Carl-Johan Wallentin

Visible Light-Mediated Atom Transfer Radical Addition via Oxidative and Reductive Quenching of Photocatalysts

Herein, the development of visible light-mediated atom transfer radical addition (ATRA) of haloalkanes onto alkenes and alkynes using the reductive and oxidative quenching of [Ir{dF(CF(3))ppy}(2)(dtbbpy)]PF(6) and [Ru(bpy)(3)]Cl(2) is presented. Initial investigations indicated that the oxidative quenching of photocatalysts could effectively be utilized for ATRA, and since that report, the protocol has been expanded by broadening the scope of the reaction in terms of the photocatalysts, substrates, and solvents. In addition, further modifications of the reaction conditions allowed for the efficient ATRA of perfluoroalkyl iodides onto alkenes and alkynes utilizing the reductive quenching cycle of [Ru(bpy)(3)]Cl(2) with sodium ascorbate as the sacrificial electron donor. These results signify the complementary nature of the oxidative and reductive quenching pathways of photocatalysts and the ability to predictably direct reaction outcome through modification of the reaction conditions.

Photocatalytic Decarboxylative Reduction of Carboxylic Acids and Its Application in Asymmetric Synthesis

The decarboxylative reduction of naturally abundant carboxylic acids such as α-amino acids and α-hydroxy acids has been achieved via visible-light photoredox catalysis. By using an organocatalytic photoredox system, this method offers a mild and rapid entry to a variety of high-value compounds including medicinally relevant scaffolds. Regioselective decarboxylation is achieved when differently substituted dicarboxylic acids are employed. The application of this method to the synthesis of enantioenriched 1-aryl-2,2,2-trifluoroethyl chiral amines starting from natural α-amino acids further testifies to the utility of the developed photocatalytic decarboxylative reduction protocol.

Acyl Radicals from Aromatic Carboxylic Acids by Means of Visible-Light Photoredox Catalysis

Simple and abundant carboxylic acids have been used as acyl radical precursor by means of visible-light photoredox catalysis. By the transient generation of a reactive anhydride intermediate, this redox-neutral approach offers a mild and rapid entry to high-value heterocyclic compounds without the need of UV irradiation, high temperature, high CO pressure, tin reagents, or peroxides.

On the Radical Nature of Iron-Catalyzed Cross-Coupling Reactions

The radical nature of iron-catalyzed cross-coupling between Grignard reagents and alkyl halides has been studied by using a combination of competitive kinetic experiments and DFT calculations. In contrast to the corresponding coupling with aryl halides, which commences through a classical two-electron oxidative addition/reductive elimination sequence, the presented data suggest that alkyl halides react through an atom-transfer-initiated radical pathway. Furthermore, a general iodine-based quenching methodology was developed to enable the determination of highly accurate concentrations of Grignard reagents, a capability that facilitates and increases the information output of kinetic investigations based on these substrates.

Visible-Light-Mediated Photocatalytic Difunctionalization of Olefins by Radical Acylarylation and Tandem Acylation/Semipinacol Rearrangement.

A novel method for the mild photoredox-mediated tandem radical acylarylation and tandem acylation/semipinacol rearrangement has been developed. The synthesis of highly functionalized ketones bearing all-carbon α- or β-quaternary centers has been achieved using easily available symmetric aromatic carboxylic anhydrides as the acyl radical source. The method allows for a straightforward introduction of the keto functionality and concomitant construction of molecular complexity in a single operation.

Twisted Amide Analogues of Tröger’s Base

Lets do the twist: The first twisted bis-amide is obtained by the benzylic oxidation of Trogers base (TB). Kinetic studies of its acidic hydrolysis reveal that the hydrolysis is to a large extent funneled through doubly protonated species.

Radical carbon-carbon bond formations enabled by visible light active photocatalysts

This mini-review highlights the Stephenson groups contribution to the field of photoredox catalysis with emphasis on carbon-carbon bond formation. The realization of photoredox mediated reductive dehalogenation initiated investigations toward both intra- and intermolecular coupling reactions. These reactions commenced via visible light-mediated reduction of activated halogens to give carbon-centered radicals that were subsequently involved in carbon-carbon bond forming transformations. The developed protocols using Ru and Ir based polypyridyl complexes as photoredox catalysts were further tuned to efficiently catalyze overall redox neutral atom transfer radical addition reactions. Most recently, a simplistic flow reactor technique has been utilized to affect a broad scope of photocatalytic transformations with significant enhancement in reaction efficiency.

Mechanistic Aspects of Submol % Copper‐Catalyzed CN Cross‐Coupling

Carbonnitrogen bond formation can be catalyzed by copper in very low concentrations (≈100 ppm), with mechanistic features that are distinct from those in the high‐concentration regime. The reaction was studied by initial rate kinetics, competitive Hammett studies, and DFT calculations. The deprotonation of the model nucleophile, pyrrole, is limited by mass transfer with the heterogeneous base. The positive reaction order in dimethylethylenediamine was explained by this reagent working not only as a ligand to Cu, but also as a facilitator for mass transfer. The selectivity‐determining step in the competitive Hammett study is oxidative addition. Alternative mechanisms for this step, such as single‐electron transfer, atom transfer, or σ‐bond metathesis, can be excluded based on the observed Hammett behavior and DFT calculations.

Synthesis and self-aggregation of enantiopure and racemic molecular tweezers based on the bicyclo[3.3.1]nonane framework.

A pair of molecular tweezers (syn-4) that consists of quinoline and pyrazine units fused to a bicyclic framework is presented. The tweezers were synthesised both as a racemic mixture (rac-4) and an enantiomerically pure form ((R,R,R,R)-4) starting from either racemic or enantiomerically pure bicyclo[3.3.1]nonane-2,6-dione (3). Homochiral dimers were observed in the solid state for rac-4. The self-association of both rac-4 and (R,R,R,R)-4 was studied in solution. A weak self-association constant in CDCl(3) was estimated by (1)H NMR spectroscopic dilution titration experiments in both cases, following several proton resonances. For this purpose, a general normalisation model for the accurate determination of association constants from multiple datasets was developed. In contrast to the solid state, no diastereomeric discrimination was observed for rac-4 in solution.

Chirality, a never-ending source of confusion

Abstract In this Discussion a few points of confusion concerning chirality are clarified. The term chirodescriptive is proposed for such space groups that lack inversion centres, reflection planes, glide planes or rotary-inversion axes and thus can contain enantiopure, chiral objects. It is pointed out that chiral compounds can (and often do) crystallise in non-chirodescriptive space group when they occur as racemates and in such cases there is no incompatibility between chirality and mirror planes or centres of inversions. We also propose the term raceomorphism to describe the relationship between a conglomerate and a collection of racemic crystals of the same compound.