Publications by authors named "Maria C de la Torre"

Procedures for the preparation of transition metal complexes having intact bicyclic cepham or penam systems as ligands have been developed. Starting from readily available 4-azido-2-azetidinones, a synthetic approach has been tuned using a copper-catalyzed azide-alkyne cycloaddition between 3-azido-2-azetinones and alkynes, followed by methylation and transmetalation to Au(I) and Ir(III) complexes from the mesoionic carbene Ag(I) complexes. This methodology was applied to 6-azido penam and 7-azido cepham derivatives to build 6-(1,2,3-triazolyl)penam and 7-(1,2,3-triazolyl)cepham proligands, which upon methylation and metalation with Au(I) and Ir(III) complexes yielded products derived from the coordination of the metal to the penam C and cepham C positions, preserving intact the bicyclic structure of the penicillin and cephalosporin scaffolds.

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Article Synopsis
  • The reaction of bis(1,2,3-triazol-1-yl)methane derivatives with BuLi and different aldehydes produced new neutral ligand precursors with alcohol groups.
  • The characteristics of these compounds varied based on the steric effects of the aldehydes used, with different functionalization patterns observed.
  • The resulting precursors were used to create efficient dinuclear organometallic complexes with aluminum and zinc, which demonstrated potential for catalyzing selective polymerization reactions.
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1,2,3-Triazolylidene MIC M-complexes (M = Au, Pd, Pt) having 2-azetidinones and penicillin G substituents at the triazole ring were prepared by CuAAC on 2-azetidinones having a terminal alkyne tethered at N1, followed by alkylation of the 1,2,3-triazole ring and transmetallation [Au(I), Pd(II) and Pt(II)]. The Au-MIC complexes efficiently catalyze the regioselective cycloisomerization of enynes, while the Pt-MIC complexes were efficient catalysts in hydrosilylation reactions.

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1,2,3-Triazole-derived mesoionic carbenes (MICs) having a chiral sulfur functional group at the C5 position are easily available through a CuAAC between chiral alkynyl sulfoxides and different azides. The MICs form complexes with several metals (Au, Ag, Ir, Rh, and Ru) that are enantiomerically pure. Moreover, enantiomerically pure MIC sulfinilimines are obtained from the corresponding sulfoxide retaining the chirality.

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Enantiopure bimetallic systems containing three different elements of chirality, namely a main-group-based chiral center (sulfur), a transition-metal chiral center (rhodium or iridium), and a planar chiral element (ferrocene or ruthenocene), have been prepared by a sequence of diastereoselective reactions. The chirality of the chiral sulfur center attached to C-5 of a 1,2,3-triazolylidene mesoionic carbene (MIC) ligand coordinated to a metal (Ir, Rh) was transferred through the formation of bimetallic complexes having a chiral-at-metal center and a planar chiral metallocene by C-H activation of the sandwich moiety (M=Fe, Ru). The sense of the planar chirality formed in this sequence of reactions depended on the nature of the ligands at the metal center of the starting complex.

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Overuse and misuse of antibacterial drugs has resulted in bacteria resistance and in an increase in mortality rates due to bacterial infections. Therefore, there is an imperative necessity of new antibacterial drugs. Bio-organometallic derivatives of antibacterial agents offer an opportunity to discover new active antibacterial drugs.

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Mesoionic carbenes (MICs) derived from triazolium salts that contain chiral sulfoxide or sulfoximine functional groups were used to construct enantiopure chiral-at-metal Ir and Rh half-sandwich complexes through the synthetic sequence of MIC complexation/C-H aromatic activation. The process was efficient and diastereoselective for the formation of enantiopure five-membered metallacycles. The use of the enantiomers of the chiral sulfur groups allowed us to prepare complexes that had opposite configurations at the metal center.

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An unprecedented stereoselective domino reaction of 1,6-enynes with an aryl ring at C3-C4 in the presence of gold(I) catalysts at low temperature is described. This process involves a novel 5-exo-dig cycloisomerization-dimerization sequence to afford formal Diels-Alder adducts that undergo a smooth gold-catalyzed double bond migration at room temperature. In addition, the first examples of the gold mesoionic carbene mediated [2+2+2] cycloaddition of these enynes with benzaldehyde are reported.

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An NMR comparative study of 1,2,3-triazole and triazolium anion recognition units containing sulfoxide, sulfone, and sulfoximine groups at C unveils an enhancement in binding ability up to ≈1 kcal/mol in acetone-d correlated with a theoretical increase of H acidity. DFT calculations provide insight into binding modes in line with experimental data for these receptors.

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The [3 + 2] cycloaddition of two different metal-bound azides, [(Mecyclam)Co(N)]ClO and (η-CH)(dppe)Ru(N), (dppe = PhPCHCHPPh) with Cr(0) and W(0) (ethoxy)(alkynyl) Fischer carbenes has been efficiently used for the preparation of polymetallic metal-carbene complexes. The presence of the κ-bonded metal triazole causes a significant influence on the electronic properties, structure, and reactivity of this new class of Fischer alkoxycarbenes. For the Ru(II) derivatives, their chemical behavior is considerably influenced by the interaction of the (η-CH)(dppe)Ru-triazole moiety with the empty p-carbene orbital that provokes a noticeable decrease in the electrophilicity of the M═C carbon (manifested by the shielding of the C NMR chemical shifts).

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New and well-characterized Ag-bis(1,2,3-triazolylidene) complexes having enantiopure (S)-sulfoxides upon sequential treatment with alcohols and Au(I) form separable mixtures of regioisomeric C-unsubstituted Au-1,2,3-triazolylidene complexes. Mechanistic studies and DFT calculations support a desulfinylation process for in situ generated free triazolylidene salts.

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A general process for the synthesis of alkynyl mono and dimetallic metallocenes and half-sandwich complexes has been developed. This approach uses the addition of lithium derivatives of sandwich or half-sandwich complexes to arylsulfonylacetylenes. The reaction occurs in two steps (lithiation and anti-Michael addition to alkynylsulfone followed by elimination of the ArSO moiety) to form the corresponding mono- or bimetallic alkynes in clearly higher yields, simpler experimental procedures, and more environmentally benign conditions than those of the so far reported for the synthesis of this type of products.

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Gold mesoionic carbenes having a chiral sulfoxide group attached to the C4 position of the five membered ring have been prepared and tested as catalysts in the cycloisomerization of enynes. These new catalysts are very efficient, with the sulfoxide moiety playing a key role in their activity and the N1-substituent in control of the regioselectivity of these processes.

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A smooth catalytic method to use phenols as the nucleophilic partner in the Nicholas reaction has been developed. The method uses either Ag(I) or Au(I) catalysts with AgClO4 or AgBF4 as the most efficient catalysts tested. Neither additional additives nor cocatalysts were required and the formation of the corresponding phenol adducts occurred in excellent yields.

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A two-step synthesis of gold mesoionic carbene complexes containing estrone moieties has been developed. The method uses the methylation of the triazole nucleus, followed by the treatment of the triazolium salt with Ag2O and transmetalation with [AuCl(SMe2)]. Mono-, bi-, tri-, and tetrametallic gold complexes can be obtained depending on the structure of the starting triazolium salts.

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Cu(I) -catalyzed 1,3-cycloaddition of azides and alkynes (CuAAC) is one of the most powerful synthetic methodologies known. However, its use to prepare well-defined multimetallic structures is underdeveloped. Apart from the applications of this reaction to anchor different organometallic reagents to surfaces, polymers, and dendrimers, only isolated examples of CuAAC with metal-η(1) -alkyne and metal-azide complexes to prepare multimetal entities have been reported.

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Pt versus Au: Platinum-catalysed addition of nucleophiles to allenes follows a distinctly different pathway to the process catalysed by gold(I) complexes; the platinum catalyst leads to different products with indoles involving a bisindolylation reaction, whereas gold(I) gives allyl indoles from a single addition (see scheme).

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Reported herein is the discovery of a novel family of "clicked" estradiol-based LMWGs whose gelation ability highly depends on the gelator symmetry. These LMWGs that gel different organic solvents in the presence of H(2)O even at concentrations as low as 0.04 wt% are readily accessible using "click" chemistry.

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Two parallel approaches for preparing diverse and highly symmetrical homohybrids derived from a series of mono- and diterpenes, steroids, and alkaloids are reported. Both procedures are based on the mono-addition of bis(alkynyl) dilithium reagents to natural products having a carbonyl group to produce the corresponding alkynyl derivatives. The Glaser-Hay Cu-promoted homocoupling of these alkynyl natural product mono-adducts as well as the Huisgen Cu-catalyzed azide-alkyne cycloaddition (CuAAC) reaction resulted in the synthesis of steroid-, terpene-, and alkaloid-based homohybrid derivatives incorporating diverse spacers to join the natural product scaffolds.

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A straightforward approach to macrocycles having four estrone-derived nuclei by the sequential Cu-catalyzed Huisgen azide-alkyne cycloaddition-Glaser-Eglington Cu homocoupling has been developed. Due to its efficiency and simplicity, this sequence is useful for application to different natural product scaffolds.

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The reaction of natural product derived propargylic alcohols with CpCo(CO)2 produces three new types of natural product hybrids having two or three terpene or steroid fragments. The tether joining the natural product subunits is built during the reaction. Type 1 hybrids have two terpene or steroid moieties joined by a CpCo-cyclobutadiene tether, with the two units disposed in a 1,2-arrangement (9, 14, 22).

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The intermolecular Nicholas reaction of terpene-based scaffolds is an excellent access to natural product hybrid compounds. These intermolecular reactions have a low selectivity and are scarcely efficient for non-conjugated cations, but they are highly efficient to produce new terpene structures through an intramolecular reaction pathway. The use of cations derived from natural product derived [Co(2)(CO)(6)]-enyne complexes is, in contrast, a highly efficient regio- and stereoselective procedure to prepare very complex structures, incorporating diverse densely functionalized or labile moieties.

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Terpene alkyne systems act as templates in the preparation of natural product hybrids and in macrocyclic structures having up to four terpene units and eight Co-atoms, which are built by using the Nicholas reaction.

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[reaction: see text] New alpha-onoceradiene analogues having a terpene homodimer skeleton are accessible from Weinreb's amide 2 derived from commercial (R)-(+)-sclareolide using an intermolecular metathesis reaction as the key step to build the linker joining both terpene moieties.

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The very low reduction potential of the chelate Fe(III)-EDDHA (EDDHA = ethylenediamine N,N'-bis(2-hydroxy)phenylacetic acid) makes it unreactive in photochemically or chemically induced electron transfer processes. The lack of reactivity of this complex toward light invalidates photodegradation as an alternative mechanism for environmental elimination. However, in spite of its low reduction potential, the biological reduction of Fe(III)-EDDHA is very effective.

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