A tutorial review of stereoretentive olefin metathesis based on ruthenium dithiolate catalysts

• Daniel S. Müller,
• Olivier Baslé and
• Marc Mauduit

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2018, 14, 2999–3010, doi:10.3762/bjoc.14.279

• with E-alkenes (Ru-6) [6]. Furthermore, Pederson and Grubbs also demonstrated that diminishing the size of the ortho substitutents of the N-aryl groups of the NHC-ligand increased the efficiency for stereoretentive metathesis with E-alkenes (Ru-7 [3], Ru-8 [6], and Ru-9 [6]). It should be noticed that

• ]. A comprehensive computational study by Liu and Houk further validated this model, however, invoking distortion of the NHC ligand towards the dithiolate ligand as origin of the open pocket [13]. The proposed model assumes a side-bound mechanism, which results in a metallacycle perpendicular to the

• NHC ligand. To avoid steric repulsions, the substituents at the α-positions of the metallacycle point away from the N-aryl groups of the NHC-ligands. In contrast, the substituents at the β-position can point up or down. For the reaction with Z-alkenes (Figure 3a), the substituent at the β-position has

The activity of indenylidene derivatives in olefin metathesis catalysts

• Maria Voccia,
• Steven P. Nolan,
• Luigi Cavallo and
• Albert Poater

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2018, 14, 2956–2963, doi:10.3762/bjoc.14.275

• the existing commercial catalysts, playing mainly with the electronic characteristics of the ligands (usually two chlorides and an ylidene ligand) [15][16][17], whereas basically the sterics of the substituents on the N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC) ligand have remained unchanged [18]. Overall, any

• methoxyethene as a substrate (Scheme 2). This substrate was selected in order to facilitate our analysis [39]. Computationally no significant differences exist by using ethene or methoxyethene [40][41]. The saturation of the backbone of the NHC has also been taken into account, thus considering either the SIMes

• (1,3-bis(2,4,6-trimethylphenyl)-4,5-dihydroimidazol-2-ylidene) and the IMes (1,3-bis(2,4,6-trimethylphenyl)imidazol-2-ylidene) NHC ligands. The group trans to the NHC ligand is triphenylphosphine for all catalysts. Table 1 includes the energy profiles for the substituted indenylidenes, bearing methyl

The influence of the cationic carbenes on the initiation kinetics of ruthenium-based metathesis catalysts; a DFT study

• Magdalena Jawiczuk,
• Angelika Janaszkiewicz and
• Bartosz Trzaskowski

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2018, 14, 2872–2880, doi:10.3762/bjoc.14.266

• carbene (NHC) by Arduengo [1] was a milestone in organic chemistry which allowed for thorough and systematic studies on all aspects of NHC chemistry in the past 25 years [2][3][4][5][6][7]. It was soon realized that NHCs are a very useful class of ligands for transition metal catalysis as both their

• of metathesis results from the high stabilities and efficiencies of Ruthenium catalysts stabilised by NHC moieties. In this class of compounds NHC ligands, with the poor π-acceptor and strong σ-donor properties, stabilize the 14-electron ruthenium active species during the catalytic cycle [11][12

• Schanz and co-workers synthesized also Hoveyda-like complexes with ammonium groups introduced into the aryl rings of the NHC ligands [25]. Most of these complexes showed good efficiency in selected metathesis reactions. Interestingly in all reported cases of ammonium tagged Ru–alkylidene metathesis

Olefin metathesis catalysts embedded in β-barrel proteins: creating artificial metalloproteins for olefin metathesis

• Daniel F. Sauer,
• Johannes Schiffels,
• Takashi Hayashi,
• Ulrich Schwaneberg and
• Jun Okuda

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2018, 14, 2861–2871, doi:10.3762/bjoc.14.265

• modification of the first coordination sphere by adding an N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC) ligand and a chelating styrene to the so-called Grubbs 1st generation catalyst, the relatively air- and moisture-stable Grubbs–Hoveyda type (GH-type) catalysts were obtained [7]. These catalysts do not only show stability

• synthesized by Ward [29]. A GH-type second generation olefin metathesis catalyst was modified at the periphery of an NHC ligand with a biotin moiety [46]. The small β-barrel protein avidin (Avi) or streptavidin (Sav) was incubated with the catalyst to give the artificial metalloprotein. This (strept)avidin

• NHC ligand. The conjugation was performed via maleimide-thiol “click” reaction under slightly basic (pH 7.5) conditions. Within the small cavity of NB4, only the GH-type catalyst Ru-6 with the longest spacer was able to undergo conjugation; however, the conjugational yield was very low (25%). Within

Hydroarylations by cobalt-catalyzed C–H activation

• Rajagopal Santhoshkumar and
• Chien-Hong Cheng

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2018, 14, 2266–2288, doi:10.3762/bjoc.14.202

• , whereas the IPr·HCl ligand provided tetrahydropyridoindoles 31 in reasonable regioselectivity (Scheme 22) [70]. Remarkably, the regioselectivity of the reaction is not only controlled by the steric effect of NHC ligand, but also depends on the olefin tether in 29. Recently, Petit and co-workers also

Bi-mediated allylation of aldehydes in [bmim][Br]: a mechanistic investigation

• Mrunesh Koli,
• Sucheta Chatterjee,
• Subrata Chattopadhyay and
• Dibakar Goswami

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2018, 14, 2198–2203, doi:10.3762/bjoc.14.193

• possibility of substoichiometric amount of Bi metal was explored using 1a as the substrate. However, the reaction was incomplete (data not shown), and required 1.0 equiv of Bi metal for completion. As reported previously [40] in situ activation of Bi metal by [bmim][Br] leading to the generation of an NHC

• along with BiBr (Scheme 2), was instrumental for the acceleration of the reaction. Eventually, an unstable NHC-Bi complex was formed, which, in presence of allyl bromide, produced both species I and II. It was also noticed that these reactions do not proceed either in a non-acidic RTIL viz. [bmim][BF4

Cationic cobalt-catalyzed [1,3]-rearrangement of N-alkoxycarbonyloxyanilines

• Itaru Nakamura,
• Mao Owada,
• Takeru Jo and
• Masahiro Terada

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2018, 14, 1972–1979, doi:10.3762/bjoc.14.172

• para-isomer 3a was obtained as a major product when the reaction of 1a was conducted using trivalent metal salts, such as FeCl3 and RuCl3, and tetravalent salts, such as ZrCl4, as a catalyst (Table 1, entries 15–18). Although we quite recently disclosed that cationic NHC-copper catalysts efficiently

• promoted the [1,3]-alkoxy rearrangement of N-alkoxyaniline [15], the cationic NHC-Cu catalyst generated from IPrCuBr and AgSbF6 was totally inefficient for the present reaction; 1a was decomposed under the reaction conditions (Table 1, entry 19). Whereas AgSbF6 promoted the reaction at 60 °C (Table 1

Recent advances in phosphorescent platinum complexes for organic light-emitting diodes

• Cristina Cebrián and
• Matteo Mauro

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2018, 14, 1459–1481, doi:10.3762/bjoc.14.124

• selecting strong σ-donating NHC and –C≡C–R ligands. The presence of the two bulky cyclohexyl substituents on the imidazolylidene moiety contributed to rigidify the structure, as well as avoid detrimental intermolecular interactions. Though being weakly emissive in THF solution, the compound exhibited a

• shorter exciton lifetime that contributes to reduce detrimental nonradiative processes such as triplet–triplet annihilation (TTA) and triplet–polaron annihilation (TPA). On the other hand, strong σ-donor NHC carbenes ligands could be regarded as the neutral variant of phenylate-like counterparts [28][29

• components (sky-blue-orange); ii) using a phosphorescent material to partially down-convert UV or blue light from a LED source; the latter seems a promising option to date. The group of Sicilia has recently applied some cyclometallated platinum(II) complexes bearing NHC ligands to develop WOLEDs, whose

Cobalt-catalyzed directed C–H alkenylation of pivalophenone N–H imine with alkenyl phosphates

• Wengang Xu and
• Naohiko Yoshikai

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2018, 14, 709–715, doi:10.3762/bjoc.14.60

• Wengang Xu Naohiko Yoshikai Division of Chemistry and Biological Chemistry, School of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore 637371, Singapore 10.3762/bjoc.14.60 Abstract A cobalt–N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC) catalyst efficiently promotes an ortho C–H

• demonstrated that the combination of a cobalt–N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC) catalyst and a Grignard reagent allows for the arene C–H functionalization with organic halides and pseudohalides under the assistance of nitrogen directing groups [17][22][23][24][25][26][27]. In this connection, Ackermann developed a

• mild and efficient C–H alkenylation of N-pyrimidylindoles and pyrroles with alkenyl acetates using a cobalt–NHC catalyst (Scheme 1a) [17]. The same catalytic system also promoted the alkenylation using alkenyl carbamates, carbonates, and phosphates. More recently, we have achieved an N-arylimine

Recent progress in the racemic and enantioselective synthesis of monofluoroalkene-based dipeptide isosteres

• Myriam Drouin and
• Jean-François Paquin

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2017, 13, 2637–2658, doi:10.3762/bjoc.13.262

• after HWE olefination using dimethyl phosphonoacylsilane 54, was found to facilitate the NHC-catalyzed reduction and gave in this way the dipeptide isostere 56 in excellent yield. The defluorinative reduction could also be performed using samarium iodide. Altman and co-workers proposed the synthesis of

• -ψ[(Z)-CF=CH]-Phe by Dory and co-workers. Diastereoselective addition of Grignard reagents to sulfinylamines derived from α-fluoroenals by Pannecoucke and co-workers. NHC-mediated synthesis of monofluoroalkenes by Otaka and co-workers. Stereoselective synthesis of Boc-Tyr-ψ[(Z)-CF=CH]-Gly by Altman

Comparative profiling of well-defined copper reagents and precursors for the trifluoromethylation of aryl iodides

• Peter T. Kaplan,
• Jessica A. Lloyd,
• Mason T. Chin and
• David A. Vicic

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2017, 13, 2297–2303, doi:10.3762/bjoc.13.225

• facilitate meaningful comparative studies, such as structural and electrochemical ones [2]. N-Heterocyclic carbene (NHC) complexes of copper such as A1 (Scheme 1) were the first well-defined and structurally characterized copper–CF3 complexes that display activity for the trifluoromethylation of aryl halides

• complexes of copper B1 were reported shortly after the NHC counterparts [5][12] and have reached much success in chemical synthesis due to the ease of preparation and the low cost of the phenanthroline ancillary ligand. [(phen)CuCF3] can now be purchased commercially, or prepared in situ by a variety of

• as the major fluorine-containing product. Because our group has developed the NHC-based copper reagents for trifluoromethylation reactions [10][11], we were interested in comparing the effects of electronics and sterics of the aryl halides using the NHC-based systems A1 and A2 with the phen system B2

Mechanochemical synthesis of small organic molecules

• Tapas Kumar Achar,
• Anima Bose and
• Prasenjit Mal

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2017, 13, 1907–1931, doi:10.3762/bjoc.13.186

• ]. b) Multistep and multicomponent synthesis of Re-complexes [176]. c) Mechano-synthesis of NHC-Au complex [177]. Mechanochemical activation of C–H bond of unsymmetrical azobenzene [178]. Mechanochemical synthesis of organometallic pincer complex [179]. Mechanochemical synthesis of tris(allyl)aluminum

NHC-catalyzed cleavage of vicinal diketones and triketones followed by insertion of enones and ynones

• Ken Takaki,
• Makoto Hino,
• Akira Ohno,
• Kimihiro Komeyama,
• Hiroto Yoshida and
• Hiroshi Fukuoka

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2017, 13, 1816–1822, doi:10.3762/bjoc.13.176

• -diketones and 1,2,3-triketones with enones and ynones have been investigated. The diketones gave α,β-double acylation products via unique Breslow intermediates isolable as acid salts, whereas the triketones formed stable adducts with the NHC instead of the coupling products. Keywords: Breslow intermediate

• ring-enlargement procedure to afford cyclic 1,4-diketones IV. With respect to the active species in the Stetter reaction, aminoenols II (G = H, Breslow intermediates) had been postulated as true nucleophiles for a long time and those generated from imidazolinium NHC were recently isolated in pure form

• [17][18]. In the reaction of benzils with thiazolium NHC, aminoenol esters II (G = C(O)R1) could be formed similarly, but this active species were found to exist as isolable acid salts unexpectedly. Moreover, the reactivity of 1,2,3-triketones was also investigated in comparison with that of 1,2

Pd(OAc)₂/Ph₃P-catalyzed dimerization of isoprene and synthesis of monoterpenic heterocycles

• Dominik Kellner,
• Maximilian Weger,
• Andrea Gini and
• Olga García Mancheño

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2017, 13, 1807–1815, doi:10.3762/bjoc.13.175

• a bulky monodentated phosphine (Scheme 1, reaction 1) [32]. More recently, important efforts have been made in order to develop new methodologies towards more effective and selective catalytic systems, such as the introduction of highly active N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC) catalysts reported by

• (acac)2. However, and despite the good selectivity obtained towards the tail-to-tail dimer 2-TT, this Pd/NHC catalysis required to be applied under pressure conditions (30 or 50 bar) for attaining the reported performance. Therefore, it would be highly desirable to develop simple, more readily available

Ni nanoparticles on RGO as reusable heterogeneous catalyst: effect of Ni particle size and intermediate composite structures in C–S cross-coupling reaction

• Debasish Sengupta,
• Koushik Bhowmik,
• Goutam De and
• Basudeb Basu

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2017, 13, 1796–1806, doi:10.3762/bjoc.13.174

• properties [14]. The Ni-catalyzed C–S cross-coupling reactions generally involved Ni salts [15][16][17][18], Ni–phosphine complexes [19][20][21], or Ni–NHC complexes [22][23], although the actual catalyst is believed to be a Ni(0)/Ni(I) species [16][17][18][19][20][21]. NiO supported on zirconia (NiO–ZrO2

An efficient Pd–NHC catalyst system in situ generated from Na₂PdCl₄ and PEG-functionalized imidazolium salts for Mizoroki–Heck reactions in water

• Nan Sun,
• Meng Chen,
• Liqun Jin,
• Wei Zhao,
• Baoxiang Hu,
• Zhenlu Shen and
• Xinquan Hu

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2017, 13, 1735–1744, doi:10.3762/bjoc.13.168

• materials via a simple method. Their corresponding water soluble Pd–NHC catalysts, in situ generated from the imidazolium salts L1–L3 and Na2PdCl4 in water, showed impressive catalytic activity for aqueous Mizoroki–Heck reactions. The kinetic study revealed that the Pd catalyst derived from the imidazolium

• (NHCs) have been recognized as the preferable candidates [35][36]. In contrast to common phosphine- and nitrogen-based ligands, NHCs exhibit stronger σ-donating and weaker π-accepting properties, which make the corresponding Pd–NHC complexes more air and water stable. Furthermore, the convenient

• functionalization of the N atom of the NHC ring allows for the possible incorporation of water soluble moieties, thus providing more opportunities for water soluble catalyst design [37][38][39]. Since the pioneering report of a sulfonate-functionalized NHC ligand by Shaughnessy [40], a number of water-soluble NHC

Construction of highly enantioenriched spirocyclopentaneoxindoles containing four consecutive stereocenters via thiourea-catalyzed asymmetric Michael–Henry cascade reactions

• Yonglei Du,
• Jian Li,
• Kerong Chen,
• Chenglin Wu,
• Yu Zhou and
• Hong Liu

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2017, 13, 1342–1349, doi:10.3762/bjoc.13.131

• effective strategies to construct biologically active spirocyclic oxindoles [65][66][67][68], we have built successfully interesting spirooxindoles via an NHC-catalyzed [4 + 2] annulation involving an oxidative γ-carbon activation of common α,β-unsaturated aldehydes [68]. Herein, we report another effective

Phosphazene-catalyzed desymmetrization of cyclohexadienones by dithiane addition

• Matthew A. Horwitz,
• Elisabetta Massolo and
• Jeffrey S. Johnson

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2017, 13, 762–767, doi:10.3762/bjoc.13.75

• developed an acyl anion addition promoted by N-heterocyclic carbenes (NHC) that furnished bicyclic furanones via Stetter addition [21]; later, the You group developed an extension of this theme using the same catalytic manifold [22]. More recently, the Corey group has enabled the enantioselective conjugate

Synthesis of 1-indanones with a broad range of biological activity

• Marika Turek,
• Dorota Szczęsna,
• Marek Koprowski and
• Piotr Bałczewski

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2017, 13, 451–494, doi:10.3762/bjoc.13.48

• to cis-trihydroxyindano[2,1-a]indan-5-ones 74 (Scheme 25). Another example of the 1-indanone synthesis using N-heterocyclic carbenes (NHC) has been described by Gravel et al. [50][51]. The benefit of the described reaction was a rapid construction of three new carbon–carbon bonds and a carbon

• -1,3-indanodiones 77 (Scheme 26). It has been found that the intermediate 79 underwent the Stetter reaction to form the enolate intermediate 80, which next was transformed to the intermediate 81 via aldol condensation. The release of NHC gave the β-hydroxy ketone 82, which was deprotonated to enolate

The reductive decyanation reaction: an overview and recent developments

• Jean-Marc R. Mattalia

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2017, 13, 267–284, doi:10.3762/bjoc.13.30

• monodecyanated products 69a,b. Bicyclic lactones 70a,b are then obtained in 3 steps in 41% and 51% yields, respectively, from 69a,b. Later Curran’s group discovered that NHC-boryl radicals, generated from NHC-boranes (N-heterocyclic carbene boranes), abstracted the cyano group from various organic nitriles and

• dinitriles and applied this reaction for the synthesis of new NHC-boryl nitrile and dinitrile compounds [121]. They observed that malononitrile was the most efficient donor to produce boryl nitriles and concluded that substituted malononitriles would be decyanated by NHC-boranes. For this transformation

• , malononitriles are reacting with a slight excess of NHC-borane 71, in refluxing t-BuOH with DTBP (di-tert-butylperoxide) as radical initiator. The yields are attractive while roughly comparable amounts of boryl nitriles 74 and 75 are formed (Scheme 23). Malononitriles 72d,e are successfully reduced to 73d,e

Synthesis of structurally diverse 3,4-dihydropyrimidin-2(1H)-ones via sequential Biginelli and Passerini reactions

• Andreas C. Boukis,
• Baptiste Monney and
• Michael A. R. Meier

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2017, 13, 54–62, doi:10.3762/bjoc.13.7

• disappeared after the Passerini reaction, while all other DHMP signals, i.e., the NHC at 9.2 ppm, the CHNH at 5.2 ppm or the CCH3 at 2.3 ppm, did not shift. Furthermore, the new characteristic signals for the CCHO at 4.9 ppm, the C(CH3)3 at 1.2 ppm and the terminal CH2CH3 methyl group at 0.84 ppm strongly

Electron-transfer-initiated benzoin- and Stetter-like reactions in packed-bed reactors for process intensification

• Anna Zaghi,
• Daniele Ragno,
• Graziano Di Carmine,
• Carmela De Risi,
• Olga Bortolini,
• Pier Paolo Giovannini,
• Giancarlo Fantin and
• Alessandro Massi

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2016, 12, 2719–2730, doi:10.3762/bjoc.12.268

• ). Keywords: C–C coupling; continuos-flow; diketone; electron-transfer; umpolung; Introduction The polarity reversal (umpolung) of carbonyl compounds by N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC) or cyanide catalysis represents a straightforward strategy for the synthesis of valuable molecules such as, among the many

• examples, α-hydroxy ketones (benzoin reaction) and 1,4-diketones (Stetter reaction) [1][2][3][4]. The synthetic utility of the umpolung methodology has therefore spurred intensive research on process intensification through the heterogeneization of NHC catalysts [5][6][7][8][9] for facilitating the post

From betaines to anionic N-heterocyclic carbenes. Borane, gold, rhodium, and nickel complexes starting from an imidazoliumphenolate and its carbene tautomer

• Ming Liu,
• Jan C. Namyslo,
• Martin Nieger,
• Mika Polamo and
• Andreas Schmidt

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2016, 12, 2673–2681, doi:10.3762/bjoc.12.264

• .12.264 Abstract The mesomeric betaine imidazolium-1-ylphenolate forms a borane adduct with tris(pentafluorophenyl)borane by coordination with the phenolate oxygen, whereas its NHC tautomer 1-(2-phenol)imidazol-2-ylidene reacts with (triphenylphosphine)gold(I) chloride to give the cationic NHC complex [Au

• (NHC)2][Cl] by coordination with the carbene carbon atom. The anionic N-heterocyclic carbene 1-(2-phenolate)imidazol-2-ylidene gives the complexes [K][Au(NHC−)2], [Rh(NHC−)3] and [Ni(NHC−)2], respectively. Results of four single crystal analyses are presented. Keywords: anionic ligand; carbene

• tautomer; imidazol-2-ylidene; mesoionic compound; mesomeric betaine; Introduction Since the first isolation of a stable N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC) [1] in 1991 this compound class has provided numerous highly efficient ligands of NHC-metal catalysts for cross-coupling reactions [2][3][4][5][6][7

Selective and eco-friendly procedures for the synthesis of benzimidazole derivatives. The role of the Er(OTf)₃ catalyst in the reaction selectivity

• Natividad Herrera Cano,
• Jorge G. Uranga,
• Mónica Nardi,
• Antonio Procopio,
• Daniel A. Wunderlin and
• Ana N. Santiago

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2016, 12, 2410–2419, doi:10.3762/bjoc.12.235

• data and XYZ coordinates for all compounds. Acknowledgements This work was supported in part by the Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Cientificas y Técnicas (CONICET), Secretaría de Ciencia y Tecnología (SECYT-UNC) and Agencia Nacional de Promoción Científica y Tecnológica (ANPCyT). NHC gratefully

Correction: Recent advances in N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC)-catalysed benzoin reactions

• Rajeev S. Menon,
• Akkattu T. Biju and
• Vijay Nair

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2016, 12, 2124–2124, doi:10.3762/bjoc.12.201