This review summarizes the current state-of-the-art procedures in terms of the preparation of N-arylindoles. After a short introduction, the transition-metal-free procedures available for the N-arylation of indoles are briefly discussed. Then, the nickel-catalyzed and palladium-catalyzed N-arylation of indoles are both discussed. In the next section, copper-catalyzed procedures for the N-arylation of indoles are described. The final section focuses on recent findings in the field of biologically active N-arylindoles.

Palladium-catalyzed Suzuki reactions of brominated flavin derivatives (5-deazaflavins, alloxazines, and isoalloxazines) with boronic acids or boronic acid esters that occur readily under mild conditions were shown to be an effective tool for the synthesis of a broad range of 7/8-arylflavins. In general, the introduction of an aryl/heteroaryl group by means of a direct C−C bond has been shown to be a promising approach to tuning the photophysical properties of flavin derivatives. The aryl substituents caused a bathochromic shift in the absorption spectra of up to 52 nm and prolonged the fluorescence lifetime by up to 1 order of magnitude. Moreover, arylation of flavin derivatives decreased their ability to generate singlet oxygen.

We studied the reactions of vinyl phosphates and vinyl phosphordiamidates containing an ester functional group with organometallic reagents.

A new method for the preparation of halocyclobutenes has been developed. The developed process relies on halocyclobutanols dehydrated by means of tetrafluoroboric acid in dichloromethane at room temperature. The process allows for high yields of halocyclobutenes to be achieved with alcohols that do not trigger the formation of isomeric allylic halides.

Dedicated to prof. Ei-ichi Negishi for his outstanding contribution to science.The present work describes the preparation of halohydrins from 2-halocyclobutanones by means of reactions with Grignard reagents at À 78°C. We discovered that the prepared cyclobutanols underwent a thermal ring-opening reaction. Depending on the structure of the starting cyclobutanol, different products were formed. More specifically, 1-substituted 2-bromocyclobutan-1-ol was found to open to γ-substituted butyrophenones. A novel 1,3-dihydro-2H-inden-2-ylidene derivative was obtained for indene-derived cyclobutanols. Based on the outcomes of the performed experiments, a mechanism for the ring-opening of cyclobutanols can be proposed.