No abstract

Electrocatalytic water oxidation using the oxidatively robust 2,7-[bis(2-pyridylmethyl)aminomethyl]-1,8-naphthyridine ligand (BPMAN)-based dinuclear copper(II) complex, [Cu2(BPMAN)(μ-OH)](3+), has been investigated. This catalyst exhibits high reactivity and stability towards water oxidation in neutral aqueous solutions. DFT calculations suggest that the O-O bond formation takes place by an intramolecular direct coupling mechanism rather than by a nucleophilic attack of water on the high-oxidation-state Cu(IV)=O moiety.

Organic halides (R-X) are prevalent structural motifs in pharmaceutical molecules and key building blocks for the synthesis of fine chemicals. Although a number of routes are available in the literature for the synthesis of organic halides, these methods often require stoichiometric additives or oxidants, metal catalysts, leaving or directing groups, or toxic halogenating agents. In addition, the necessity of employing different, often tailor-made, catalytic systems for each type of substrate also limits the applicability of these methods. Herein, we report a clean halogenation by electrochemical oxidation with NaX/HX. A series of organic halides were prepared under metal catalyst-and exogenousoxidant-free reaction conditions. It is worth noting that this reaction has a broad substrate scope; various heteroarenes, arenes, alkenes, alkynes, and even aliphatic hydrocarbons could be applied. Most importantly, the reaction could also be performed on a 200-mmol scale with the same efficiency (86%, 50.9 g pure product).

Just click with silver: Pyrroles are prepared by the co‐cyclization of terminal alkynes and isocyanides in a silver‐catalyzed click reaction. This route represents an extremely simple, efficient, and atom‐economic approach to substituted pyrroles in good yields with high selectivity, thus complementing the click method for the rapid formation of multifunctional heterocycles.

The use of additive-free conditions is an ideal approach to prepare organoselenium reagents from readily available unsaturated substrates. Thus, we report the electroinduced aminoselenation and oxyselenation of styrenes without any acids or oxidants as additives. This transformation is compatible with various functional groups, which leads to vicinal difunctionalized organoselenium compounds. Our strategy improves the potential of this protocol for use in the pharmaceutical industry. Based upon the preliminary mechanism studies, we propose two possible pathways.