Microwave-Assisted Syntheses in Recyclable Ionic Liquids: Photoresists Based on Renewable Resources.

The copoly(2-oxazoline) pNonOx80 -stat-pDc(=) Ox20 can be synthesized from the cationic ring-opening copolymerization of 2-nonyl-2-oxazoline NonOx and 2-dec-9'-enyl-2-oxazoline Dc(=) Ox in the ionic liquid n-hexyl methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate under microwave irradiation in 250 g/batch quantities. The polymer precipitates upon cooling, enabling easy recovery of the polymer and the ionic liquid. Both monomers can be obtained from fatty acids from renewable resources.

Sintered silicon carbide: a new ceramic vessel material for microwave chemistry in single-mode reactors.

Silicon carbide (SiC) is a strongly microwave absorbing chemically inert ceramic material that can be utilized at extremely high temperatures due to its high melting point and very low thermal expansion coefficient. Microwave irradiation induces a flow of electrons in the semiconducting ceramic that heats the material very efficiently through resistance heating mechanisms. The use of SiC carbide reaction vessels in combination with a single-mode microwave reactor provides an almost complete shielding of the contents inside from the electromagnetic field.

Investigating the existence of nonthermal/specific microwave effects using silicon carbide heating elements as power modulators.

The use of passive heating elements made out of chemically inert sintered silicon carbide (SiC) allows microwave transparent or poorly absorbing reaction mixtures to be heated under microwave conditions. The cylindrical heating inserts efficiently absorb microwave energy and subsequently transfer the generated thermal energy via conduction phenomena to the reaction mixture. In the case of low to medium microwave absorbing reaction mixtures, the addition of SiC heating elements results in significant reductions (30-70%) in the required microwave power as compared to experiments performed without heating element at the same temperature.

Nonthermal microwave effects revisited: on the importance of internal temperature monitoring and agitation in microwave chemistry.

The concept of nonthermal microwave effects has received considerable attention in recent years and is the subject of intense debate in the scientific community. Nonthermal microwave effects have been postulated to result from a direct stabilizing interaction of the electric field with specific (polar) molecules in the reaction medium that is not related to a macroscopic temperature effect. In order to probe the existence of nonthermal microwave effects, four synthetic transformations (Diels-Alder cycloaddition, alkylation of triphenylphosphine and 1,2,4-triazole, direct amide bond formation) were reevaluated under both microwave dielectric heating and conventional thermal heating.

An algorithm for the deconvolution of mass spectroscopic patterns in isotope labeling studies. Evaluation for the hydrogen-deuterium exchange reaction in ketones.

An easy to use computerized algorithm for the determination of the amount of each labeled species differing in the number of incorporated isotope labels based on mass spectroscopic data is described and evaluated. Employing this algorithm, the microwave-assisted synthesis of various alpha-labeled deuterium ketones via hydrogen-deuterium exchange with deuterium oxide was optimized with respect to time, temperature, and degree of labeling. For thermally stable ketones the exchange of alpha-protons was achieved at 180 degrees C within 40-200 min.

High-throughput microwave-assisted organic synthesis: moving from automated sequential to parallel library-generation formats in silicon carbide microtiter plates.

A 48 deep-well microtiter plate system for sealed vessel parallel microwave synthesis is described. The plate consists of a standard 6 x 8 matrix of 48 wells with a maximum working volume of 300 microL and is made out of strongly microwave-absorbing sintered silicon carbide. In combination with an alumina sealing plate equipped with adequate conical bore holes for sample withdrawal, the setup can be used for microwave processing at temperatures up to approximately 200 degrees C and 20 bar of pressure.

5-aroyl-3,4-dihydropyrimidin-2-one library generation via automated sequential and parallel microwave-assisted synthesis techniques.

An efficient two-step synthetic pathway toward the preparation of diversely substituted 5-aroyl-3,4-dihydropyrimidin-2-ones is realized. The protocol involves an initial trimethylsilyl chloride-mediated Biginelli multicomponent reaction involving S-ethyl acetothioacetate, aromatic aldehydes, and ureas as building blocks to generate a set of 3,4-dihydropyrimidine-5-carboxylic acid thiol esters. These thiol esters serve as starting materials for a subsequent Pd-catalyzed Cu-mediated Liebeskind-Srogl cross-coupling reaction with boronic acids to provide the desired 5-aroyl-3,4-dihydropyrimidin-2-one derivatives.

Silicon carbide passive heating elements in microwave-assisted organic synthesis.

Microwave-assisted organic synthesis in nonpolar solvents is investigated utilizing cylinders of sintered silicon carbide (SiC)--a chemically inert and strongly microwave absorbing material--as passive heating elements (PHEs). These heating inserts absorb microwave energy and subsequently transfer the generated thermal energy via conduction phenomena to the reaction mixture. The use of passive heating elements allows otherwise microwave transparent or poorly absorbing solvents such as hexane, carbon tetrachloride, tetrahydrofuran, dioxane, or toluene to be effectively heated to temperatures far above their boiling points (200-250 degrees C) under sealed vessel microwave conditions.

Symmetrical bisquinolones via metal-catalyzed cross-coupling and homocoupling reactions.

Functionalized 4,4'-bisquinolones can be efficiently synthesized by microwave-assisted palladium(0)-catalyzed one-pot borylation/Suzuki cross-coupling reactions or via nickel(0)-mediated homocouplings of 4-chloroquinolin-2(1H)-one precursors. Both methods are also applicable to other types of symmetrical biaryls.