The (PCP)Ni-OH complexes (R = (i)Pr, (t)Bu, Cy) are effective catalyst precursors for the selective hydration of nitriles to the corresponding amides under relatively mild conditions (80 °C) and low catalyst loadings (0.05-0.5%). Substrate scope includes aliphatic, vinylic and aromatic nitriles, but substrates with protic groups poison the catalyst abruptly. The catalysts are effective because ...

Crossed molecular beam experiments of cyano radicals, CN(X(2)Sigma(+)), reacting with unsaturated hydrocarbons have been performed to investigate synthetic routes to nitriles formation in hydrocarbon-rich atmospheres of planets and their moons. We have verified that all cyano radical reactions with acetylene, ethylene, methylacetylene, allene, benzene, and dimethylacetylene proceed without entr...

Imido-hydrido complexes (ArN)Mo(H)(Cl)(PMe3)3 (1) and (ArN)Mo(H)2(PMe3)3 (2) (Ar = 2,6-diisopropylphenyl) catalyse a variety of hydroboration reactions, including the rare examples of addition of HBCat to nitriles to form bis(borylated) amines RCH2N(BCat)2. Stoichiometric reactivity of complexes 1 and 2 with nitriles and HBCat suggest that catalytic reactions proceed via a series of agostic bor...

Cell-penetrating peptides (CPPs) have been attracting attention as tools for intracellular delivery of membrane-impermeant functional molecules. Among the variety CPPs that developed, many are composed both natural and unnatural amino acids. We previously synthesized α,α-disubstituted α-amino acids (dAAs) containing a five-membered carbocyclic ring in its side chain revealed utility dAAs develo...

γ,δ-Unsaturated amino acids are the backbone of various natural products and pharmaceuticals, while quaternary α-amino also powerful enzyme inhibitors, both very important compounds in bioorganic chemistry. A highly efficient synthesis γ,δ-unsaturated esters utilizing tandem umpolung/Claisen rearrangement for α-iminoallyl was developed. This method has a wide range substrates taking account Ham...

Nitriles are strong polar compounds showing a highly non-ideal behavior, which makes them challenging systems from a modeling point of view; in spite of this, accurate predictions for the vapor-liquid equilibria of these systems are needed, as some of them, like acetonitrile (CH3CN) and propionitrile (C2H5CN), play an important role as organic solvents in several industrial processes. This work...