José Justicia

Reductive C–C Bond Formation after Epoxide Opening via Electron Transfer

This review presents a description of the C–C bond-forming reactions that have emerged in the field of titanocene mediated or catalyzed epoxide opening over the last 5 years or so. The powerful tandem sequences for polycylization will be especially emphasized.

Understanding the Exceptional Hydrogen-Atom Donor Characteristics of Water in TiIII-Mediated Free-Radical Chemistry

In recent years solid evidence of HAT reactions involving water as hydrogen atom source have been presented. In this work we demonstrate that the efficiency of titanocene(III) aqua complexes as an unique class of HAT reagents is based on two key features: (a) excellent binding capabilities of water toward titanocene(III) complexes and (b) a low activation energy for the HAT step. The theory has predictive capabilities fitting well with the experimental results and may aid to find more examples of this remarkable radical reaction.

Ti‐Catalyzed Barbier‐Type Allylations and Related Reactions

Titanocene(III) complexes, easily generated in situ from commercial Ti(IV) precursors, catalyze Barbier-type allylations, intramolecular crotylations (cyclizations), and prenylations of a wide range of aldehydes and ketones. The reaction displays surprising and unprecedented mechanistic subtleties. In cyclizations a fast and irreversible addition of an allyl radical to a Ti(III)-coordinated carbonyl group seems to occur. Intermolecular additions to conjugated aldehydes proceed through a coupling of a Ti(IV)-bound ketyl radical with an allyl radical. Reactions of ketones with allylic halides take place by the classical addition of an allylic organometallic reagent. The radical coupling processes enable transformations such as the highly regioselective alpha-prenylation that are otherwise difficult to achieve. The mild reaction conditions and the possibility to employ titanocene complexes in only catalytic quantities are highly attractive features of our protocol. These unusual properties have been taken advantage of for the straightforward synthesis of the natural products rosiridol, shikalkin, and 12-hydroxysqualene.

Unprecedented Barbier-type reactions catalysed by titanocene(III)

Selective Barbier-type allylations, benzylations and propargylations of aldehydes and ketones can be carried out under extremely mild conditions employing titanocene(III) complexes as catalysts. In this way, chiral titanocene catalysts provided yields ranging from 50-80% of optically active products.

Mild Method for the Selective Esterification of Carboxylic Acids Based on the Garegg−Samuelsson Reaction

A mild method for the selective esterification of primary alcohols is described. The use of different phosphines, I(2), and imidazole allows the selective esterification of a wide variety of acids with excellent results. The generation of a bulky phosphonium-carboxylate salt as intermediate could justify the selectivity observed in this process. Additionally, amides also can be synthesized with use of this method.

Recent applications of Cp2TiCl in natural product synthesis

This review highlights the recent applications of titanocene(III) complexes in the field of natural product synthesis from the seminal precedents to the development of modern catalytic methods. The power of the titanocene(III)-based approaches is demonstrated by the straightforward syntheses of many natural products from readily available starting materials.

Ti(III)-catalyzed cyclizations of ketoepoxypolyprenes: control over the number of rings and unexpected stereoselectivities.

We describe a new strategy to control the number of cyclization steps in bioinspired radical (poly)cyclizations involving epoxypolyenes containing keto units positioned along the polyene chain. This approach provides an unprecedentedly straightforward access to natural terpenoids with pendant unsaturated side chains. Additionally, in the case of bi- and tricyclizations, decalins with cis stereochemistry have been obtained as a consequence of the presence of the ketone. The preferential formation of cis-fused adducts was rationalized using DFT calculations. This result is completely unprecedented in biomimetic cyclizations and permits the access to natural terpenoids with this stereochemistry, as well as to non-natural analogues.

Reduction Reactions in Green Solvents: Water, Supercritical Carbon Dioxide, and Ionic Liquids

A reduction reaction, in a general sense, is an electrochemical process in which an atom, ion, or molecule earns electrons. In organic chemistry such reduction reactions can be achieved by several methods, including the addition of hydrogen to a molecule or the removal of oxygen or other electronegative substituents. Reduction reactions have been known for a very long time, being developed almost simultaneously to modern chemistry. For example, the first catalytic hydrogenation recorded was the reduction of ethylene and acetylene to ethane in the presence of platinum black, by Von Wilde in 1874. [1] The industrial application of this reaction did not take long, and in 1901 Normann carried out the hydrogenation of fats and oils to change their melting profiles and textures. [2] From that time until now, novel methods and catalysts that make reduction reactions very broad, important, and efficacious chemical transformations have been developed. Nevertheless, and due to its industrial relevance, an extraordinary effort has to be made to develop more environmentally benign conditions. In this sense, this Review is focused on greener alternatives to conduct reduction reactions. Although this is a very wide topic, much of the effort has been focused on developed strategies to recycle and reuse catalysts and solvents, and on finding alternative media that are less contaminating than organic solvents. With respect to this point, water, supercritical CO2, and ionic liquids have emerged as fundamentally greener alternatives to organic solvents. Although the present work is focused on reduction reactions, the reader interested in knowing more about green solvents for organic synthesis will find additional

Synthesis and photophysics of a new family of fluorescent 9-alkyl-substituted xanthenones.

9-Alkyl xanthenones with different aliphatic pendant groups have been easily prepared by means of nucleophilic addition of the corresponding Grignard derivative to a tert-butyldimethylsilyl ether (TBDMS)-protected 3,6-dihydroxy-xanthenone. The photophysical behavior of the new dyes has been explored by using absorption, steady-state-, and time-resolved fluorescence measurements. We determined the equilibrium constants, visible spectral characteristics, fluorescence quantum yield, and decay times. Remarkably, they retain similar fluorescent properties of fluorescein including the characteristic phosphate-mediated excited-state proton-transfer (ESPT) reaction. 6-Hydroxy-9-isopropyl-3H-xanthen-3-one (5) was investigated in living cells; it presented a good permeability and efficient accumulation inside the cytosol. For the first time, we reported that the requirement of an aryl group at C-9 is no longer needed and new fluorescent sensors can be therefore easily developed.

Titanocene(III)-promoted Barbier-type crotylation of carbonyl compounds.

A mild, highly regio- and stereoselective method for the crotylation of aldehydes and ketones mediated/catalyzed by titanocene(III) is described. Optimized conditions permit the selective generation of γ-adducts in high yields together with high stereoselectivity, with a predominance of anti stereoisomers.