1,6-Enynes bearing OR groups at the propargyl position generate α,β-unsaturated gold(I)-carbenes/ gold(I) stabilized allyl cations that can be trapped by alkenes to form cyclopropanes or 1,3-diketones to give products of α-alkylation. The best migrating group is p-nitrophenyl ether, which leads to the corresponding products without racemization. Thus, an improved formal synthesis of (+)-schisan...

1-Silyl-2,6-diketones, readily prepared by addition of (silylmethyl)metal reagents to 1,5-lactols followed by oxidation of the resultant diols, can be efficiently transformed into 3-hydroxycyclohexanones, cyclohex-2-enones, or 1-(silylmethyl)cyclopentane-1,2-diols under nucleophilic, basic, or single electron-transfer reduction conditions, respectively. The latter cyclitols can be further trans...

1,2-Diketones were synthesized by the oxidation of corresponding alkynes using air as the oxidant under metal-free conditions upon irradiation of blue light. A cheap and readily available organic dye, eosin Y, was used as the photocatalyst. For various substituents on the aryl ring, the reaction proceeded smoothly to give the dicarbonylation products in moderate to good yields. Some oxidation-s...

Visible-light photoredox catalysis has been utilized in a new multicomponent reaction forming β-functionalized δ-diketones under mild conditions in an operationally convenient manner. Single-electron reduction of in situ generated carboxylic acid derivatives forms acyl radicals that react further via 1,2-acylalkylation of olefins in an intermolecular, three-components cascade reaction, giving v...

Trinorlabdane 1,5-diketones (7, 10a,b, 13a,b), which are easily prepared from labdane diterpenes, are directly converted into the corresponding 7-oxo-13-hydroxy-8,11,13-podocarpatrienes, immediate precursors of bioactive compounds, under basic treatment. Utilizing this strategy, the first enantiospecific synthesis of 13-hydroxy-8,11,13-podocarpatriene (20), a constituent of Taiwania cryptomerio...

A novel method for α-hydroxylation of ketones using substoichiometric amount of iodine under metal-free conditions is described. This method has been successfully employed in synthesizing a variety of heterocyclic compounds, which are useful precursors. α-Hydroxylation of diketones and triketones are illustrated. This strategy provides a novel, efficient, mild and inexpensive method for α-hydro...

New series of 2,3-disubstituted quinazolin-4(3H)one were synthesized via the reaction of the readily obtainable 2-thioxo-3-phenyl-quinazolin-4(3H)one 1 with ethyl chloroacetate followed by hydrazinolysis to afford the hydrazide 3 which allowed to react with different electrophilic reagents such as carbon disulphide, phenyl isothiocyanate, β-diketones, anhydrides, acrylonitrile, ethyl cinnamate,...