Diastereodivergent formal[4+1]cycloaddition of azoalkenes as one-carbon synthons

The first diastereodivergent formal[4+1]cycloaddition reactions of azoalkenes with p-quinone methides(pQMs)have been accomplished.The reported reaction occurred via a domino oxa-1,4-addition/1,6-addition process,allowing the use of common azoalkenes as C1 synthons.A broad range of 2,3-dihydrobenzofurans was smoothly prepared in good yields and with reversible diastereoselectivities.The steric hindrance and hydrogenbonding interaction were proposed to account for the two different modes of diastereo-control.The projected reaction features the employment of azoalkene as carbene-like C1 synthon,mild conditions,broad substrate scope and tunable diastereoselectivity.

[4+1]Annulation of in situ generated azoalkenes with amines:A powerful approach to access 1-substituted 1,2,3-triazoles

1-Substituted 1,2,3-triazoles represents‘privileged’structural scaffolds of many clinical pharmaceuticals.However,the traditional methods for their preparation mainly rely on thermal[3+2]cycloaddition of potentially dangerous acetylene and azides.Here we report a base-mediated[4+1]annulation of azoalkenes generated in situ from readily available difluoroacetaldehyde N-tosylhydrazones(DFHZ-Ts)with amines under relatively mild conditions.This azide-and acetylene-free strategy provides facile access to diverse 1-substituted 1,2,3-triazole derivatives in high yield in a regiospecific manner.This transformation has great functional group tolerance and can suit a broad substrate scope.Furthermore,the application of this novel methodology in the gram-scale synthesis of an antibiotic drug PH-027 and in the late-stage derivatization of several bioactive small molecules and clinical drugs demonstrated its generality,practicability and applicability.

Catalytic Asymmetric[4+1]Spiroannulation ofα-Bromo-βNaphthols with Azoalkenes by an Electrophilic Dearomatization/S_(RN)1-Debromination Approach

An enantioselective[4+1]spiroannulation ofαbromo-β-naphthols with azoalkenes has been developed for the one-step construction of a new class of pyrazoline-based spirocyclic molecules.Using chiral Cu(II)/Box catalysts,asymmetric induction was achieved with high levels of enantioselectivity[up to 99:1 enantiomeric ratio(er)].Notably,α-chloroandα-iodo-substitutedβ-naphthols were also tolerated by this reaction.Mechanistic studies disclosed that this process was triggered by electrophilefacilitated dearomatization ofα-bromo-β-naphthols and followed by the debromination via SRN 1-subsitution with in situ-formed N-nucleophile.The chiral copper(II)-species,bound with azoalkene moiety,was assumed to control the enantiodiscrimination over the naphthoxy C-radical that was generated from the debromination step.Moreover,the potential utility of this protocol was greatly amplified by the derivatization of spirocyclic products through oxidative dearomatization of the other aromatic ring in the naphthyl fragment,providing a rather attractive route for the rapid generation of synthetically more valuable doubly dearomatized architectures.