Lin-Feng Cun

Organocatalytic direct asymmetric aldol reactions of 3-isothiocyanato oxindoles to ketones: stereocontrolled synthesis of spirooxindoles bearing highly congested contiguous tetrasubstituted stereocenters.

The first example of a direct catalytic asymmetric intermolecular aldol reaction of 3-isothiocyanato oxindoles to simple ketones with bifunctional thiourea-tertiary amine as catalyst is reported. This strategy provides a promising approach for the asymmetric synthesis of a range of enantioenriched spirocyclic oxindoles bearing two highly congested contiguous tetrasubstituted carbon stereocenters. Versatile transformations of the spirocyclic oxindole products into other structurally diverse spirocyclic oxindoles have also been demonstrated.

A C2-Symmetric Chiral Bis-Sulfoxide Ligand in a Rhodium-Catalyzed Reaction: Asymmetric 1,4-Addition of Sodium Tetraarylborates to Chromenones

A new C(2)-symmetric chiral bis-sulfoxide ligand, (R,R)-1,2-bis(tert-butylsulfinyl)benzene, has been designed and prepared by the reaction of (R)-benzyl tert-butylsulfoxide with (R)-thiosulfinate. This ligand exhibits excellent enantioselectivities in the Rh-catalyzed asymmetric 1,4-addition reaction. In particular, the present work has realized access to optically pure flavanones for the first time through 1,4-addition of arylboronic reagents to chromenones.

Highly diastereo- and enantioselective Michael additions of 3-substituted oxindoles to maleimides catalyzed by chiral bifunctional thiourea-tertiary amine.

A highly diastereo- and enantioselective Michael addition reaction with respect to prochiral 3-substituted oxindoles and maleimides by a chiral bifunctional thiourea-tertiary amine catalyst was investigated for the first time. The corresponding adducts, containing a quaternary center at the C3-position of the oxindole as well as a vicinal tertiary center, were generally obtained in good to high yields (up to 92%) with high to excellent diastereo- (up to 99:1 dr) and enantioselectivities (up to 99% ee).

Organocatalytic enantioselective hydroxymethylation of oxindoles with paraformaldehyde as C1 unit.

A bifunctional thiourea-tertiary amine-catalyzed asymmetric hydroxymethylation of 3-substituted oxindoles using paraformaldehyde as the C1 unit was developed. A wide scope of oxindoles, bearing C3 sterically congested quaternary carbon centers, were smoothly obtained in good to excellent yields (up to 99%) and high enantioselectivities (up to 91% ee) under mild reaction conditions. A more significant feature of this approach employs cheap and readily available paraformaldehyde as a hydroxymethylation C1 unit, which is activated by chiral bifunctional thiourea organocatalysts.

Chemoselective Conjugate Reduction of α,β-Unsaturated Ketones Catalyzed by Rhodium Amido Complexes in Aqueous Media

Although a notable feature of Noyoris Ru-TsDPEN complex is that the transfer hydrogenation reaction is highly chemoselective for the C=O functional group and tolerant of alkenes, our early report indicated that the chemoselectivity could be switched from C=O to C=C bonds in the transfer hydrogenation of activated alpha,beta-unsaturated ketones. Now we have found that a variety of alpha,beta-unsaturated ketones, even without other electron-withdrawing functional groups, could be reduced on the alkenic double bonds with high selectivities employing amido-rhodium hydride complex in aqueous media, and up to 100% chemoselectivity has been achieved. It is notable that the chemoselectivity was improved significantly on going from organic solvent to water. Moreover, a 1,4-addition mechanism has been proposed on the basis of the corresponding experimental details and computational analysis.

L-Prolinamide-catalyzed direct nitroso aldol reactions of α-branched aldehydes: a distinct regioselectivity from that with L-proline

The first direct enantioselective N-nitroso aldol reaction of aldehyde with nitrosobenzene catalyzed by an L-prolinamide derivative is presented; the reactions proceed smoothly furnishing the -hydroxyamino carbonyl compounds, the otherwise disfavored products, in good yields with up to 64% ee.

Rhodium-Catalyzed Highly Enantioselective Addition of Arylboronic Acids to 2-Nitrostyrenes by tert-Butanesulfinylphosphine Ligand

National Natural Science foundation of China[20872139, 21072186]; West-Light foundation of Chinese Academy of Sciences; Chengdu Institute of Biology of Chinese Academy of Sciences[Y0B1051100]; Major State Basic Research Development Program (973 program)[2010CB833300]

Enantioselective desymmetrization of prochiral cyclohexanone derivatives via the organocatalytic direct Aldol reaction

Asymmetric desymmetrization of 4-substituted cyclohexanones using proline amide-catalyzed direct aldol reaction afforded beta-hydroxyketones with three stereogenic centers in high enantioselectivities of up to >99% ee.

Asymmetric transfer hydrogenation of imines and iminiums catalyzed by a water-soluble catalyst in water

The first asymmetric transfer hydrogenation of cyclic imines and iminiums in water was successfully performed in high yields and enantioselectivities with sodium formate as the hydrogen source and CTAB as an additive catalyzed by a water-soluble and recyclable ruthenium(II) complex of the ligand (R,R)-2.

Cationic copolymerization of 1 ,3-pentadiene-with isoprene

The cationic copolymerization of 1,3-pentadiene (PD) with isoprene (IP) initiated by AlCl 3 was carried out in toluene. The microstructure of the copolymer chain was characterized by IR and 1 H NMR. IP is incorporated in the copolymer chain mainly in cyclic segments. The PD-IP copolymer has a much higher cyclic content than the PD homopolymer, which shows that the cyclization reaction during PD polymerization is enhanced by the addition of IP. In addition, the reactivity ratios for IP(M 1 ) and PD(M 1 ) determined by the Kelen-Tudos method from low-conversion data are r 1 = 1.22 and r 2 = 1.09.