Junfa Wei

Ru(II)-catalyzed ortho -amidation and decarboxylation of aromatic acids: a versatile route to meta -substituted N -aryl benzamides

Carboxylate as a promising and valuable directing group has attracted a great deal of attention. However, employing it as a traceless direction group has rarely been reported. We developed the ruthenium-catalyzed amidation of substituted benzoic acids with isocyanates via directed C-H functionalization followed by decarboxylation to afford the corresponding meta-substituted N-aryl benzamides, in which the carboxylate serves as a unique, removable directing group. Notably, this protocol can provide an efficient alternative to access meta-substituted N-aryl benzamides, which are much more difficult to prepare than ortho-substituted analogues.

Catalyst‐Free Three‐Component Tandem CDC Cyclization: Convenient Access to Isoindolinones from Aromatic Acid, Amides, and DMSO by a Pummerer‐Type Rearrangement

A catalyst-free multicomponent CDC reaction is rarely reported, especially for the intermolecular tandem CDC cyclization, which represents an important strategy for constructing cyclic compounds. Herein, a three-component tandem CDC cyclization by a Pummerer-type rearrangement to afford biologically relevant isoindolinones from aromatic acids, amides, and DMSO, is described. This intermolecular tandem reaction undergoes a C(sp(2) )-H/C(sp(3) )-H cross-dehydrogenative coupling, C-N bond formation, and intramolecular amidation. A notable feature of this novel protocol is avoiding a catalyst and additive (apart from oxidant).

Facile Synthesis of π-Extended Viologens: Electron-Deficient Polycyclic Aza-aromatics

A novel family of π-extended viologens has been synthesized by a concise 3-step route from simple and readily available chemicals. The π-enlargement gives the system new photophysical and electrochemical properties such as photoluminescence and changed redox potentials.

Ruthenium (II)-catalyzed synthesis of phthalides via the cascade addition and cyclization of aromatic acids with aldehydes

The ruthenium-catalyzed intermolecular cascade cyclization of aromatic acids with aromatic aldehydes, which involves the direct insertion of C–H bond into a polar C=O bond and the successive intramolecular nucleophilic substitution, was developed for the synthesis of 3-substituted phthalides in good to excellent yields. This one-pot procedure characterizes in a short reaction time, the cheaper Ru(II) as a catalyst, readily available acids and aldehydes as starting materials, and water as the only theoretical by-product. These merits make the protocol an efficient and cost-effective route for the synthesis of 3-substituted phthalides.

A Polyaromatic Nano-nest for Hosting Fullerenes C60 and C70

A Janus type of hexa- cata-hexabenzocoronene with three triptyceno subunits fused symmetrically on the periphery of coronene has been synthesized using a covalent self-assembly strategy. The triptyceno subunits form a nanosized nest on one side of the aromatic plane with space-matching fullerenes such as C60 and C70 to afford shape-complementary supramolecular complexes. The formation of the complexes in solution was confirmed by 1H NMR and fluorescence titration. Four complexes with C60 or C70 were obtained and studied by single-crystal X-ray diffraction analysis. In the crystal structure, the host shows a proper tunability to adjust its conformation in accordance with the shape of the guest. The different stoichiometric ratios and various stacking patterns of the complexes suggest the diversity of this nonplanar polyaromatic host in complexation with fullerenes.

Ionic liquid brush as an efficient and reusable heterogeneous catalytic assembly for the tosylation of phenols and alcohols in neat water

A very efficient and reusable heterogeneous ionic liquid brush assembly was developed. The catalyst exhibits high catalytic activity for the tosylation of phenols and alcohols in neat water. Moreover, the catalyst shows outstanding stability and reusability, and it can be simply and effectively recovered and reused five times without noticeable loss of catalytic activity.

Immobilized bis-layered ionic liquids/peroxotungstates as an efficient catalyst for selective oxidation of alcohols in neat water

An immobilized ionic liquids/peroxotungstates/SiO2 catalyst was prepared and characterized. The catalyst was proved to be very efficient for the selective oxidation of primary and secondary alcohols to their corresponding carbonyls with benign H2O2 as an oxidant in neat water. A 1.0 mol% (based on tungstate) dose of the catalyst was found to be sufficient for the oxidation. The catalyst is easily recovered after reaction via simple filtration, and was reused at least six times without a noticeable loss of the activity. A notable feature of this novel protocol is avoiding any organic co-solvent.