There is, I think, something ethereal about i —the square root of minus one. I remember first hearing about it at school. It seemed an odd beast at that time—an intruder hovering on the edge of reality.

Usually familiarity dulls this sense of the bizarre, but in the case of i it was the reverse: over the years the sense of its surreal nature intensified. It seemed that it was impossible to write mathematics that described the real world in …

I and i

Ju Mei,†,‡,∥ Nelson L. C. Leung,†,‡,∥ Ryan T. K. Kwok,†,‡ Jacky W. Y. Lam,†,‡ and Ben Zhong Tang*,†,‡,§ †HKUST-Shenzhen Research Institute, Hi-Tech Park, Nanshan, Shenzhen 518057, China ‡Department of Chemistry, HKUST Jockey Club Institute for Advanced Study, Institute of Molecular Functional Materials, Division of Biomedical Engineering, State Key Laboratory of Molecular Neuroscience, Division of Life Science, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Clear Water Bay, Kowloon, Hong Kong, China Guangdong Innovative Research Team, SCUT-HKUST Joint Research Laboratory, State Key Laboratory of Luminescent Materials and Devices, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510640, China

Aggregation-Induced Emission: Together We Shine, United We Soar!

Catalytic dehydrogenative cross-coupling: forming carbon-carbon bonds by oxidizing two carbon-hydrogen bonds

The site-selective formation of carbon-carbon bonds through direct functionalizations of otherwise unreactive carbon-hydrogen bonds constitutes an economically attractive strategy for an overall streamlining of sustainable syntheses. In recent decades, intensive research efforts have led to the development of various reaction conditions for challenging C-H bond functionalizations, among which transition-metal-catalyzed transformations arguably constitute thus far the most valuable tool. For instance, the use of inter alia palladium, ruthenium, rhodium, copper, or iron complexes set the stage for chemo-, site-, diastereo-, and/or enantioselective C-H bond functionalizations. Key to success was generally a detailed mechanistic understanding of the elementary C-H bond metalation step, which depending on the nature of the metal fragment can proceed via several distinct reaction pathways. Traditionally, three different modes of action were primarily considered for CH bond metalations, namely, (i) oxidative addition with electronrich late transition metals, (ii) σ-bond metathesis with early transition metals, and (iii) electrophilic activation with electrondeficient late transition metals (Scheme 1). However, more recent mechanistic studies indicated the existence of a continuum of electrophilic, ambiphilic, and nucleophilic interactions. Within this continuum, detailed experimental and computational analysis provided strong evidence for novel C-H bond metalationmechanisms relying on the assistance of a bifunctional ligand bearing an additional Lewis-basic heteroatom, such as that found in (heteroatom-substituted) secondary phosphine oxides or most prominently carboxylates (Scheme 1, iv). This novel insight into the nature of stoichiometric metalations has served as stimulus for the development of novel transformations based on cocatalytic amounts of carboxylates, which significantly broadened the scope of C-H bond functionalizations in recent years, with most remarkable progress being made in palladiumor ruthenium-catalyzed direct arylations and direct alkylations. These carboxylate-assisted C-H bond transformations were mostly proposed to proceed via a mechanism in which metalation takes place via a concerted base-assisted deprotonation. To mechanistically differentiate these intramolecular metalations new acronyms have recently been introduced into the literature, such as CMD (concerted metalationdeprotonation), IES (internal electrophilic substitution), or AMLA (ambiphilic metal ligand activation), which describe related mechanisms and will be used below where appropriate. This review summarizes the development and scope of carboxylates as cocatalysts in transition-metal-catalyzed C-H functionalizations until autumn 2010. Moreover, experimental and computational studies on stoichiometric metalation reactions being of relevance to the mechanism of these catalytic processes are discussed as well. Mechanistically related C-H bond cleavage reactions with ruthenium or iridium complexes bearing monodentate ligands are, however, only covered with respect to their working mode, and transformations with stoichiometric amounts of simple acetate bases are solely included when their mechanism was suggested to proceed by acetate-assisted metalation.

Carboxylate-assisted transition-metal-catalyzed C-H bond functionalizations: mechanism and scope.

The area of transition-metal-catalyzed direct arylation through cleavage of CH bonds has undergone rapid development in recent years, and is becoming an increasingly viable alternative to traditional cross-coupling reactions with organometallic reagents In particular, palladium and ruthenium catalysts have been described that enable the direct arylation of (hetero)arenes with challenging coupling partners—including electrophilic aryl chlorides and tosylates as well as simple arenes in cross-dehydrogenative arylations Furthermore, less expensive copper, iron, and nickel complexes were recently shown to be effective for economically attractive direct arylations

Transition-metal-catalyzed direct arylation of (hetero)arenes by C-H bond cleavage.

An efficient methodology for the synthesis of unsymmetrical biheteroaryl molecules has been developed via Pd(II)-catalyzed oxidative C−H/C−H cross-coupling of heteroarenes. An inversion in reactivity and selectivity has been achieved successfully to perform the desired heterocoupling. This process allows the heterocoupling of not only electron-rich N-containing heteroarenes (e.g., xanthines, azoles, and indolizines) but also electron-poor pyridine N-oxides with various thiophenes or furans.

Palladium(II)-catalyzed oxidative C-H/C-H cross-coupling of heteroarenes.

Fishing for complements! There is an alternative to the useful Fischer indole synthesis. The new method utilizes the same retrosynthetic disconnection but is based on a Rh(III) -catalyzed directed CH activation step and a successive coupling with alkynes.

Indole synthesis by rhodium(III)-catalyzed hydrazine-directed C-H activation: redox-neutral and traceless by N-N bond cleavage.

The first highly efficient and scalable cobalt-catalyzed directed C-H functionalization with carbene precursors is presented. This methodology provides a modular route towards a new class of conjugated polycyclic hydrocarbons with tunable emission wavelengths both in solution and in the solid state.

Cobalt(III)-Catalyzed Directed C ? H Coupling with Diazo Compounds: Straightforward Access towards Extended π-Systems

The biheteroaryl structural motif is prevalent in polymers, advanced materials, liquid crystals, ligands, molecules of medicinal interest, and natural products. Many types of synthetic transformations have been known for the construction of heteroaryl–heteroaryl linkages. Coupling reactions provide one of the most efficient ways to achieve these biheterocyclic structures. In this review, four types of coupling reactions are discussed: 1) transition-metal-catalyzed coupling reactions of heteroaryl halides or surrogates with heteroarylmetals; 2) direct inter- and intramolecular heteroarylations of CH bonds of heteroarenes with heteroaryl halides or pseudohalides; 3) oxidative CH/CH homo- and cross-couplings of two unpreactivated heteroarenes; and 4) transition-metal-catalyzed decarboxylative cross-coupling reactions between haloheteroarenes or heteroarenes and heteroarenecarboxylic acids. The general purpose of this review is to give an exhaustive and clear picture in heteroaryl–heteroaryl bond formation as well as its application in the synthesis of natural products, pharmaceuticals, catalyst ligands, and materials.

Recent Progress in Coupling of Two Heteroarenes

Die Arylierung von Heterocyclen mit vielfaltigen Arylbromiden beruht auf einer allgemeinen kupferkatalysierten C-H-Bindungsaktivierung (siehe Schema). Die hoch regioselektive Reaktion ist mit vielen funktionellen Gruppen vertraglich. Die 8-Arylxanthinprodukte fluoreszieren in verschiedenen Losungsmitteln und sind aussichtsreich als Reagentien fur die biologische Bildgebung.

https://www.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/anie.200990141

Dongbing Zhao

Papers

Palladium(II)-catalyzed oxidative C-H/C-H cross-coupling of heteroarenes.

Indole synthesis by rhodium(III)-catalyzed hydrazine-directed C-H activation: redox-neutral and traceless by N-N bond cleavage.

Cobalt(III)-Catalyzed Directed C ? H Coupling with Diazo Compounds: Straightforward Access towards Extended π-Systems

Recent Progress in Coupling of Two Heteroarenes

Copper‐Catalyzed Direct C Arylation of Heterocycles with Aryl Bromides: Discovery of Fluorescent Core Frameworks