Darren Poole

All in a box: The intermolecular dearomatization reactions of β-naphthols with aziridines have been realized using the title catalyst. A newly designed Box–OH ligand [(S)-L1] was employed and proved to be efficient. The corresponding dearomatization product was transformed into a polycyclic core skeleton and a polyhydroxylated compound.

[Communication]
Dongxu Yang, Linqing Wang, Fengxia Han, Dan Li, Depeng Zhao, Rui Wang
Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., January 14, 2015, DOI: 10.1002/anie.201410257. Read article.

A new addition: A new ruthenium-catalyzed cyclization of ortho-(alkynyloxy)benzylamines to 1,3-benzoxazines is reported. Vinyl ruthenium carbenes are proposed as the key intermediates, and the mechanistic hypothesis supposes the first example of a nucleophilic addition of amines to vinyl ruthenium carbenes. Rearrangement of an internal C(sp) into a tetrasubstituted C(sp³) is highly remarkable. TMS=trimethylsilyl.

[Communication]
Carlos González-Rodríguez, José Ramón Suárez, Jesús A. Varela, Carlos Saá
Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., January 16, 2015, DOI: 10.1002/anie.201410284. Read article.

All about S: The rhodium-catalyzed enantioselective hydrothiolation of terminal monosubstituted allenes with aromatic and functionalized aliphatic thiols permits the atom-economic synthesis of valuable branched allylic thioethers and sulfones in high regio- and enantioselectivity. By varying the ligand and reaction conditions both aromatic and aliphatic thiols were tolerated.

[Communication]
Adrian B. Pritzius, Bernhard Breit
Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., January 16, 2015, DOI: 10.1002/anie.201411402. Read article.

Trimethoxylpyridine is an efficient ligand for promoting Pd-catalyzed ortho-C-H amination of both benzamides and triflyl-protected benzylamines. This finding provides guidance for the development of ligands that can improve or enable Pd^II-catalyzed C_sp²-H activation reactions directed by weakly coordinating functional groups.

[Communication]
Dajian Zhu, Guoqiang Yang, Jian He, Ling Chu, Gang Chen, Wei Gong, Ke Chen, Martin D. Eastgate, Jin-Quan Yu
Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., January 16, 2015, DOI: 10.1002/anie.201408651. Read article.

Benzo[e]indazole derivatives are obtained by a sequential triple C-H activation directed by a pyrazole and an amide group. This cascade reaction demonstrates that the often problematic competing C-H activation pathways in the presence of multiple directing groups can be utilized to improve step economy in synthesis. Pyrazole as a relatively weak coordinating group is shown to direct C_sp³-H activation.

[Communication]
Weibo Yang, Shengqing Ye, Dewey Fanning, Timothy Coon, Yvonne Schmidt, Paul Krenitsky, Dean Stamos, Jin-Quan Yu
Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., January 16, 2015, DOI: 10.1002/anie.201410462. Read article.