Nature CatalysisPub Date : 2024-10-23DOI: 10.1038/s41929-024-01226-0
Estíbaliz Merino
{"title":"Synergistic role for CO","authors":"Estíbaliz Merino","doi":"10.1038/s41929-024-01226-0","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41929-024-01226-0","url":null,"abstract":"Typically, active acyl intermediates are quenched with nucleophiles to complete carbonylation. Now, a visible-light-induced radical relay enables CO insertion and selective (hetero)aryl group migration without nucleophiles.","PeriodicalId":18845,"journal":{"name":"Nature Catalysis","volume":"7 10","pages":"1058-1059"},"PeriodicalIF":42.8,"publicationDate":"2024-10-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142487904","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"化学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Nature CatalysisPub Date : 2024-10-23DOI: 10.1038/s41929-024-01246-w
Davide Esposito
{"title":"Blowing in the tube","authors":"Davide Esposito","doi":"10.1038/s41929-024-01246-w","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41929-024-01246-w","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":18845,"journal":{"name":"Nature Catalysis","volume":"7 10","pages":"1053-1053"},"PeriodicalIF":42.8,"publicationDate":"2024-10-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142487870","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"化学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Nature CatalysisPub Date : 2024-10-23DOI: 10.1038/s41929-024-01235-z
Sukriyo Chakraborty, Akkattu T. Biju
{"title":"Birth of organocatalysis by N-heterocyclic carbenes","authors":"Sukriyo Chakraborty, Akkattu T. Biju","doi":"10.1038/s41929-024-01235-z","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41929-024-01235-z","url":null,"abstract":"Thiamine, a common enzymatic cofactor, catalyses the benzoin condensation. From 1943, a panoply of mechanistic proposals were invoked to explain the intriguing transformation until two seminal papers by Ronald Breslow about 15 years after the discovery of this reaction helped resolve the mechanistic conundrum and heralded the birth of NHC-organocatalysis.","PeriodicalId":18845,"journal":{"name":"Nature Catalysis","volume":"7 10","pages":"1060-1062"},"PeriodicalIF":42.8,"publicationDate":"2024-10-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142487875","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"化学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Nature CatalysisPub Date : 2024-10-23DOI: 10.1038/s41929-024-01237-x
Milena L. Czyz, Tyra H. Horngren, Andrew J. Kondopoulos, Liam J. Franov, José A. Forni, Le Nhan Pham, Michelle L. Coote, Anastasios Polyzos
{"title":"Photocatalytic generation of alkyl carbanions from aryl alkenes","authors":"Milena L. Czyz, Tyra H. Horngren, Andrew J. Kondopoulos, Liam J. Franov, José A. Forni, Le Nhan Pham, Michelle L. Coote, Anastasios Polyzos","doi":"10.1038/s41929-024-01237-x","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41929-024-01237-x","url":null,"abstract":"Organometallic reagents are routinely used as fundamental building blocks in organic chemistry to rapidly diversify molecular fragments via carbanion intermediates. However, the catalytic generation of carbanion equivalents, particularly from sp3-hybridized alkyl scaffolds, remains an underdeveloped goal in chemical synthesis. Here we disclose an approach for the generation of alkyl carbanions via single-electron reduction of aryl alkenes, enabled by multi-photon photoredox catalysis. We demonstrate that photocatalytically induced alkyl carbanions engage in intermolecular C–C bond-forming reactions with carbonyl electrophiles. Central to this method is the controlled formation of an alkene distonic radical anion intermediate that undergoes nucleophilic addition, followed by a kinetically favoured reductive polar crossover to produce a second carbanion available for further diversification. The versatility of this protocol was illustrated by the development of four distinct intermolecular C–C bond-forming reactions with aromatic alkenes (hydroalkoxylation, hydroamidation, aminoalkylation and carboxyaminoalkylation) to generate a range of valuable and complex scaffolds. Catalytic conversion of alkenes into carbanion equivalents usually requires stoichiometric reductants. Now an alternative strategy to access alkyl carbanion equivalents from abundant alkenes with the help of visible light photocatalysis is reported and used in four distinct C–C bond-forming reactions.","PeriodicalId":18845,"journal":{"name":"Nature Catalysis","volume":"7 12","pages":"1316-1329"},"PeriodicalIF":42.8,"publicationDate":"2024-10-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.nature.com/articles/s41929-024-01237-x.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142487134","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"化学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Nature CatalysisPub Date : 2024-10-23DOI: 10.1038/s41929-024-01228-y
{"title":"Deconvoluting the cation effect on carbon monoxide electroreduction","authors":"","doi":"10.1038/s41929-024-01228-y","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41929-024-01228-y","url":null,"abstract":"The performance of the electrochemical CO2 and CO reduction reactions is affected by the presence of alkali metal cations in the electrolyte, but the mechanism remains under debate. Now, experimental determination of the energetics and kinetic barriers of key elementary steps in the electrochemical CO reduction reaction on Cu enables deconvolution of the cation effect.","PeriodicalId":18845,"journal":{"name":"Nature Catalysis","volume":"7 10","pages":"1063-1064"},"PeriodicalIF":42.8,"publicationDate":"2024-10-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142487874","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"化学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Nature CatalysisPub Date : 2024-10-22DOI: 10.1038/s41929-024-01239-9
Chetan C. Chintawar, Ranjini Laskar, Debanjan Rana, Felix Schäfer, Nele Van Wyngaerden, Subhabrata Dutta, Constantin G. Daniliuc, Frank Glorius
{"title":"Photoredox-catalysed amidyl radical insertion to bicyclo[1.1.0]butanes","authors":"Chetan C. Chintawar, Ranjini Laskar, Debanjan Rana, Felix Schäfer, Nele Van Wyngaerden, Subhabrata Dutta, Constantin G. Daniliuc, Frank Glorius","doi":"10.1038/s41929-024-01239-9","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41929-024-01239-9","url":null,"abstract":"Replacing planar aromatic rings in drug molecules with C(sp3)-rich isosteric mimetics, such as bicyclo[n.1.1]alkanes, can significantly alter their physicochemical and pharmacokinetic properties, often leading to higher clinical success rates. However, unlike a benzene ring, the structurally rigid C(sp3)-rich isosteric mimetics of heteroaromatic rings are rare. Heterobicyclo[n.1.1]alkanes are promising in this regard, but the lack of modular synthetic methods has currently hindered their exploration. We envisioned that the strategic and selective insertion of different heteroatomic units to bicyclo[1.1.0]butanes could offer a highly modular platform to access diverse heterobicyclo[n.1.1]alkanes. Herein we report a photoredox-catalysed highly regioselective and chemoselective insertion of amidyl radicals to bicyclo[1.1.0]butanes, providing direct access to 2-oxa-4-azabicyclo[3.1.1]hept-3-enes. The exit vector analysis shows a geometric resemblance of these C(sp3)-rich heterobicyclic motifs with pyridine and pyrimidine derivatives, suggesting their potential as isosteric mimetics of such medicinally important heterocycles. Additionally, various downstream transformations demonstrate their utility as versatile building blocks in synthetic chemistry. Heteroatom-substituted C(sp3)-rich polycyclic hydrocarbon rings, isosteric to heterocyclic rings, are not common due to the challenging synthesis. Now a photoredox-catalysed strategy to insert amidyl radicals into bicyclo[1.1.0]butanes is presented, providing direct access to 2-oxa-4-azabicyclo[3.1.1]hept-3-enes.","PeriodicalId":18845,"journal":{"name":"Nature Catalysis","volume":"7 11","pages":"1232-1242"},"PeriodicalIF":42.8,"publicationDate":"2024-10-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.nature.com/articles/s41929-024-01239-9.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142452580","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"化学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Nature CatalysisPub Date : 2024-10-17DOI: 10.1038/s41929-024-01234-0
Benjamin J. S. Rowsell, Harry M. O’Brien, Gayathri Athavan, Patrick R. Daley-Dee, Johannes Krieger, Emma Richards, Karl Heaton, Ian J. S. Fairlamb, Robin B. Bedford
{"title":"The iron-catalysed Suzuki coupling of aryl chlorides","authors":"Benjamin J. S. Rowsell, Harry M. O’Brien, Gayathri Athavan, Patrick R. Daley-Dee, Johannes Krieger, Emma Richards, Karl Heaton, Ian J. S. Fairlamb, Robin B. Bedford","doi":"10.1038/s41929-024-01234-0","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41929-024-01234-0","url":null,"abstract":"The very widely exploited Suzuki biaryl coupling reaction typically requires catalysts based on palladium, but there is an increasing desire to replace this metal with a more sustainable, less expensive alternative, with catalysts based on iron being a particularly attractive target. Here we show that a simple iron-based catalyst with an N-heterocyclic carbene ligand can be used to excellent effect in the Suzuki biaryl coupling of aryl chloride substrates with aryl boronic esters activated by an organolithium reagent. Mechanistic studies suggest the possible involvement of Fe(I) as the lowest oxidation state on the catalytic manifold and show that the challenging step is not activation of the aryl chloride substrate, but rather the transmetallation step. These findings are likely to lead to a renaissance of iron-catalysed carbon–carbon bond-forming transformations with soft nucleophilic coupling partners. The replacement of palladium with other metal catalysts in C–C bond-forming reactions is attractive in terms of costs and sustainability. Now an iron-based catalyst is successfully employed in the Suzuki cross-coupling of aryl chlorides with aryl boronic esters activated with tert-butyl lithium.","PeriodicalId":18845,"journal":{"name":"Nature Catalysis","volume":"7 11","pages":"1186-1198"},"PeriodicalIF":42.8,"publicationDate":"2024-10-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.nature.com/articles/s41929-024-01234-0.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142440846","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"化学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}