Selective Degradation of Technically Relevant Lignin to Vanillic Acid and Protocatechuic Acid.

A new and practical method for the thermal degradation of technically relevant bio-based lignin is presented. By heating a solution of lignin in highly concentrated caustic potash, vanillic acid is almost exclusively obtained in yields up to 10.6 wt %.

Stereospecific Acylative Suzuki-Miyaura Cross-Coupling: General Access to Optically Active α-Aryl Carbonyl Compounds.

A novel strategy for the stereospecific Pd-catalyzed acylative cross-coupling of enantiomerically enriched alkylboron compounds has been developed. The protocol features an extremely high level of enantiospecificity to allow facile access to synthetically challenging and valuable chiral ketones and carboxylic acid derivatives. The use of a sterically encumbered and electron-rich phosphine ligand proved to be crucial for the success of the reaction.