Regioselective Synthesis of Phenanthridines via Pd(II)-Catalyzed Annulative C()-H Activation.

A robust synthesis of phenanthridines has been described via Pd(II)-catalyzed domino C(sp)-H activation/-arylation using oxime esters with aryl acyl peroxides in a highly regioselective manner. This protocol is compatible with acetophenone as well as benzophenone-derived oxime esters and allows modular construction of functionalized phenanthridines with wide tolerance of electronic functionality. Further transformations were conducted to synthesize key building blocks, and control experiments were performed to understand the plausible reaction mechanism.

Measuring the unseen: mobilizing citizen scientists to monitor groundwater in Nepal.

Groundwater-level monitoring provides crucial information on the nature and status of aquifers and their response to stressors like climate change, groundwater extraction, and land use changes. Therefore, the development of a spatially distributed long-term monitoring network is indispensable for sustainable groundwater resource management. Despite being one of our greatest unseen resources, groundwater systems are too often poorly understood, ineffectively managed, and unsustainably used.