The formation of carbon-carbon bonds is a fundamental transformation in organic synthesis. In spite of the myriad methods available, advantageous methodologies in terms of selectivity, availability of starting materials, operational simplicity, functional-group tolerance, environmental sustainability and economy are in constant demand. In this context, the development of new cross-coupling reactions that use catalysts based on inexpensive and non-toxic metals is attracting increasing attention. Similarly, efficient processes that do not require a metal catalyst are of extraordinary interest. Here, we report a new and efficient metal-free carbon-carbon bond-forming coupling between tosylhydrazones and boronic acids. This reaction is very general and functional-group tolerant. As the required tosylhydrazones are easily generated from carbonyl compounds, it can be seen as a reductive coupling of carbonyls, a process of high synthetic relevance that requires several steps using other methodologies.

The development of transition metal catalysts capable of promoting non-natural transformations within living cells can open significant new avenues in chemical and cell biology. Unfortunately, the complexity of the cell makes it extremely difficult to translate standard organometallic chemistry to living environments. Therefore, progress in this field has been very slow, and many challenges, including the possibility of localizing active metal catalysts into specific subcellular sites or organelles, remain to be addressed. Herein, we report a designed ruthenium complex that accumulates preferentially inside the mitochondria of mammalian cells, while keeping its ability to react with exogenous substrates in a bioorthogonal way. Importantly, we show that the subcellular catalytic activity can be used for the confined release of fluorophores, and even allows selective functional alterations in the mitochondria by the localized transformation of inert precursors into uncouplers of the membrane potential.

The viability of building artificial metabolic pathways within a cell will depend on our ability to design biocompatible and orthogonal catalysts capable of achieving non-natural transformations. In this context, transition metal complexes offer unique possibilities to develop catalytic reactions that do not occur in nature. However, translating the potential of metal catalysts to living cells poses numerous challenges associated to their biocompatibility, and their stability and reactivity in crowded aqueous environments. Here we report a gold-mediated C–C bond formation that occurs in complex aqueous habitats, and demonstrate that the reaction can be translated to living mammalian cells. Key to the success of the process is the use of designed, water-activatable gold chloride complexes. Moreover, we demonstrate the viability of achieving the gold-promoted process in parallel with a ruthenium-mediated reaction, inside living cells, and in a bioorthogonal and mutually orthogonal manner.

Ethers made easy: Heating a solution containing a tosylhydrazone and either a phenol or an alcohol in the presence of K2CO3 leads to the corresponding ethers (see scheme; MW=microwave, Ts=tosyl). The reaction is fairly general for the preparation of aryl alkyl and alkyl alkyl ethers, and represents a new method for the reductive etherification of carbonyl compounds.