A non-aldol aldol-cuprate opening generates the polypropionate 11 from the epoxy ether 14 in eight steps as a single diastereomer. A highly stereoselective aldol reaction of 8 with 9 gives the aldol product 7 in high yield and excellent diastereoselectivity, due to double stereodifferentiation. This compound was used for an efficient synthesis of the natural product auripyrone B 2 in only 20 st...

An enantioselective aldol reaction of N-propionylthiazolidinethione and representative aldehydes is disclosed. The reaction is catalyzed by [Ni(S,S)-t-BuBox](Otf)2. Enolization is effected by 2,6-lutidine, and TMSOTf facilitates catalyst turnover. Syn diastereoselectivities range from 88:12 to 97:3, and enantioselectivities are 90% or greater. Both aromatic and enolizable aliphatic aldehydes ar...

The covalent functionalization of multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) with a proline-based derivative is reported. Initially, MWCNTs were oxidized in order to introduce a large number of carboxylic units on their tips followed by N-tert-butoxycarbonyl-2,2'(ethylenedioxy)bis-(ethylamine) conjugation through an amide bond. Then, a proline derivative bearing a carboxylic terminal moiety at the ...

Lewis acidic zeolites are used to synthesize unsaturated dicarboxylic acid esters via aldol condensation of keto esters. Hafnium-containing BEA (Hf-BEA) zeolites catalyze the condensation of ethyl pyruvate into diethyl 2methyl-4-oxopent-2-enedioate and diethyl 2-methylene-4oxopentanedioate (an itaconic acid ester analogue) with a selectivity of ca. 80% at ca. 60% conversion in a packed-bed reac...

Electrolysis of biomass-derived carbonyl compounds is an alternative to condensation chemistry for supplying products with chain length >C6 for biofuels and renewable materials production. Kolbe coupling of biomass-derived levulinic acid is used to obtain 2,7-octanedione, a new platform molecule only two low process-intensity steps removed from raw biomass. Hydrogenation to 2,7-octanediol provi...

Objectives: Removing organic solvents in chemical synthesis is important in the drive towards benign chemical technologies. Organic solvents are high on the list of toxic compounds due to the problems in containing volatile compounds and the sheer large volume of them used in industry. Some advantages of utilizing solventless reactions are that the compounds are often sufficiently pure to avoid...

A Cu(i)-catalyzed retro-aldol reaction of β-hydroxyketones with ortho-aminobenzaldehydes and nicotinaldehydes is reported that produces a range of quinolines and naphthyridines with high efficiency and selectivity. This reaction uses β-hydroxyketones as a regiospecific ketone-protected enolate source via copper-catalyzed retro-aldol Cα-Cβ bond cleavage. The in situ generated copper enolate unde...