We herein report the Rh(iii)-catalyzed C-H bond activation and addition of benzimidates to aldehydes to afford biologically important phthalides in a single step. The imidate is a novel and unexplored directing group that not only enables C-H bond activation and addition to aldehydes, but also serves to capture the reversibly formed alcohol intermediate. The reaction shows broad scope with a hi...

We report here the first systematic study of nickel-catalyzed decarbonylation of aromatic aldehydes under relatively mild conditions. Aldehydes with electron donating groups at para and ortho positions are generally successful with our method. For aldehydes with electron-withdrawing groups, significantly higher yields were achieved for ortho-substituted substrates than para ones, probably due t...

efficient knoevenagel condensation of barbituric acid with different aromatic aldehydes on basic alumina was performed in a conventional microwave over in the absence of solvent.

The reaction of (2-aminobenzyl) triphenylphosphonium bromide with aromatic aldehydes or alpha,beta-unsaturated aldehydes under microwave-assisted conditions constitutes a new synthesis of 2-substituted indoles in high yields (81-97%) in a one-pot reaction. The adduct from indole-4-carboxaldehyde was an advanced intermediate in the synthesis of arcyriacyanin A.

A chiral indium complex has been discovered to effect high enantioselectivities in the addition of allyltributyl stannanes to aldehydes. The allylation of a variety of aromatic, alpha,beta-unsaturated and aliphatic aldehydes resulted in good yields and high enantioselectivities (90-96% ee).

The first ruthenium-catalyzed cross-coupling of aldehydes with arylboronic acids is reported. Various aliphatic and aromatic aldehydes are transformed to the corresponding arylketones. A total of 31 examples with moderate to excellent yields are presented, together with the results of an initial mechanistic investigation.