Over the last thirty years organic azides have drawn a great deal of attention as radical traps for carbon- and heteroatom-centered radicals, both in intra- and in intermolecular processes. The resulting intermediates (nitrogen-centered radicals such as triazenyls, aminyls, or even iminyls) can be conveniently employed in the synthesis of a variety of cyclic and acyclic nitrogen-containing compounds.

An explorative study of the Thiol-Yne Coupling (TYC) reaction has been carried out using an aliphatic (1-octyne) and an aromatic alkyne (phenylacetylene) and two alkanethiols (methyl thioglycolate and N-acetyl-L-cysteine methyl ester). The outcomes of the TYC reactions strongly depend on the experimental conditions (e.g., temperature, solvent, and alkyne/thiol ratio), but these can be properly adjusted to achieve selective production of either mono- or bis-coupling products. With respect to 1-octyne, phenylacetylene undergoes notably easier radical hydrothiolation, further showing a notably higher aptitude for monohydrothiolation exclusive of bis-hydrothiolation. The overall findings were exploited in glycosylation of cysteine derivatives as well as of cysteine-containing peptides. A sugar featuring an arylacetylene moiety gave rise to a true click-reaction, that is, glycosylation of the tripeptide glutathione in its native form, by means of virtually equimolar amounts of reagents. This reaction was successfully applied, under physiological conditions, to a cysteine-containing nonapeptide with marked advantages over the analogous Thiol-Ene Coupling (TEC) derivatization. A TYC/TEC sequence affording bis-armed cysteine derivatives through dual functionalization of an alkynyl sugar was additionally devised.

Aromatic azides are inert toward triethylsilane under thermal conditions in the presence of a radical initiator, but in the presence of additional catalytic amounts of tert-dodecanethiol, they afford anilinosilanes and thence the corresponding anilines in virtually quantitative yields.

Aryl radicals react with 2-(2-phenylethynyl)phenyl isothiocyanate through a novel radical cascade reaction entailing formation of alpha-(arylsulfanyl)imidoyl radicals and affording a new class of compounds, i.e. thiochromeno[2,3-b]indoles. These derivatives are formed as mixtures of substituted analogues arising from competitive [4 + 2] and [4 + 1] radical annulations. The isomer ratio is strongly dependent on the aryl substituent and is correlated to its capability to delocalize spin density. The presence of a methylsulfanyl group in the ortho-position of the initial aryl radical results in complete regioselectivity and better yields, as the consequence of both strong spin-delocalization effect, which promotes exclusive [4 + 1] annulation, and good radical leaving-group ability, which facilitates aromatization of the final cyclohexadienyl radical. Theoretical calculations support the hypothesis of competitive, independent [4 + 2] and [4 + 1] annulation pathways. They also suggest that rearrangement onto the sulfur atom of the [4 + 1] intermediate does not occur via a sulfuranyl radical but rather through either a transition state or a sulfur-centered (thioamidyl) radical; the latter is possibly the preferred route in the presence of an o-methylsulfanyl moiety that can act as a leaving group in the final ipso-cyclization process.

Rotundone is an oxygenated sesquiterpene belonging to the family of guaianes, giving the 'peppery' aroma to white and black pepper and to red wines. Here we describe a novel, convenient protocol for the synthesis of rotundone, starting from a commercially available compound and requiring only two reaction steps, and an improved, faster method of GC separation (30 min) with selective quantisation of rotundone using tandem mass spectrometry in multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) mode with d(5)-rotundone as internal standard. With limits of detection (LODs) of 1.5 ng/L in white wine and 2.0 ng/L in red wine, intraday repeatability CV values of 6% and 5% at 50 ng/L and 500 ng/L and interday repeatability CV values of 13% and 6% at 50 ng/L and 500 ng/L, respectively, the improved protocol provides the desired sensitivity and selectivity for routine analysis of rotundone in both white and red wines. Initial application of this method highlighted the presence of unexpectedly high concentrations of rotundone, thus explaining the origin of the distinctive peppery aroma in Schioppettino and Vespolina red wines and in Gruener Veltliner white wines.