The B(C6F5)3-catalyzed silylative reduction of conjugated nitriles has been developed to afford synthetically valuable β-silyl amines. The reaction is chemoselective and proceeds under mild conditions. Mechanistic elucidation indicates that it proceeds by rapid double hydrosilylation of the conjugated nitrile to an enamine intermediate which is subsequently reduced to the β-silyl amine, thus fo...

In the hydrogenation of sluggish unactivated enamine substrates, Rh complexes of electron-deficient phosphines are demonstrated to be far more reactive catalysts than those derived from triphenylphosphine. These operate at low catalyst loadings (down to 0.01 mol %) and are able to reduce tetrasubstituted enamines. The use of the sustainable and environmentally benign solvent (R)-limonene for th...

The development of environmentally benign and scalable synthetic routes to chemically stable covalent organic frameworks (COFs) is key to their real world application in areas such as gas storage and proton conduction. Banerjee et al. [IUCrJ (2016), 3, 402-407] have exploited the high chemical stability of the keto-enamine linkage to develop a 'green' water-mediated procedure, presenting a scal...

A new method to rapidly generate pyrrolidines via a SOMO-activated enantioselective (3 + 2) coupling of aldehydes and conjugated olefins has been accomplished. A radical-polar crossover mechanism is proposed wherein olefin addition to a transient enamine radical cation and oxidation of the resulting radical furnish a cationic intermediate which is vulnerable to nucleophilic addition of a tether...

A method for the synthesis of amide-containing molecules was developed using vinyl azides as an enamine-type nucleophile towards carbon electrophiles, such as imines, aldehydes, and carbocations that were generated from alcohols in the presence of BF3 ⋅OEt2 . After nucleophilic attack of the vinyl azide, a substituent of the resulting iminodiazonium ion intermediate migrates to form a nitrilium...

Herein, we report our preliminary results concerning the first promising asymmetric synthesis of highly functionalized 2-oxospiro-[indole-3,4'-(1',4'-dihydropyridine)] via the reaction of an enamine with isatylidene malononitrile derivatives in the presence of a chiral base organocatalyst. The moderate, but promising, enantioselectivity observed (30%-58% ee (enantiomeric excess)) opens the door...

Mechanical point-chirality in a [2]rotaxane is utilized for asymmetric catalysis. Stable enantiomers of the rotaxane result from a bulky group in the middle of the thread preventing a benzylic amide macrocycle shuttling between different sides of a prochiral center, creating point chirality in the vicinity of a secondary amine group. The resulting mechanochirogenesis delivers enantioselective o...

The 1,2-sulfone rearrangement resulting from nucleophilic addition to bis activated vinyl-sulfones has been studied in more detail. Various nucleophiles activated by different types of catalysts (enamine, Brönsted base, thiourea) are able to promote such rearrangement in excellent yields and moderate to excellent enantioselectivities (up to 94% ee). Mechanistic studies have led to a better unde...

The title compound, C(23)H(18)ClN(3)O, exists in an enamine-keto form with the amino group involved in an intra-molecular N-H⋯O hydrogen bond. The five-membered ring is nearly planar, the largest deviation being 0.0004 (7) Å, and makes dihedral angles of 16.62 (6), 41.89 (5) and 71.27 (4)° with the phenyl rings. In the crystal, weak C-H⋯O hydrogen bonds link the mol-ecules into supra-molecular ...