An efficient Rh(III)- and Ir(III)-catalyzed, chelation-assisted C-H alkynylation of a broad scope of (hetero)arenes has been developed using hypervalent iodine-alkyne reagents. Heterocycles, N-methoxy imines, azomethine imines, secondary carboxamides, azo compounds, N-nitrosoamines, and nitrones are viable directing groups to entail ortho C-H alkynylation. The reaction proceeded under mild conditions and with controllable mono- and dialkynylation selectivity when both mono- and dialkynylation was observed. Rh(III) and Ir(III) catalysts exhibited complementary substrate scope in this reaction. The synthetic applications of the coupled products have been demonstrated in subsequent derivatization reactions. Some mechanistic studies have been conducted, and two Rh(III) complexes have been established as key reaction intermediates. The current C-H alkynylation system complements those previously reported under gold or palladium catalysis using hypervalent iodine reagents.

Rh(III)-catalyzed C-H activation assisted by an oxidizing directing group has evolved to a mild and redox-economic strategy for the construction of heterocycles. Despite the success, these coupling systems are currently limited to cleavage of an oxidizing N-O or N-N bond. Cleavage of an oxidizing C-N bond, which allows for complementary carbocycle synthesis, is unprecedented. In this article, α-ammonium acetophenones with an oxidizing C-N bond have been designed as substrates for Rh(III)-catalyzed C-H activation under redox-neutral conditions. The coupling with α-diazo esters afforded benzocyclopentanones, and the coupling with unactivated alkenes such as styrenes and aliphatic olefins gave ortho-olefinated acetophenoes. In both systems the reactions proceeded with a broad scope, high efficiency, and functional group tolerance. Moreover, efficient one-pot coupling of diazo esters has been realized starting from α-bromoacetophenones and triethylamine. The reaction mechanism for the coupling with diazo esters has been studied by a combination of experimental and theoretical methods. In particular, three distinct mechanistic pathways have been scrutinized by DFT studies, which revealed that the C-H activation occurs via a C-bound enolate-assisted concerted metalation-deprotonation mechanism and is rate-limiting. In subsequent C-C formation steps, the lowest energy pathway involves two rhodium carbene species as key intermediates.

Organic transformations that involve direct functionalization of C-H bonds represent an attractive synthetic strategy that maximizes atom- and step-economy. With the generally high stability of C-H bonds, these processes have mostly required harsh reaction conditions, in combination with the necessity of activation of the C-H substrates and/or the coupling partners. As a class of activated coupling partners, strained or reactive rings exhibited high activity in the coupling with aryl and alkyl C-H bonds. Such a high reactivity of the rings allowed the facile construction of various new structural platforms via coupling with scission of the ring structures. The combination of C-H activation and scission of the rings allowed for applications of a broader scope of C-H bonds, including those less reactive alkyl ones. This synthetic diversity of these rings has been realized owing to the intrinsically different mechanisms of the interactions of transition metal catalysts and the strained/reactive rings.

Previous direct C-H nitrogenation suffered from simple amidation/amination with limited atom-economy and is mostly limited to C(sp(2) )-H substrates. In this work, anthranil was designed as a novel bifunctional aminating reagent for both C(sp(2) )-H and C(sp(3) )-H bonds under rhodium(III) catalysis, thus affording a nucleophilic aniline tethered to an electrophilic carbonyl. A tridendate rhodium(III) complex has been isolated as the resting state of the catalyst, and DFT studies established the intermediacy of a nitrene species.

Rhodium-catalyzed C–H activation of arenes has been established as an important strategy for the rapid construction of new bonds. On the other hand, ring-opening of readily available cyclopropanols has served as a driving force for the coupling with various nucleophiles and electrophiles. Nevertheless, these two important areas evolved separately, and coupling of arenes with cyclopropanols via C–H activation has been rarely explored. In this work, the oxidative coupling between arenes and cyclopropanols has been realized with high efficiency and selectivity under Rh­(III)-catalysis, providing an efficient route to access β-aryl ketones. Moreover, the C–H bond has been extended to benzylic C–H bonds.

Making CC from CH: [{RhCp*Cl2}2]/AgSbF6 (Cp*=pentamethylcyclopentadienyl) can regioselectively catalyze the CC coupling of arenes with aziridines by a CH activation pathway. An eight‐membered rhodacyclic intermediate resulting from the insertion of the RhC bond into the aziridine was isolated.

We report a cobalt-catalyzed asymmetric hydroboration/cyclization of 1,6-enynes with catalysts generated from Co(acac) and chiral bisphosphine ligands and activated in situ by reaction with pinacolborane (HBpin). A variety of oxygen-, nitrogen-, and carbon-tethered 1,6-enynes underwent this asymmetric transformation, yielding both alkyl- and vinyl-substituted boronate esters containing chiral tetrahydrofuran, cyclopentane, and pyrrolidine moieties with high to excellent enantioselectivities (86%-99% ee).

Cp*Rh(III)-catalyzed intermolecular C-C couplings between activated α-diazocarbonyl compounds and arenes bearing a range of azacyclic directing groups have been achieved. This catalytic alkylation reaction operates under mild conditions with good functional group tolerance.