The copper-catalyzed 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition of an azide to a terminal alkyne (CuAAC) is one of the most popular chemical transformations, with applications ranging from material to life sciences. However, despite many mechanistic studies, direct observation of key components of the catalytic cycle is still missing. Initially, mononuclear species were thought to be the active catalysts, but l...

A ruthenium-catalyzed hydrative cyclization of enynes has been developed. The reaction converts a range of 1,5-enynes bearing terminal alkyne and Michael acceptor moieties into cyclopentanone derivatives. From extensive catalyst screening experiments, a trinuclear ruthenium complex, [Ru3(dppm)3Cl5]PF6, has been identified to be an effective catalyst in mediating the 1,1-difunctionalization of a...

In furtherance of our research on the design, synthesis and study of electrogenerated chemiluminescence (ECL) of new donor substituted phenylquinolinylethynes, we report here more new series with the aim of studying the effect of positional isomerism on their overall photophysical properties with a special focus on ECL. For this study we have chosen 2-, 3-, and 4-(p-substituted phenyl)ethynylqu...

This study describes the synthesis and antioxidant activity of new 1,4-disubstituted 1,2,3-triazoles. These compounds were generated semi-synthetically using Cu(I)-catalysed azide-alkyne cycloaddition (CuAAC) reaction between ethyl 2-azidoacetate terminal acetylenes derived from natural products carvacrol, eugenol, isovanillin, thymol vanillin. The obtained at 50 to 80% yield characterised thro...

A bioorthogonal 'catch and photorelease' strategy, which combines alkyne-azide cycloaddition between p-hydroxyphenacyl azide and alkyne derivatives to form a 1,2,3-triazole adduct and subsequent photochemical release of the triazole moiety via a photo-Favorskii rearrangement, is introduced. The first step can also involve photorelease of a strained alkyne and its Cu-free click reaction with azide.

-1,4-Glucans having oligosaccharide appendages (O-/N-linked -maltoside and O-/N-linked -lactoside) at 6C positions of all repeating units can be readily prepared from cellulose through a two step strategy composed of: (1) regio-selective and quantitative bromination/azidation to afford 6-azido-6-deoxycellulose; and (2) the subsequent Cu + -catalyzed coupling with oligosaccharides having term...

Our previous total synthesis of the proposed structures of jiangrines C and D shows that the characteristic data of synthetic samples did not match those of the natural ones, prompting us to revise their structures. Accordingly, we now accomplished the total synthesis of jiangrines A, C and D, which confirms our deduction that their molecular skeletons should compose of 2,3-disubstituted pyrrol...

An efficient and practical synthetic route toward chiral matsutakeol and analogs was developed by asymmetric addition of terminal alkyne to aldehydes. (R)-matsutakeol and other flavored substances were feasibly synthesized from various alkylaldehydes in high yield (up to 49.5%, in three steps) and excellent enantiomeric excess (up to >99%). The protocols may serve as an alternative asymmetric s...

A range of dendritic molecules was made using the monodentate SEMI-ESPHOS phosphine oxide ligand, which was derivatised with a series of functional groups including bromide, vinyl, allyl and terminal alkyne. Several methods to attach the resulting precursors onto octavinylsilsesquioxane (OVS), ranging from hydrosilylation, Suzuki, Heck, Grubbs or Sonogashira coupling reactions, have been invest...

Electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy is a powerful method to elucidate molecular structure through the measurement of distances between conformationally well-defined spin labels. Here we report a sequence-flexible approach to the synthesis of double spin-labeled DNA duplexes, where 2'-alkynylnucleosides are incorporated at terminal and internal positions on complementary strands. ...