The site-specific oxidation of strong C­(sp3)–H bonds is of uncontested utility in organic synthesis. From simplifying access to metabolites and late-stage diversification of lead compounds to truncating retrosynthetic plans, there is a growing need for new reagents and methods for achieving such a transformation in both academic and industrial circles. One main drawback of current chemical reagents is the lack of diversity with regard to structure and reactivity that prevents a combinatorial approach for rapid screening to be employed. In that regard, directed evolution still holds the greatest promise for achieving complex C–H oxidations in a variety of complex settings. Herein we present a rationally designed platform that provides a step toward this challenge using N-ammonium ylides as electrochemically driven oxidants for site-specific, chemoselective C­(sp3)–H oxidation. By taking a first-principles approach guided by computation, these new mediators were identified and rapidly expanded into a library using ubiquitous building blocks and trivial synthesis techniques. The ylide-based approach to C–H oxidation exhibits tunable selectivity that is often exclusive to this class of oxidants and can be applied to real-world problems in the agricultural and pharmaceutical sectors.

<p>The site-specific oxidation of strong C(sp3)-H bonds is of uncontested utility in organic</p><p>synthesis. From simplifying access to metabolites and late-stage diversification of lead compounds</p><p>to truncating retrosynthetic plans, there is a growing need for new reagents and methods for</p><p>achieving such a transformation in both academic and industrial circles. One main drawback of</p><p>current chemical reagents is the lack of diversity with regards to structure and reactivity that</p><p>prevent a combinatorial approach for rapid screening to be employed. In that regard, directed</p><p>evolution still holds the greatest promise for achieving complex C–H oxidations in a variety of</p><p>complex settings. Herein we present a rationally designed platform that provides a step towards</p><p>this challenge using N-ammonium ylides as electrochemically driven oxidants for site-specific,</p><p>chemoselective C(sp3)–H oxidation. By taking a first-principles approach guided by computation,</p><p>these new mediators were identified and rapidly expanded into a library using ubiquitous building</p><p>blocks and trivial synthesis techniques. The ylide-based approach to C–H oxidation exhibits</p><p>tunable selectivity that is often exclusive to this class of oxidants and can be applied to real world</p><p>problems in the agricultural and pharmaceutical sectors.</p>

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A bioinspired synthesis of the sedaxane metabolite 2 from intermediate 3 using catalytic VO(acac)2 and O2 is described. Intermediate 3 was synthesized starting from 2-bromostyrene in four steps. The inner cyclopropyl ring of 3 was assembled with trans geometry using a highly diastereoselective Nishiyama cyclopropanation, and the outer hydroxycyclopropyl ring was installed using the Kulinkovich cyclopropanation. Additionally, conversion of 3 into 2 was demonstrated in in vitro microbial culture experiments consisting of bacteria and fungi.

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