Malek Nechab

New aerobic oxidation of benzylic compounds: efficient catalysis by N-hydroxy-3,4,5,6-tetraphenylphthalimide (NHTPPI)/CuCl under mild conditions and low catalyst loadingElectronic supplementary information (ESI) available: experimental details. See http://www.rsc.org/suppdata/cc/b4/b403004d/

Efficient aerobic oxidation of benzylic compounds using NHTPPI, a new NHPI analogue, as a key catalyst combined with CuCl, have been achieved under mild conditions and using as little as 1 mol% catalyst.

Memory of chirality in cascade rearrangements of enediynes.

The cascade rearrangement of chiral enediynes 1c-e, involving successively 1,3-proton shift, Saito-Myers cyclization, 1,5-hydrogen atom transfer, and intramolecular coupling of the resulting biradical, proceeded at 80 °C to form tri- and tetracyclic heterocycles possessing a quaternary stereogenic center with a very high level of memory of chirality.

En Route to (S)-Selective Chemoenzymatic Dynamic Kinetic Resolution of Aliphatic Amines. One-Pot KR/Racemization/KR Sequence Leading to (S)-Amides

A one-pot sequential process, involving a radical racemization and an enzymatic resolution, provides access to (S)-amides, from racemic amines, with ee and yields ranging from 78 to 94% and 58 to 80%, respectively.

One-pot Crabbé homologation-radical cascade cyclisation with memory of chirality

The tandem Crabbé homologation-radical rearrangement of terminal enediynes leads, in a one-pot procedure, to the enantioselective synthesis of six- and seven-membered ring α-aminoesters bearing a quaternary stereocenter based on the phenomenon of memory of chirality.

Double Transfer of Chirality in Organocopper-Mediated bis(Alkylating) Cycloisomerization of Enediynes†

An original synthesis of chiral benzofulvenes triggered by organocopper reagents is reported. These enantiopure products are available through a highly chemo-, regio-, diastereo-, and enantioselective bis(alkylating) cycloisomerization process. A double chirality transfer (central-to-axial-to-central) is observed.

Mechanistic Investigation of Enediyne-Connected Amino Ester Rearrangement. Theoretical Rationale for the Exclusive Preference for 1,6- or 1,5-Hydrogen Atom Transfer Depending on the Substrate. A Potential Route to Chiral Naphthoazepines

Memory of chirality (MOC) and deuterium-labeling studies were used to demonstrate that the cascade rearrangement of enediyne-connected amino esters 1a and 1b evolved through exclusive 1,5- or 1,6-hydrogen atom transfer, subsequent to 1,3-proton shift and Saito-Myers cyclization, depending on the structure of the starting material. These results were independently confirmed by DFT theoretical calculations performed on model monoradicals. These calculations clearly demonstrate that in the alanine series, 1,5-hydrogen shift is kinetically favored over 1,6-hydrogen shift because of its greater exergonicity. In the valine series, the bulk of the substituent at the nitrogen atom has a major influence on the fate of the reaction. N-Tosylation increases the barrier to 1,5-hydrogen shift to the benefit of 1,6-hydrogen shift. The ready availability of 1,6-hydrogen atom transfer was explored as a potential route for the enantioselective synthesis of naphthoazepines.

Photoactivated cyclization of aryl-containing enediynes coated gold nanoparticles: enhancement of the DNA cleavage ability of enediynes.

Two novel enediynes containing an aromatic ring and substituted by two thiol functions as end-groups were designed and studied as functionalizing agent of gold nanoparticles. Phototriggered cyclization of the capping agent under UV-visible irradiation was investigated. Interestingly, the length of the thiol-substituted chain was shown to influence significantly the cyclization rate. Depending on the length of the spacer, either polymerization or simple cyclization of the coating agent was evidenced. The present study underscores the possibility of finely controlling the fate of the coating agent (polymerization/cyclization). Nanocomposites were characterized by UV-visible absorption spectroscopy, dynamic light scattering (DLS) technique and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) measurements. Finally, the ability of the colloidal solutions to induce photoinitiated damages to PcDNA3 supercoiled DNA was evaluated. Interestingly, an increase as high as 50% of the DNA cleavage could be registered when adding enediynes-capped gold nanoparticles to solutions of enediynes. In particular, the enhancement of DNA scission was observed in both thermal and photochemical activation modes.

Enantioselective Synthesis of Carbocycles and Heterocycles by Radical/Polar and Polar/Radical Cascades**

nly twenty years ago, enantioselective synthesis, involvingradical intermediates, was still regarded as rather limited.However, the knowledge of the parameters essential forstereocontrol and the use of chiral auxiliaries in radicalreactions had already reached a very high level of develop-ment. Another breakthrough came from the work of Porter,Sibi, and co-workers with the introduction of chiral Lewisacids.

Theoretical Study To Explain How Chirality Is Stored and Evolves throughout the Radical Cascade Rearrangement of Enyne-allenes

This article reports a theoretical study to explain how the intrinsic property of chirality is retained throughout the radical cascade rearrangement of an enantiopure chiral enyne-allene (bearing one stereogenic center) selected as a model for this family of reactions. Calculations at the MRPT2/6-31G(d)//CASSCF(10,10)/6-31G(d) level of theory were used to determine the entire reaction pathway which includes singlet state diradicals and closed-shell species. The cascade process involves three elementary steps, i.e., by chronological order: Myers-Saito cycloaromatization (M-S), intramolecular hydrogen atom transfer (HAT), and recombination of the resulting biradical. The enantiospecificity of the reaction results from a double transmission of the stereochemical information, from the original center to an axis and eventually from this axis to the final center. The first two steps lead to a transient diradical intermediate which retains the chirality via the conversion of the original static chirogenic element into a dynamic one, i.e., a center into an axis. The only available routes to the final closed-shell tetracyclic product imply rotations around two σ bonds (σ(C-C) and σ(C-N), bonds β and α respectively). The theoretical calculations confirmed that the formation of the enantiomerically pure product proceeds via the nonracemizing rotation around the σ(C-C) pivot. They ruled out any rotation around the second σ(C-N) pivot. The high level of configurational memory in this rearrangement relies on the steric impediment to the rotation around the C-N bond in the chiral native conformation of the diradical intermediate produced from tandem M-S/1,5-HAT.

Synthesis of Enantiopure tertiary skipped diynes via one-pot desymmetrizing TMS-cleavage.

Enantiopure tetrasubstituted skipped diynes were readily synthesized from N-protected amino esters upon addition of lithium TMS-acetylide which was found to be desymmetrizing through one-pot selective TMS-cleavage. The deprotection of the TMS group was realized through a one-pot silicon atom attack by the liberated methoxide, which was diastereoselective due to a conformational favorable chelate.