Paul Hommes

Three-component synthesis of perfluoroalkyl- or perfluoroaryl-substituted 4-hydroxypyridine derivatives and their palladium-catalyzed coupling reactions.

A three-component reaction with lithiated alkoxyallenes, nitriles, and perfluorinated carboxylic acids as precursors led to a series of perfluoroalkyl- or perfluoroaryl-substituted 4-hydroxypyridine derivatives. These compounds were converted into 4-pyridyl nonaflates which can be employed as versatile building blocks for the synthesis of pi-conjugated compounds with use of palladium-catalyzed couplings. Suzuki reactions at C-4 and C-3 of the pyridine ring proceeded with moderate to high yields. In addition, Suzuki-Miyaura, Stille, or Buchwald-Hartwig coupling reactions have also been studied and afforded the corresponding highly substituted pyridine derivatives. Starting from an arylated propargylic ether the three-component reaction led to a pentasubstituted 4-hydroxypyridine derivative that could also be employed in palladium-catalyzed processes at C-4 and at C-3 of the pyridine core. With this simple approach the sterically highly crowded 3,4,5-triphenyl-substituted pyridine derivative 37a could be prepared and studied by an X-ray analysis. With acetonitrile as precursor a different reaction pathway was found when this component was used in excess resulting in a pyridine derivative with a new substitution pattern. In summary, the methods described here allow a flexible and fairly efficient entry to a variety of highly substituted pyridine derivatives bearing perfluorinated alkyl or aryl groups.

Per(2-thienyl)pyridines: synthesis and properties.

Starting from an easily available pyridinol derivative, a route to penta(2-thienyl)pyridine and related symmetrical compounds is reported. Key reactions are activation of the pyridine core and metal-catalyzed couplings proving the efficacy of these methods even in sterically highly encumbered systems. UV/vis and fluorescence spectra as well as first cyclovoltametric measurements of the synthesized novel thiophene-pyridine conjugates are reported.

In Search of Oligo(2‐thienyl)‐Substituted Pyridine Derivatives: A Modular Approach to Di‐, Tri‐ and Tetra(2‐thienyl)pyridines

Herein, we describe our attempts to systematically prepare a series of oligo(2-thienyl)-substituted pyridine derivatives. The crucial starting material, a β-alkoxy-β-ketoenamide, is easily available on a large scale by the reaction of lithiated methoxyallene with thiophene-2-carbonitrile and thiophene-2-carboxylic acid. This three-component reaction is followed by intramolecular cyclization to yield the suitably functionalized 2,6-di(2-thienyl)-substituted pyridine derivates. The two oxygen atoms allow the programmed activation of positions C-3, C-4, or C-5 of the pyridine ring to perform palladium-catalyzed coupling reactions with thiophene-2-boronic acid or 2-(tributylstannyl)thiophene, and alternatively, reductive removal of groups. With this concept, we were able to prepare five pyridine derivatives with 2-thienyl substituents in the 2,6-, 2,3,6-, 2,4,6-, 2,3,4,6-, and 2,3,5,6-positions. 2,3,4,5,6-Penta(2-thienyl)pyridine was not available with our methods. The UV/Vis and fluorescence spectra of all pyridines were recorded and showed a dependence on the substitution pattern and protonation state. For the protonated 2,3,5,6-tetra(2-thienyl)-substituted pyridine, a Stokes shift of about 180 nm with an emission at 515 nm was observed.

The Flögel-three-component reaction with dicarboxylic acids – an approach to bis(β-alkoxy-β-ketoenamides) for the synthesis of complex pyridine and pyrimidine derivatives

Summary An extension of the substrate scope of the Flögel-three-component reaction of lithiated alkoxyallenes, nitriles and carboxylic acids is presented. The use of dicarboxylic acids allowed the preparation of symmetrical bis(β-ketoenamides) from simple starting materials in moderate yields. Cyclocondensations of these enamides to 4-hydroxypyridine derivatives or to functionalized pyrimidines efficiently provided symmetrically and unsymmetrically substituted fairly complex (hetero)aromatic compounds containing up to six conjugated aryl and hetaryl groups. In addition, subsequent functionalizations of the obtained heterocycles by palladium-catalyzed couplings or by oxidations are reported. We also describe the simple synthesis of a structurally interesting macrocyclic bispyrimidine derivative incorporating a 17-membered ring, whose configuration was elucidated by DFT calculations and by subsequent reactions.

Synthesis, Characterization, and DFT Analysis of Bis-Terpyridyl-Based Molecular Cobalt Complexes

Terpyridine ligands are widely used in chemistry and material sciences owing to their ability to form stable molecular complexes with a large variety of metal ions. In that context, variations of the substituents on the terpyridine ligand allow modulation of the material properties. Applying the Stille cross-coupling reaction, we prepared with good yields a new series of terpyridine ligands possessing quinoline-type moieties in ortho, meta, and para positions and dimethylamino substituents at central or distal positions. The corresponding cobalt(II) complexes were synthesized and fully characterized by elemental analysis, single-crystal X-ray crystallography, mass spectrometry, and UV-vis, 1H NMR, and Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy as well as by cyclic voltammetry (CV). Density functional theory (DFT) calculations were performed to investigate the electronic structure of all the Co(II) bis-terpyridyl molecular complexes. In this work, we show that terpyridine ligand functionalization allows tuning the redox potentials of the Co(III)/Co(II), Co(II)/Co(I), and Co(I)/Co(I) (tpy)•- couples over a 1 V range.

A Flexible Terpyridine Derivative Interacts Specifically with G-Quadruplexes.

G-quadruplexes formed by nucleic acids are implicated in pathologies ranging from cancers to neurodegenerative diseases. We evaluated interactions of 29 bi- and terpyridine derivatives with G-quadruplexes and duplexes. FRET-melting, circular dichroism, and (1) H NMR spectroscopy showed that one terpyridine derivative interacted very selectively with G-quadruplexes. This G-quadruplex ligand inhibited helicase activity and should influence G-quadruplex-related biological processes.

Synthesis of highly functionalized 2,2'-bipyridines by cyclocondensation of β-ketoenamides – scope and limitations

Summary The scope of a flexible route to unsymmetrically functionalized bipyridines is described. Starting from 1,3-diketones 1a–e, the corresponding β-ketoenamines 2a–e were converted into different β-ketoenamides 3a–g by N-acylation with 2-pyridinecarboxylic acid derivatives. These β-ketoenamides were treated with a mixture of TMSOTf and Hünig’s base to promote the cyclocondensation to 4-hydroxypyridine derivatives. Their immediate O-nonaflation employing nonafluorobutanesulfonyl fluoride provided the expected 4-nonafloxy-substituted bipyridine derivatives 5a–g in moderate to good overall yields. The bipyridyl nonaflates are excellent precursors for palladium-catalyzed reactions as demonstrated by representative Suzuki and Sonogashira couplings. Thus, a library of specifically substituted bipyridine derivatives was generated, showing the versatility of the simple 1,3-diketone-based approach to this important class of ligands.

New Cobalt-Bisterpyridyl Catalysts for Hydrogen Evolution Reaction

Preparation of a series of terpyridyl ligands bearing different substituents recently led to the synthesis of new cobalt‐bisterpyridyl complexes spanning over a wide range of redox potentials. In this work, we describe the catalytic properties of these complexes for the electroreduction of protons into hydrogen (hydrogen evolution reaction (HER)) in acetonitrile. The substituents of the ligands were found to greatly affect the catalytic performances of the systems, in terms of stability and overpotential. Interestingly, systems based on dimethylamino‐terpyridine derivatives perform HER with high efficiency, low overpotential and excellent stability. Density functional theory calculations were used to provide insights into the reaction mechanism of HER catalyzed by these systems, highlighting the role of the ligand for proton activation.