Photoredox-catalyzed vicinal chlorotrifluoromethylation of alkene is described. In the presence of Ru(Phen)3Cl2, CF3SO2Cl was used as a source for the CF3 radical and chloride ion under visible light irradiation. Various terminal and internal alkenes were transformed to their vicinal chlorotrifluoromethylated derivatives. Biologically active compounds were applied under the condition to obtain desired products, suggesting that the method could be feasible for late-stage modification in drug discovery.

Ruthenium-catalyzed Heck olefination and Suzuki cross coupling reactions have been developed. When starting with a ruthenium complex [RuCl(2)(p-cymene)](2) as a homogeneous catalyst precursor, induction periods were observed and ruthenium colloids of zero oxidation state were generated under catalytic conditions. Isolated ruthenium colloids carried out the olefination, implying that active catalytic species are ruthenium nanoclusters. To support this hypothesis, ruthenium nanoparticles stabilized with dodecylamine were independently prepared via a hydride reduction procedure, and their catalytic activity was subsequently examined. Olefination of iodobenzene with ethyl acrylate was efficiently catalyzed by the ruthenium nanoparticles under the same conditions, which could be also reused for the next runs. In poisoning experiments, the conversion of the olefination was completely inhibited in the presence of mercury, thus supporting our assumption on the nature of catalytic species. No residual ruthenium was detected from the filtrate at the end of the reaction. On the basis of the postulation, a heterogeneous catalyst system of ruthenium supported on alumina was consequently developed for the Heck olefination and Suzuki cross coupling reactions for the first time. It turned out that substrate scope and selectivity were significantly improved with the external ligand-free catalyst even under milder reaction conditions when compared to results with the homogeneous precatalyst. It was also observed that the immobilized ruthenium catalyst was recovered and reused up to several runs with consistent efficiency. Especially in the Suzuki couplings, the reactions could be efficiently carried out with as low as 1 mol % of the supported catalyst over a wide range of substrates and were scaled up to a few grams without any practical problems, giving coupled products with high purity by a simple workup procedure.

Under the conditions of transfer hydrogenation employing an ortho-cyclometallated iridium catalyst generated in situ from [Ir(cod)Cl]2, 4-cyano-3-nitrobenzoic acid and the chiral phosphine ligand (S)-SEGPHOS, α-methyl allyl acetate couples to alcohols 1a–1j with complete levels of branched regioselectivity to furnish products of carbonyl crotylation 3a–3j, which are formed with good levels of anti-diastereoselectivity and exceptional levels of enantioselectivity. An identical set of optically enriched carbonyl crotylation products 3a–3j is accessible from the corresponding aldehydes 2a–2j under the same conditions, but employing isopropanol as the terminal reductant. Experiments aimed at probing the origins of stereoselection establish a matched mode of ionization for the (R)-acetate and the iridium catalyst modified by (S)-SEGPHOS, as well as reversible ionization of the allylic acetate with rapid π-facial interconversion of the resulting π-crotyl intermediate in advance of C-C bond formation. Additionally, rapid alcohol-aldehyde redox equilibration in advance of carbonyl addition is demonstrated. Thus, anti-diastereo- and enantioselective carbonyl crotylation from the alcohol or aldehyde oxidation level is achieved in the absence of any stoichiometric metallic reagents or stoichiometric metallic byproducts.

A total synthesis of the oxo-polyene macrolide (+)-roxaticin is achieved in 20 steps from 1,3-propanediol. In this approach, nine of ten C-C bonds formed in the longest linear sequence are made via metal catalysis, including 7 C-C bonds formed via iridium catalyzed alcohol C-C coupling. Notably, the present synthesis, which represents the most concise preparation of any oxo-polyene macrolide reported to date, is achieved in the absence of chiral reagents, chiral auxiliaries with minimal use of premetallated C-nucleophiles.