Chemoselective conversion of biologically sourced polyols into chiral synthons.

Crude oil currently provides much of the world's energy, but it is also the source of many feedstock chemicals. Methodology for the conversion of biomass into useful chemicals has often focused on either complete deoxygenation or the production of high-volume platform chemicals. Here, we describe the chemoselective partial reduction of silyl-protected C6O6-derived polyols to produce a diverse set of oxygen-functionalized chiral synthons.

Gold-catalyzed diastereoselective cycloisomerization of alkylidene-cyclopropane-bearing 1,6-diynes.

An unprecedented gold-catalyzed diastereoselective cycloisomerization of 1,6-diynes bearing an alkylidene cyclopropane moiety has been developed. This methodology enables rapid access to a variety of 1,2-trimethylenenorbornanes, which are important building blocks in the preparations of abiotic and sesquiterpene core structures.

Metal-free deoxygenation of carbohydrates.

The conversion of readily available cellulosic biomass to valuable feedstocks and fuels is an attrative goal but a challenging transformation that requires the cleavage of multiple nonactivated CO bonds. Herein, the Lewis acid trispentafluorophenylborane (B(C6 F5 )3 ) is shown to catalyze the metal-free hydrosilylative reduction of monosaccharides and polysaccharides to give hydrocarbons with reduced oxygen content. The choice of the silane reductant influences the degree of deoxygenation, with diethylsilane effecting the complete reduction to produce hexanes while tertiary silanes give partially deoxygenated tetraol and triol products.

Iridium-catalyzed hydrosilylative reduction of glucose to hexane(s).

In light of diminishing petroleum feedstocks, there is significant interest in developing carbohydrate defunctionalization reactions. In this context we have examined the use of iridium pincer catalysts for the hydrosilylative reduction of sugars, and we report herein complete reduction of silyl-protected glucose to a mixture of hexane isomers.