We have developed a novel diastereoselective iron-catalyzed cross-coupling reaction of various glycosyl halides with aryl metal reagents for the efficient synthesis of aryl C-glycosides, which are of significant pharmaceutical interest due to their biological activities and resistance toward metabolic degradation. A variety of aryl, heteroaryl, and vinyl metal reagents can be cross-coupled with glycosyl halides in high yields in the presence of a well-defined iron complex, composed of iron(II) chloride and a bulky bisphosphine ligand, TMS-SciOPP. The chemoselective nature of the reaction allows the use of synthetically versatile acetyl-protected glycosyl donors and the incorporation of various functional groups on the aryl moieties, producing a diverse array of aryl C-glycosides, including Canagliflozin, an inhibitor of sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 (SGLT2), and a prevailing diabetes drug. The cross-coupling reaction proceeds via generation and stereoselective trapping of glycosyl radical intermediates, representing a rare example of highly stereoselective carbon-carbon bond formation based on iron catalysis. Radical probe experiments using 3,4,6-tri-O-acetyl-2-O-allyl-α-d-glucopyranosyl bromide (8) and 6-bromo-1-hexene (10) confirm the generation and intermediacy of the corresponding glycosyl radicals. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations reveal that the observed anomeric diastereoselectivity is attributable to the relative stability of the conformers of glycosyl radical intermediates. The present cross-coupling reaction demonstrates the potential of iron-catalyzed stereo- and chemoselective carbon-carbon bond formation in the synthesis of bioactive compounds of certain structural complexity.

An iron(II) chloride complex possessing a sterically demanding ortho-phenylene-tethered bisphosphine ligand shows a high catalytic activity in the KumadaTamaoCorriu coupling of nonactivated alkyl halides with aryl Grignard reagents. Primary, secondary, and tertiary alkyl halides can participate as an electrophilic coupling partner. A radical clock experiment using (iodomethyl)cyclopropane exclusively gives the corresponding ring-opening coupling product, suggesting intermediacy of alkyl radical species.Transition-metal-catalyzed cross-coupling is one of the most powerful tools in organic synthesis.1 After dormancy for decades, iron has attracted renewed attention as a practical coupling catalyst due to its economic and ecological advantages over the other rare metal catalysts.2,3 Moreover, iron catalyst displays characteristic reactivities and selectivities, which cannot be easily attained by the prevalent Ni-and Pd-catalysts: several research groups, including us, have reported the cross-coupling reactions of nonactivated alkyl halides with Grignard reagents by using iron catalysts. 3h3j,3m3o,3t,3u In 2004, we introduced TMEDA as a Lewis basic additive into the iron-catalyzed crosscoupling reaction to obtain the desired reactivity toward the alkyl halides.3h Although high selectivity and reactivity were achieved by using TMEDA with the optimized experimental procedure, large excess of the additive was required. In order to control the reaction by using a catalytic amount of additives instead of TMEDA, we continued the study and have developed new ortho-phenylenebisphosphine ligands, which bear peripheral steric bulk around the iron center. 4 We report herein a new KumadaTamaoCorriu coupling between various nonactivated alkyl halides and aryl Grignard reagents effected by low catalyst loading (0.5 to 3 mol %) of the ironbisphosphine complex.

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A multitalented system: N-migratory oxytrifluoromethylation and one-pot three-component reactions of allylamines as well as the aminotrifluoromethylation of alkenyl amines all proceeded efficiently in the presence of the Togni reagent (1) and CuI to afford a variety of β-trifluoromethylamine derivatives (see scheme).

We examined the mechanism of our previously reported aminotrifluoromethylation reaction, which proceeds via intramolecular cyclization of alkenylamines in the presence of the combination of copper catalyst and Togni reagent (1). Kinetic studies revealed that the initial rate of the reaction was first order with respect to Togni reagent and CuI, as well as the substrate. Changes of the (19)F NMR chemical shift of Togni reagent during the reaction suggested the existence of a dynamic equilibrium involving coordination of not only Togni reagent, but also the substrate amine and the product aziridine to copper. ESI-MS analysis provided evidence of involvement of reactive Cu(II) intermediates in the catalytic cycle. Overall, our results indicate that the reaction proceeds at the hypervalent iodine moiety of Togni reagent, which is activated by Cu(II) species acting as a Lewis acid catalyst. On the basis of these mechanistic considerations, we developed an efficient synthesis of trifluoromethylated pyrrolidine derivatives. This transformation exhibited a remarkable rate enhancement upon addition of Et3N.