The anion fac-[Fe(CO)3I3]− undergoes rapid decomposition to release CO and involve iodine radical. The CO-release can be tuned by its cations. The radical causes severe cytotoxicity which may endow the anion a great potential as an anticancer drug.

The diiron(ii) complexes liberated CO in a variety of solvents and the CO-releasing pathway was solvent-dependent. In less polar solvents, the CO-release went through a triiron intermediate. Cytotoxicity of the complexes varied with the halide and the thiolate.

A novel catalyst-free method for the synthesis of structurally diverse indole thioethers in moderate to excellent yields.

A highly regio- and stereoselective synthesis of β-haloalkenyl sulfides using commercially available ketones and sulfonyl hydrazides as starting materials has been developed. This protocol obviates the need for alkynes and traditional sulfenylating agents and therefore opens up a new door to construct β-iodoalkenyl sulfides in a highly simple manner. This study reveals that ketones could be used as vinyl iodide precursors in organic synthesis.

An iodine‐promoted regioselective sulfenylation/deoxygenation/aromatization reaction of 1‐tetralones with disulfides has been developed. This process could be modified to synthesize 2‐naphthyl thioethers and 1‐naphthyl thioethers in moderate to excellent yields, respectively. Furthermore, when the reaction was extended to 2‐tetralones, 2‐naphthyl thioethers were obtained as the sole products. The current study bridges the deoxygenation and sulfenylation/aromatization of ketones, thus providing a new tool in organic synthesis.magnified image

A phosphine-catalyzed domino process of benzofuranones with allenoates has been developed which furnishes highly functionalized unsymmetrical 3,3-disubstituted benzofuranones in synthetically useful yields. The mechanism for the transformation is a tandem β-umpolung/γ-umpolung process.

A phosphine-catalyzed reaction between o-hydroxyaryl azomethine ylides and MBH carbonates provides access to highly functionalized γ-aminobutyric acid derivatives in moderate to good yields. Mechanistically, the reaction involves a phosphine-catalyzed tandem S2'/2-aza-Cope rearrangement/intramolecular addition process.

A phosphine-mediated γ-umpolung/Wittig/γ-umpolung reaction between phthalimidomalonates and allenoates/but-2-ynoate furnishes highly functionalized pyrroloisoindolinone derivatives in synthetically useful yields.