An evaluation of whether the well-known deactivating effect of a 4,6-acetal protection group on glycosyl transfer is caused by torsional or an electronic effect from fixation of the 6-OH in the tg conformation was made. Two conformationally locked probe molecules, 2,4-dinitrophenyl 4,8-anhydro-7-deoxy-2,3,6-tri-O-methyl-beta-D-glycero-D-gluco-octopyranoside (18R) and the L-glycero-D-gluco isomer (18S), were prepared, and their rate of hydrolysis was compared to that of the flexible 2,4-dinitrophenyl 2,3,4,6-tetra-O-methyl-beta-D-glucopyranoside (21) and the locked 2,4-dinitrophenyl 4,6-O-methylidene-2,3-di-O-methyl-beta-D-glucopyranoside (26). The rate of hydrolysis at pH 6.5 was 21 > 18R > 18S > 26, which showed that the deactivating effect of the 4,6-methylene group is partially torsional and partially electronic. A comparison of the rate of acidic hydrolysis of the corresponding methyl alpha-glycosides likewise showed that the probe molecules 17S and 17R hydrolyzed significantly slower than methyl tetra-O-methyl-glucoside 19, confirming a deactivating effect of locking the saccharide in the (4)C(1) conformation. The experiments showed that the hydroxymethyl rotamers deactivate the rate of glycoside hydrolysis in the order tg >> gt > gg.

An environmentally friendly method for synthesis of amides is presented where a simple ruthenium catalyst mediates the direct coupling between an alcohol and an amine with the liberation of two molecules of dihydrogen. The active catalyst is generated in situ from an easily available ruthenium complex, an N-heterocyclic carbene and a phosphine. The reaction allows primary alcohols to be coupled with primary alkylamines to afford the corresponding secondary amides in good yields. The amide formation presumably proceeds through a catalytic cycle where the intermediate aldehyde and hemiaminal are both coordinated to the metal catalyst.

Glycosyl donors protected with bulky silyl protective groups (tert-butyldimethylsilyl, TBS), on the 2-, 3-, and 4-OH groups were found to have superior reactivity compared with benzylated thioglucosides. The enhanced reactivity is explained by the stereoelectronic effects associated with the conformational change induced by the silylation. A TBS silylated thioglucoside donor has axial OR groups, whereas a benzylated thioglucoside has equatorial OR groups, leading to much more favorable charge-dipole interactions in the transition state. This concept could be used to create "super armed" glucosyl, mannosyl, rhamnosyl, and galactosyl donors, which could cross-couple with the armed acceptors, phenyl 2,3,4-tri-O-benzyl-beta-D-thioglucoside or phenyl 2,3,6-tri-O-benzyl-beta-D-thioglucoside, to give the corresponding armed disaccharides in good to excellent yields.

The direct synthesis of amides from alcohols and amines is described with the simultaneous liberation of dihydrogen. The reaction does not require any stoichiometric additives or hydrogen acceptors and is catalyzed by ruthenium N-heterocyclic carbene complexes. Three different catalyst systems are presented that all employ 1,3-diisopropylimidazol-2-ylidene (IiPr) as the carbene ligand. In addition, potassium tert-butoxide and a tricycloalkylphosphine are required for the amidation to proceed. In the first system, the active catalyst is generated in situ from [RuCl(2)(cod)] (cod=1,5-cyclooctadiene), 1,3-diisopropylimidazolium chloride, tricyclopentylphosphonium tetrafluoroborate, and base. The second system uses the complex [RuCl(2)(IiPr)(p-cymene)] together with tricyclohexylphosphine and base, whereas the third system employs the Hoveyda-Grubbs 1st-generation metathesis catalyst together with 1,3-diisopropylimidazolium chloride and base. A range of different primary alcohols and amines have been coupled in the presence of the three catalyst systems to afford the corresponding amides in moderate to excellent yields. The best results are obtained with sterically unhindered alcohols and amines. The three catalyst systems do not show any significant differences in reactivity, which indicates that the same catalytically active species is operating. The reaction is believed to proceed by initial dehydrogenation of the primary alcohol to the aldehyde that stays coordinated to ruthenium and is not released into the reaction mixture. Addition of the amine forms the hemiaminal that undergoes dehydrogenation to the amide. A catalytic cycle is proposed with the {(IiPr)Ru(II)} species as the catalytically active components.

The first total synthesis of the C18-norditerpenoid aconitine alkaloid neofinaconitine and relay syntheses of neofinaconitine and 9-deoxylappaconitine from condelphine are reported. A modular, convergent synthetic approach involves initial Diels–Alder cycloaddition between two unstable components, cyclopropene 10 and cyclopentadiene 11. A second Diels–Alder reaction features the first use of an azepinone dienophile 8, with high diastereofacial selectivity achieved via rational design of the siloxydiene component 36 with a sterically-demanding bromine substituent. Subsequent Mannich-type N-acyliminium and radical cyclizations provide the complete hexacyclic skeleton 33 of the aconitine alkaloids. Key endgame transformations include installation of the C8-hydroxyl group via conjugate addition of water to a putative strained bridghead enone intermediate 45, and one-carbon oxidative truncation of the C4 sidechain to afford racemic neofinaconitine. Complete structural confirmation was provided by a concise relay synthesis of (+)-neofinaconitine and (+)-9-deoxylappaconitine from condelphine, with X-ray crystallographic analysis of the former clarifying the NMR spectral discrepancy between neofinaconitine and delphicrispuline, which were previously assigned identical structures.