Thiourea-Mediated Halogenation of Alcohols.

The halogenation of alcohols under mild conditions expedited by the presence of substoichiometric amounts of thiourea additives is presented. The amount of thiourea added dictates the pathway of the reaction, which may diverge from the desired halogenation reaction toward oxidation of the alcohol, in the absence of thiourea, or toward starting material recovery when excess thiourea is used. Both bromination and chlorination were highly efficient for primary, secondary, tertiary, and benzyl alcohols and tolerate a broad range of functional groups.

Inherently Chiral Bambus[4]urils.

A new class of bambus[4]urils (BU[4]s) composed of asymmetric ,'-disubstituted glycoluril subunits with different alkyl groups were designed, synthesized, and fully characterized by NMR techniques and X-ray crystallography. Structural studies showed that four macrocyclic diastereoisomers are possible: two symmetric achiral macrocycles and two macrocycles that are "inherently" chiral. The relative "head-to-tail" arrangement of the -substituents in BnMeBU[4], , clearly observed by X-ray spectroscopy analysis, determines the overall symmetry of the bambusuril structure.

A practical and convenient protocol for the synthesis of (E)-α,β-unsaturated acids.

α,β-Unsaturated acids are very useful and versatile reagents in organic synthesis. A novel, practical, and convenient catalytic protocol comprising FeCl3·6H2O (0.5 mol %) and H2O (1 equiv) in CH3NO2 is described for the rapid synthesis of α,β-unsaturated acids with high E-stereoselectivity under both microwave and conventional heating conditions with high TON and TOF values.

Enantiopure synthesis of side chain-modified α-amino acids and 5-cis-alkylprolines.

A short, concise synthesis of enantiopure, side chain-modified α-amino acids such as 4-oxo-L-norvaline, 6-oxo-L-homonorleucine, and 5-cis-alkyl prolines is described. Knoevenagel condensation of l-aminocarboxylate-derived β-ketoesters with aldehydes followed by reductive decarboxylation results in unnatural α-amino acids in good yield. A fluorescent amino acid is synthesized using a similar protocol.