Deciphering the Knoevenagel condensation: towards a catalyst-free and water-mediated process.

The Knoevenagel condensation constitutes one of the most well-studied and crucial transformations in organic chemistry, since it facilitates the synthesis of numerous valuable compounds. With the advent of green chemistry, several alternative protocols for the Knoevenagel reaction have been introduced and catalyst-free approaches to the Knoevenagel condensation have also been mentioned, however the harsh temperatures employed and the limited substrate scope restricted their application. Herein, we have performed an extensive study on the catalyst-free and water-mediated Knoevenagel reaction, with specific focus on optimising the green parameters and metrics of our methodology.

Green and sustainable approaches for the Friedel-Crafts reaction between aldehydes and indoles.

The synthesis of indoles and their derivatives, more specifically bis(indolyl)methanes (BIMs), has been an area of great interest in organic chemistry, since these compounds exhibit a range of interesting biological and pharmacological properties. BIMs are naturally found in cruciferous vegetables and have been shown to be effective antifungal, antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, and even anticancer agents. Traditionally, the synthesis of BIMs has been achieved upon the acidic condensation of an aldehyde with indole, utilizing a variety of protic or Lewis acids.

Friedel-Crafts arylation of aldehydes with indoles utilizing arylazo sulfones as the photoacid generator.

A versatile, inexpensive and sustainable protocol for the preparation of valuable bis-indolyl methanes visible light-mediated, metal-free Friedel-Crafts arylation has been developed. The procedure, that exploits the peculiar behavior of arylazo sulfones as non-ionic photoacid generators (PAGs), was applied to the conversion of a variety of aliphatic and aromatic aldehydes into diarylmethanes in good to highly satisfactory yields, employing a low-catalyst loading (0.5 mol%) and irradiation at 456 nm.

A General Metal-Free Protocol for the Visible-Light-Driven Protection of Carbonyls.

The protection of a carbonyl is a standard procedure to mask the reactivity of this group towards nucleophiles and reductants. The present work pointed out the potentialities of arylazo sulfones as non-ionic photoacid generators (PAGs) to promote the efficient conversion of aldehydes and ketones into acetals, ketals, and 1,3-oxazolidines upon visible-light irradiation. This approach employed mild conditions and exhibited an easy scalability and a broad scope (80 examples included).