A unified strategy to reverse-prenylated indole alkaloids: total syntheses of preparaherquamide, premalbrancheamide, and (+)-VM-55599.

A full account of our studies toward reverse-prenylated indole alkaloids that contain a bicyclo[2.2.2]core is described.

Bioinspired Metal-Free Formal Decarbonylation of α-Branched Aliphatic Aldehydes at Ambient Temperature.

A sequence of a Baeyer-Villiger oxidation and a Lewis acid-promoted reduction of the resulting formate with Et SiH enabled the metal-free formal decarbonylation of tertiary and secondary aliphatic aldehydes. The new methodology mimics the biosynthetic decarbonylation pathway through oxidative C-C bond cleavage rather than the C(O)-H bond activation known from conventional Tsuji-Wilkinson-type reactions. The substrate scope is complementary to existing transition-metal-catalyzed protocols.

Bioinspired chemical synthesis of monomeric and dimeric stephacidin A congeners.

Stephacidin A and its congeners are a collection of secondary metabolites that possess intriguing structural motifs. They stem from unusual biosynthetic sequences that lead to the incorporation of a prenyl or reverse-prenyl group into a bicyclo[2.2.

Synergistic Heterobimetallic Manifold for Expedient Manganese(I)-Catalyzed C-H Cyanation.

The manganese-catalyzed cyanation of inert C-H bonds was achieved within a heterobimetallic catalysis regime. The manganese(I) catalysis proved widely applicable and enabled C-H cyanations on indoles, pyrroles and thiophenes by facile C-H manganesation. The robustness of the manganese catalyst set the stage for the racemization-free C-H cyanation of amino acids with excellent levels of positional and chemo selectivity by the new cyanating agent NCFS.

Manganese(I)-Catalyzed Substitutive C-H Allylation.

The first manganese(I)-catalyzed C-H allylations with ample scope were achieved by carboxylate assistance. The highly selective C-H/C-O functionalizations proved viable with densely substituted allyl carbonates, and the organometallic C-H allylation strategy set the stage for expedient late-stage diversification with excellent levels of positional selectivity.

C-H alkenylations with alkenyl acetates, phosphates, carbonates, and carbamates by cobalt catalysis at 23 °C.

Inexpensive cobalt catalysts with N-heterocyclic carbene ligands enable direct arene alkenylations with easily accessible alkenyl acetates through regioselective C-H/C-O functionalizations in a stereoconvergent fashion. The versatile cobalt catalyst was broadly applicable and thus also allowed for the efficient conversion of alkenyl phosphates, carbonates, and carbamates at ambient temperature.

Synthesis of cyclopropyl-substituted furans by brønsted Acid promoted cascade reactions.

Chloroacetic acid promotes an efficient and diastereoselective intramolecular cascade reaction of electron-deficient ynenones to deliver products featuring a 2,3,5-trisubstituted furan bearing a fused cyclopropyl substituent at the 5-position. Synthetically relevant polycyclic building blocks featuring rings of various sizes and heteroatoms have been synthesized in high yield using this mild acid-catalyzed reaction.