A convenient one-pot Cu(I)-catalyzed strategy for regioselective synthesis of trisubstituted furan derivatives has been developed via (2-furyl) carbene complexes. This process has opened a new synthetic route to a variety of α-carbonyl furans using air as the oxidant affording furans in good yields.

An efficient protocol was developed to access 3-fluoro-2-hydroxy-2-substituted benzo[b]furans with Selectfluor™ as the fluorinating reagent in MeCN and water. By utilizing SOCl2/Py as the dehydrating agent, the compounds above were readily converted to 3-fluorinated, 2-substituted benzo[b]furans in high yields.

The [4+2] cycloaddition of 3-alkoxyfurans with N-substituted maleimides provides the first general route for preparing endo-cantharimides. Unlike the corresponding reaction with 3H furans, the reaction can tolerate a broad range of 2-substitued furans including alkyl, aromatic, and heteroaromatic groups. The cycloaddition products were converted into a range of cantharimide products with promis...

An efficient and mild synthesis of trisubstituted furans, starting from α,β-unsaturated ketones, tributylphosphine, and acyl chlorides, is described. The strategy employs the intramolecular Wittig protocol as a key step to install the crucial furan ring, leading to a wide variety of highly functional furans in one step.

A regioselective transition metal-catalyzed cycloisomerization reaction of boron-containing alkynyl epoxides toward C2- and C3-borylated furans has been developed. It was found that the copper catalyst as well as the gold catalyst with more basic triflate counterion favor boryl migration toward C3-borylated furans, whereas employment of the cationic gold hexafluoroantimonate affords C2-borylate...

Many oxygenated hydrocarbon species formed during combustion, such as furans, are highly toxic and detrimental to human health and the environment. These species may also increase the hygroscopicity of soot and strongly influence the effects of soot on regional and global climate. However, large furans and associated oxygenated species have not previously been observed in flames, and their form...

Despite their synthetic significance there is a general lack of asymmetric vinylogous aldol reactions that tolerate variations of both the silyloxy furans and aldehydes. We have developed a new chiral organic catalyst based on a carboxylate-ammonium salt prepared from a thiourea-amine and a carboxylic acid. This new catalyst enabled us to develop an efficient asymmetric vinylogous aldol reactio...

Furans are omnipresent in synthetic bioactive compounds, natural products and innovative organic materials (Figure 1). They also give access to equally important tetrahydrofurans via reduction or dihydropyrans via oxidation. It is consequently not surprising that the development of new methods to synthesize and functionalize furans is an area of intense research in modern organic chemistry. In ...

Difluorinated analogues of (hydroxymethyl)conduritols can be synthesised from selected furans and a difluorinated dienophile in two reaction steps.