Phosphines were previously unusable as Pummerer-type nucleophiles due to competing redox chemistry with sulfoxides. Here we circumvent this problem to achieve a formal phosphine Pummerer reaction that offers thioalkyl phosphonium salts that, in turn, give rise to diverse vinyl sulfides via Wittig olefinations. Thirty vinyl sulfides are thus prepared from (alkylthioalkyl)triphenyl phosphonium salts and aldehydes. The hydrolysis of these vinyl sulfides offers an efficient and versatile twostep one-carbon homologation of aldehydes to ketones.

Fluorescent dyes have been widely utilized as chemical sensors and in photodynamic therapy, but exploitation of their redox-active nature in chemical reactions has remained mostly unexplored. This report describes the isolation of a 4,4-difluoro-4-bora-3a,4a-diaza-s-indacene (BODIPY)-based radical. The redox-active nature of the BODIPY compound can be utilized in combination with a guanidine center, the basicity of which can be manipulated by greater than 14 pK units, to promote the conversion of protons and electrons into H-atoms for transfer to substrate molecules.

We evaluated the influence of solvent on the alumina-promoted C3-alkylation of indoles with α,β-unsaturated ketones. We found that lipophilic solvents were generally superior to hydrophilic ones with hexanes offering the 3-alkyl indole products in high yields. Thus, we demonstrate an inexpensive and procedurally simple new process that pairs acidic alumina with hexanes to achieve this important Michael alkylation. The substrate scope includes twenty-four examples with reaction yields ranging from 61 to 96%. Scheme 1. Lewis Acids used for alkylation of indoles with α,βunsaturated ketones.

A 1,2-regioselective reduction of α,β-unsaturated ketones to their corresponding allylic alcohols is accomplished with NaBH 4 in the presence of acidic activated alumina rehydrated to the Brockmann II grade by adding 3% w/w water. The substrate scope includes eight ketones reduced in high regio-and diastereoselectivity to their corresponding allylic alcohols. This is the first example of the strategy of systematically tuning the surface chemistry of alumina via partial rehydration in order to modulate selectivity in a reaction. Alumina is an appealing alternative to the common Luche reduction additive, CeCl 3 , from the perspective of cost and procedural simplicity.

Fluorescent dyes have been widely utilized as chemical sensors and in photodynamic therapy, but exploitation of their redox‐active nature in chemical reactions has remained mostly unexplored. This report describes the isolation of a 4,4‐difluoro‐4‐bora‐3a,4a‐diaza‐s‐indacene (BODIPY)‐based radical. The redox‐active nature of the BODIPY compound can be utilized in combination with a guanidine center, the basicity of which can be manipulated by greater than 14 pKa units, to promote the conversion of protons and electrons into H‐atoms for transfer to substrate molecules.