We present (homepage: www.ufsm.br) herein the application of copper nanoparticles/diorganyl dichalcogenides to promote the synthesis of 2‐(organochalcogen)thiazoles via direct carbon‐hydrogen bond activation in thiazoles. A systematic study of the catalytic system revealed that the presence and amount of base played an essential role in this reaction. The results revealed that electron‐donating and electron‐withdrawing substituents, in the aromatic ring bonded to the chalcogen atom of diorganyl dichalcogenides, required one equiv. of base, while when neutral substituents were present two equiv. of base were needed to deliver the products in similar yields.magnified image

An iron-catalyzed system, using diorganyl diselenides as an organoselenium source, was used for the cyclization of 1,4-butyne-diols in the preparation of 3,4-bis(organoselanyl)-2,5-dihydrofurans. The optimized reaction conditions are compatible with many functional groups in 1,4-butyne-diols and diorganyl diselenides. In addition, this catalyst system was also efficient with diorganyl disulfides, but it did not work for diorganyl ditellurides. The same reaction conditions were also extended to pentyne-1,5-diol for the preparation of 4,5-bis(organoselanyl)-3,6-dihydro-2H-pyrans and to 4-amino-butynol for the preparation of 2,5-dihydro-1H-pyrrole derivatives. The synthetic utility of these heterocycles was studied using 5-bis(organoselanyl)-3,6-dihydro-2H-pyrans as substrate in a Kumada-type cross-coupling reaction.

The butylselanyl propargyl alcohols reacted with iodine to afford 3-iodoselenophenes. The change of nucleophile position from propargyl to homopropargyl was crucial for the aromatization and formation of selenophene rings. The experiments revealed that bromine and N-bromosuccinimide were not able to cyclize the butylselanyl propargyl alcohols; however, when the bromine source was copper(II) bromide the corresponding 3-bromoselenophenes were obtained in good yields. In addition, the reaction of butylselanyl propargyl alcohols with diorganyl diselenides catalyzed by copper(I) iodide gave the 3-(organoselanyl)selenophenes. The reaction took place with aromatic rings substituted by either electron-donating or -withdrawing groups in the alkynes and propargyl positions. The steric effects of substituents were dominant in determining the yields, whereas electronic effects had only a minor influence. Furthermore, by monitoring the reaction by H NMR, we were able to identify the key intermediate, which supported the elaboration of a proposed reaction mechanism. The 3-iodoselenophenes prepared allowed the synthesis of multifunctional selenophenes via application in metal-catalyzed coupling reactions, such as Sonogashira, Ullmann and Suzuki type reactions.

The optimized reaction conditions are compatible with many functional groups in the 1,4‐butynediols and diorganyl diselenides (II).

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