. Recently, a novel binding site at extracellular α+/β− interfaces was described as the site of modulatory action of several pyrazoloquinolinones. In this study we report a highly potent ligand from this class of compounds with pronounced β1-selectivity that mainly lacks α-subunit selectivity. It constitutes the most potent β1-selective positive allosteric modulatory ligand with known binding site. In addition, a proof of concept pyrazoloquinolinone ligand lacking the additional high affinity interaction with the benzodiazepine binding site is presented. Ultimately, such ligands can be used as invaluable molecular tools for the detection of β1-containing receptor subtypes and the investigation of their abundance and distribution.

Non-precious-metal-catalyzed reactions are of increasing importance in chemistry due to the outstanding ecological and economic properties of these metals. In the subfield of metal-catalyzed direct C-H functionalization reactions, recent years have shown an increasing number of publications dedicated to this topic. Nickel, cobalt, and last but not least iron, have started to enter a field which was long dominated by precious metals such as palladium, rhodium, ruthenium, and iridium. The present review article summarizes the development of iron-, nickel-, and cobalt-catalyzed C-H functionalization reactions until the end of 2016, and discusses the scope and limitations of these transformations.

A Ru-catalyzed direct arylation of benzylic sp(3) carbons of acyclic amines with arylboronates is reported. This highly regioselective and efficient transformation can be performed with various combinations of N-(2-pyridyl) substituted benzylamines and arylboronates. Substitution of the pyridine directing group in the 3-position proved to be crucial in order to achieve high arylation yields. Furthermore, the pyridine directing group can be removed in high yields via a two-step protocol.