How Cultural Practices Influence the Understanding and Emotional Intensity of Mexican Children's Memories of Death Events.

This study assessed whether a sample of 43 children in Puebla, Mexico would show the Fading Affect Bias (FAB) for memories of the death of loved ones or pets and for general negative memories. FAB is a phenomenon in which emotional intensity associated with unpleasant memories fades faster than affect in pleasant memories. Mexican children showed FAB across negative and death memories.

Piperidine-Iodine as Efficient Dual Catalyst for the One-Pot, Three-Component Synthesis of Coumarin-3-Carboxamides.

A simple and efficient one-pot, three-component synthetic method for the preparation of coumarin-3-carboxamides was carried out by the reaction of salicylaldehyde, aliphatic primary/secondary amines, and diethylmalonate. The protocol employs piperidine-iodine as a dual system catalyst and ethanol, a green solvent. The main advantages of this approach are that it is a metal-free and clean reaction, has low catalyst loading, and requires no tedious workup.

Tandem C(sp)-H Arylation/Oxidation and Arylation/Allylic Substitution of Isoindolinones.

Isoindolinones comprise an important class of medicinally active compounds. Herein we report a straightforward functionalization of the isoindolinones with aryl bromides (22 examples) using a Pd(OAc)/NIXANTPHOS-based catalyst system. Additionally 3-aryl 3-hydroxy isoindolinone derivatives, which exhibit anti-tumor activity, can be accessed via a tandem reaction.

Umpolung Synthesis of Diarylmethylamines via Palladium-Catalyzed Arylation of -Benzyl Aldimines.

An umpolung synthesis of diarylmethylamine derivatives is presented. This reaction entails a Pd catalyzed arylation of 1,3-diaryl-2-azaallyl anions, generated from -benzyl aldimines. A Pd(NIXANTPHOS)-based catalyst together with hindered silylamide bases enabled the coupling of aldimines with aryl bromides in good to excellent yields without product isomerization.

Palladium-Catalyzed Benzylic C-H Arylation of Azaarylmethylamines.

A direct C-H functionalization approach to produce aryl(azaaryl)methylamines from azaarylmethylamines without directing groups is described. Under conditions where the azaarylmethylamines' C-H is reversibly deprotonated, a Pd(OAc)(2)/NIXANTPHOS-based catalyst couples the resulting carbanions with various aryl halides to provide aryl(azaaryl)methylamines. This umpolung strategy directly provides tertiary amines without protecting or activating groups.

Enantio- and diastereoselective organocatalytic α-alkylation of aldehydes with 3-substituted 2-(bromomethyl)acrylates.

The catalytic direct α-alkylation of aldehydes with 2-(bromomethyl)acrylates has been accomplished, giving rise to α-branched and functionalized aldehydes of high diastereo- and enantiopurity. The influence of the nature of the ester group of the acrylates in reaction stereoselectivity and especially in reactivity is investigated. Optimum conditions implicate the use of phenyl acrylates in conjunction with organocatalyst 8.