Ruofeng Huang

Umpolung Strategy for Synthesis of β-Ketonitriles through Hypervalent Iodine-Promoted Cyanation of Silyl Enol Ethers

An efficient method to synthesize β-ketonitriles from silyl enol ethers by an umploung hypervalent iodine(III)-CN species generated in situ from PhIO/BF3·Et2O/TMSCN has been developed for the first time. This method can be applied to structurally diverse aromatic and aliphatic substrates and further extended to preparation of bioactive compounds like 5-aminopyrazole and 5-aminoisoxazole.

Superacid BF3–H2O promoted benzylation of arenes with benzyl alcohols and acetates initiated by trace water

A convenient procedure employing simple starting materials benzyl alcohols and acetates as the benzyl donors to assemble a series of diarylalkanes through benzylation of arenes using in situ prepared superacid BF3–H2O as an efficient promoter has been developed. The beneficial role of water in the reaction has been clarified with combination of control experiments and 11B NMR analysis. This reaction is a self-promoted model, which is triggered by the trace of water and continuously promoted by self released by-product water (or carboxylic acid). A wide range of substrates are investigated and the moderate to excellent yields and the good regioselectivities for secondary benzyl alcohols as well as arenes bearing electron-withdrawing groups have been achieved. As a result, moisture in the reaction system has been utilized as an efficient initiator in all benzylation cases.

Benzylation of arenes with benzyl ethers promoted by the in situ prepared superacid BF3–H2O

An efficient and environmentally friendly benzylation of arenes with benzyl ethers as benzyl donors using BF3–Et2O to generate in situ the superacid BF3–H2O as an efficient promotor has been described. A wide variety of functional groups have been investigated and found to be compatible to give the desired diarylmethanes in yields of up to 99%. The crucial role of the moisture content in this transformation has been demonstrated by detailed investigations.

Ethers as hydrogen sources in BF3·OEt2 promoted reduction of diphenylmethyl alcohols, ethers and esters to hydrocarbons

A novel ether/BF3 reductive system has been described, in which diphenylmethanols and their ether and ester derivatives are used as starting materials. Reductions are performed in ether under reflux and an argon atmosphere, and the addition of extra water is beneficial to this reduction. A series of alkanes are able to be prepared with good to excellent yields. A deuterated experiment exhibits that the reductive hydrogen is generated from ether. The mechanism is discussed in detail to explain the observed reactivity.