A new procedure for oxidative coupling of aromatic and acrylic acids with alkynes has been developed using abundant, nontoxic, and air stable Cp*Co(III) catalyst. The coupling involves initial cyclometalation via weak chelation-assisted C-H bond activation followed by alkyne coordination, insertion, and reductive elimination leading to diverse isocoumarins (α-pyranones) in good yields under mild conditions.

A novel protocol for ortho-C-H alkylation of aromatic and heteroaromatic ketones and esters under Cp*Co(III) catalysis has been developed for the first time. The reaction proceeds through initial cyclometalation via weak chelation-assisted C-H bond activation, followed by coordination of activated alkene, insertion between Co-C, and protodemetalation.

Transition-metal-catalyzed C–H bond functionalizations have had an enormous influence on organic synthesis in recent times. However, the use of low-abundance 4d and 5d metals is almost inevitable, and they are in high demand. This will be a cause of concern, and hence, it is important to develop methods based on 3d metals, which are widely present in the Earth’s crust. In this regard, the use of 3d metal catalysts or their precursors for catalysis, in general, and C–H bond functionalizations, in particular, has gained significant momentum in the recent times. The major development in catalytic C–H bond functionalizations with 3d metals has been achieved predominantly with strongly coordinating directing groups such as pyridyl, pyrimidinyl, pyrazolyl, and 8-amino-quinolinyl groups. Thus, prefunctionalization of substrates with these directing groups is necessary, which contradicts the step- and atom-economy of C–H bond activation. However, commonly available functional groups such as aldehyde, ketone, carboxylic acid, amide, hydroxy, and N-oxides loosely bind to metals through weak-coordination. These weakly coordinating directing groups orient the metal to activate C–H bond regioselectively without the need for preinstalled strongly coordinating directing groups. Although it is challenging, this contemporary topic has been actively pursued by many researchers in recent times. Through this article, we provide a comprehensive overview of 3d metal-catalyzed, weakly coordinating, directing-group-enabled C–H bond functionalizations reported until March 2021.

Cp*Co -catalyzed highly regioselective mono- and bis-annulation of arylamides with 1,3-diynes using N-OMe as an internal oxidant is demonstrated. This atom-economical transformation does not require any external oxidant and tolerates many functional groups. Various symmetrical and unsymmetrical heterocycles (homo and hetero) are accessed with predictable regio- and chemoselectivity.

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Numerous semiconductor-based hybrid nanostructures have been studied for improved photodegradation performance resulting from their broadband optical response and enhanced charge separation/transport characteristics. However, these hybrid structures often involve elements that are rare or toxic. Here, we present the synthesis and material characterization of hybrid nanostructures consisting of zinc oxide (ZnO) nanowires (NWs) and silicon nanocrystals (Si-NCs), both abundant and environmentally benign, and evaluate them for photodegradation performance under various illumination conditions. When incorporating Si-NCs into the vertically-aligned ZnO NWs immobilized on substrates, the resulting photocatalysts exhibited a narrowed band gap, i.e., more responsive to visible light, and enhanced charge separation at the interface, i.e., more reactive species produced for degradation. Consequently, the hybrid Si-NCs/ZnO-NWs displayed a superior photodegradability for methylene blue under UV and white light in comparison to the pristine ZnO NWs. Based on the optical measurements, we hypothesize the band structures of Si-NCs/ZnO-NWs and the potential mechanism for the improved photodegradability.

A ruthenium-catalyzed, amide-directed intramolecular hydroarylation of alkene-tethered benzamide derivatives is discussed. This method proficiently constructs dihydrobenzofuran, indoline, and chroman skeletons of biological significance in good to excellent yields; the overall process is atom-economical and step-efficient. The reaction exhibits broad scope, tolerating common functional groups, labile protecting units, and heteroaryl motifs. The use of a catalytic amount of base suffices the need. Deuterium scrambling and kinetic studies offer valuable facts for understanding the reaction mechanism.

An efficient protocol for the synthesis of biologically essential pyrroloquinolinones has been developed under Cp*CoIII catalysis, which involves a cascade reaction of C(7)–H alkenylation with alkynes followed by nucleophilic addition. A wide variety of internal alkynes including enyne, diyne, and ynamide and more challenging terminal alkynes were successfully employed for the annulation in good to excellent yield with high regioselectivity.