No abstract

A visible-light-induced deboronative alkylarylation of acrylamides with boronic acids was developed via a tandem reaction process.

A novel organocatalyzed direct aldol reaction of aldehydes to silyl glyoxylates is disclosed. This method provides an efficient route to α-hydroxysilanes with excellent enantioselectivities (up to 99% ee) and high diastereoselectivities (up to >20:1 dr). In the new activation model of silyl glyoxylates, the hydrogen bond is critical to the reaction. A carbonyl group directly attached to silicon in acylsilanes could be activated by coordination to the proton of hydroxyl and carboxylic acid via a hydrogen bond. Moreover, commercially available cis-l-4-hydroxyproline is an ideal organocatalyst for activating both aldehydes and acylsilanes.

Construction of porous organic polymers (POPs) as asymmetric catalysts remains as an important but challenging task. Herein, we exploit the "bottom-up" strategy to facilely synthesize an α,α,α',α'-tetraaryl-1,3-dioxolane-4,5-dimethanol (TADDOL)-based chiral porous polymer (TADDOL-CPP) for highly efficient asymmetric catalysis. Constructed through the covalent linkages among the three-dimensional rigid monomers, TADDOL-CPP possesses hierarchical porous structure, high Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) surface area, together with abundant and uniformly-distributed chiral sites. In the presence of [Ti(OiPr)4], TADDOL-CPP acts as a highly efficient and recyclable catalyst in the asymmetric addition of diethylzinc (Et2Zn) to aromatic aldehydes. Based on the direct observation of the key intermediates, the reaction mechanism has been revealed by solid-state (13)C magic-angle spinning (MAS) NMR spectroscopy. In combination with the catalytic testing results, characterization on the working catalyst provides further information for understanding the structure-activity relationship. We suggest that the catalytic activity of TADDOL-CPP is largely affected by the structural rigidity, cooperative catalysis, local chiral environment, and hierarchical porous framework. We expect that the information obtained herein will benefit to the designed synthesis of robust POP catalysts toward practical applications.

A novel catalyst-free addition reaction of thiols to silyl glyoxylates is developed in water, providing an efficient route for the synthesis of α-hydroxysilanes.