New melanin synthesis inhibitors, melanocins A, B and C, were isolated from the fermentation broth and extract of mycelium of Eupenicillium shearii F80695. The structures of melanocins were established by spectroscopic methods. They are formamide compounds. In particular, melanocin A has an isocyanide group.

An unprecedented cascade reaction of isocyanide and methyleneindolinone has been established, which represents a novel and different reaction mode. This present transformation involves the ring-opening of methyleneindolinone and the construction of two other new rings simultaneously in an atom-economic manner.

The reactivity of thorium-phosphido and thorium-arsenido bonds was probed using tert-butyl isocyanide, (t)BuNC. Reaction of (C5Me5)2Th[E(H)R]2, E = P, As; R = 2,4,6-(i)Pr3C6H2, 2,4,6-Me3C6H2 with (t)BuNC affords the first phosphaazaallene and arsaazaallene moieties with an f-element.

Three series of methyl 5-substituted 2-aminofuran-4-keto-3-carboxylates have been prepared following a multicomponent reaction strategy by the addition of an isocyanide to 4-oxo-2-butynoate in the presence of an aldehyde. The cycloaddition regioselectivity is generally high (>95%) but decreases when an electron-rich substituent is located at the butynoate 4-position.

With the development of a novel microwave-assisted one-pot tandem de-tert-butylation of tert-butyl amine in an Ugi-type multicomponent reaction product, tert-butyl isocyanide as a useful convertible isonitrile has been explored for the first time affording access to molecular diversity of pharmaceutically-important polycyclic N-fused imidazo-heterocycles.

The synthesis of six cyclic depsipeptoids inspired by the natural depsipeptide sansalvamide A is described. An efficient and fast synthetic strategy was developed using a combination of consecutive isocyanide-based multicomponent reactions (Ugi and Passerini reactions). This methodology can be used to access a variety of cyclic oligodepsipeptoids.

Lanthanide-induced shfits of (13)C nuclear magnetic resonances are reported for several amines and n-butyl isocyanide. Contact contributions to such shifts, especially of beta carbons, are clearly important for the chelates of Eu(+3) and Pr(+3). The importance of contact terms is shown to change in a rather predictable manner with the structure of the amine.

N-[2-(Cyclohexylamino)-2-oxoethyl]-N-(4-octyloxy)phenyl-prop-2-enamide was prepared in good yield by coupling of 4(octyloxy)aniline, Cyclohexyl isocyanide, paraformaldehyde and acrylic acid by multicomponent Ugi reaction, at room temperature. The structure of the newly synthesized tripeptoid derivative was well characterized using elemental analysis, FTIR, NMR and mass spectral data.

A base-controlled synthesis of 2-substituted secondary and tertiary 1H-indole-3-carboxamides through PdCl(2)-catalyzed cyclization of o-alkynyltrifluoroacetanilides followed by isocyanide insertion has been developed. The reaction proceeds smoothly at ambient temperature using O(2) in air as the sole oxidant of the palladium catalyst.