A rapid and facile route for the synthesis of reduced graphene oxide sheets (rGOs) at room temperature by the chemical reduction of graphene oxide using Zn/acid in aqueous solution is demonstrated.

Lewis acid-mediated conjugate addition of alkyl radicals to a differentially protected fumarate 10 produced the monoalkylated succinates with high chemical efficiency and excellent stereoselectivity. A subsequent alkylation or an aldol reaction furnished the disubstituted succinates with syn configuration. The chiral auxiliary, 4-diphenylmethyl-2-oxazolidinone, controlled the stereoselectivity in both steps. Manipulation of the disubstituted succinates obtained by alkylation furnished the natural products (-)-enterolactone, (-)-arctigenin, and (-)-isoarctigenin. The overall yields for the target natural products were 20-26% over six steps. Selective functionalization of the disubstituted succinates obtained by aldol condensation gave the paraconic acid natural products (-)-nephrosteranic acid (8) and (-)-roccellaric acid (9). The overall yield of the natural products 8 and 9 over four steps was 53% and 42%, respectively.

A versatile and highly efficient protocol for the synthesis of 1,5-disubstituted tetrazoles has been developed by metal triflate catalyzed one-pot reaction of alkenes, NBS, nitriles, and TMSN3. Among the metal triflates, Zn(OTf)2 was found to be the best catalyst. Use of different combinations of alkenes and nitriles generate a variety of 1,5-disubstituted tetrazoles containing an additional alpha-bromo functionality of the N1-alkyl substituent.

An efficient strategy for the synthesis of 3-(3-indolyl)-oxindole-3-methanol has been developed to achieve a Lewis acid catalyzed, highly regioselective ring opening of spiro-epoxyoxindoles with indoles. The method is used for the gram-scale formal total synthesis of (±)-gliocladin C.

[reaction: see text] The catalytic oxidation of the allylic alcohols 1d-n with iodosobenzene diacetate, mediated by the [Cr(III)(salen)]X complex, affords the respective enones in excellent chemoselectivity for Cl(-) as counterion [complex A(Cl)], while for the counterions TfO(-) [complex A(TfO)] and PF(6)(-) [complex A(PF(6)())] nearly equal amounts of enone and epoxide are observed. This counterion-dependent oxidation of allylic alcohols by Cr(III)(salen) complexes is rationalized in terms of Lewis acid catalysis by the complex A(Cl) and redox catalysis for A(TfO) and A(PF(6)()).

A catalyst-free water-mediated regio- and stereospecific ring-opening reaction of nonracemic spiroaziridine oxindoles and indoles has been developed with retention of configuration. This method provides direct access to enantiopure 3,3'-mixed bisindoles with excellent yield and enantioselectivity (up to 98% ee).

The development of the sequential Corey-Chaykovsky reactions of isatins, spiroepoxy-, or spiroaziridine oxindoles with sulfur ylide has led to the discovery of a unique reaction mode that allows easy and direct one-pot access to a range of spirocyclopropyl oxindoles.

Two photosystems are developed to harvest visible-light photons into electrons Via sequential electron transfer processes. Photosystem-A (PS-A) consisted of DCA as light harvesting electron acceptor and Ph 3 P as sacrificial electron donor, whereas photosystem-B (PS-B) employed DCA as usual electron acceptor, DMN as a primary electron donor, and ascorbic acid as a secondary and sacrificial electron donor. R,β-Unsaturated ketones are utilized as secondary electron acceptors. The design of these photosystems is based on the thermodynamic feasibility of electron transfer between each participating components. Electron transfer from DCA •-to R,β-unsaturated ketones leads to their β-activation as carbon centered radicals which cyclizes efficiently to tethered activated olefins. Cyclization with a nonactivated olefin is found to be moderate. The cyclization stereochemistries have been illustrated by studying the PET activation of 5 and 21. The exclusive trans-stereochemistry observed in 8 is explained by considering the thermodynamic equilibration of initially formed syn-intermediate 10 from 5. The isolation of trace amount of 9 in this reaction substantiates the syn-intermediacy as primary intermediate which is further confirmed by the isolation of 25 from 21. Formation of 25 suggests that wherever the syn-intermediate is thermodynamically more stable, it invariably undergoes further cyclization to geometrically well-placed enolate double bond. An interesting observation is made by isolating 9 as a major product from the PET activation of 5 using PS-B. Stabilization of 10 by ascorbic acid is suggested to be the plausible explanation for this unusual observation. Radicals produced by the reductive β-activation of R,β-unsaturated ketones follow well established radical cyclization rules which is exemplified by studying the reactions of 39 and 40. Generality of these cyclizations is demonstrated from the PET reactions of 29-32. Synthesis of 49, an important structural framework of biologically active angularly fused triquinanes, from 48 is included in this study to demonstrate the varied applicability of this strategy.