In the investigation of efficient chemical transformations, the carbon-carbon bond-forming reactions play an outstanding role. In this context, organocatalytic processes have achieved considerable attention. 1 Beside their facile reaction course, selectivity, and environmental friendliness, new synthetic strategies are made possible. Particularly, the inversion of the classical reactivity (Umpolung) opens up new synthetic pathways. 2 In nature, the coenzyme thiamine (vitamin B1), a natural thiazolium salt, utilizes a catalytic variant of this concept in biochemical processes as nucleophilic acylations. 3 The catalytically active species is a nucleophilic carbene. 4

Organocatalysis by N-Heterocyclic Carbenes

Asymmetric enamine catalysis.

Small-molecule H-bond donors in asymmetric catalysis.

4.2.8. Reductive Coupling 3109 5. Reaction of Aromatic Compounds 3110 5.1. Electrophilic Substitutions 3110 5.2. Radical Substitution 3111 5.3. Oxidative Coupling 3111 5.4. Photochemical Reactions 3111 6. Reaction of Carbonyl Compounds 3111 6.1. Nucleophilic Additions 3111 6.1.1. Allylation 3111 6.1.2. Propargylation 3120 6.1.3. Benzylation 3121 6.1.4. Arylation/Vinylation 3121 6.1.5. Alkynylation 3121 6.1.6. Alkylation 3121 6.1.7. Reformatsky-Type Reaction 3122 6.1.8. Direct Aldol Reaction 3122 6.1.9. Mukaiyama Aldol Reaction 3124 6.1.10. Hydrogen Cyanide Addition 3125 6.2. Pinacol Coupling 3126 6.3. Wittig Reactions 3126 7. Reaction of R,â-Unsaturated Carbonyl Compounds 3127

Organic Reactions in Aqueous Media with a Focus on Carbon−Carbon Bond Formations: A Decade Update

Over the past decade, the most significant, conceptual advances in the field of fluorination were enabled most prominently by organo- and transition-metal catalysis. The most challenging transformation remains the formation of the parent C-F bond, primarily as a consequence of the high hydration energy of fluoride, strong metal-fluorine bonds, and highly polarized bonds to fluorine. Most fluorination reactions still lack generality, predictability, and cost-efficiency. Despite all current limitations, modern fluorination methods have made fluorinated molecules more readily available than ever before and have begun to have an impact on research areas that do not require large amounts of material, such as drug discovery and positron emission tomography. This Review gives a brief summary of conventional fluorination reactions, including those reactions that introduce fluorinated functional groups, and focuses on modern developments in the field.

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Introduction of Fluorine and Fluorine-Containing Functional Groups

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Molecular Design of a C2-Symmetric Chiral Phase-Transfer Catalyst for Practical Asymmetric Synthesis of α-Amino Acids

A series of C2-symmetric chiral quaternary ammonium bromides 10 and 11 have been designed as a new, purely synthetic chiral phase-transfer catalyst, and readily prepared from commercially available optically pure 1,1‘-bi-2-naphthol as a basic chiral unit. The details of the synthetic procedures of each requisite chiral binaphthyl subunit have been disclosed, and the structures of the assembled N-spiro chiral quaternary ammonium bromides 11a and 11f were unequivocally determined by single-crystal X-ray diffraction analysis. The reactivity and selectivity of these chiral ammonium bromides as chiral phase-transfer catalysts have been evaluated in the asymmetric alkylation of the benzophenone Schiff base of glycine ester 7 under mild liquid−liquid phase-transfer conditions, and the optimization of the reaction variables (solvent, base, and temperature) has also been conducted. Further, the scope and limitations of this asymmetric alkylation have been thoroughly investigated with a variety of alkyl halides, in...

Design of N-Spiro C2-Symmetric Chiral Quaternary Ammonium Bromides as Novel Chiral Phase-Transfer Catalysts: Synthesis and Application to Practical Asymmetric Synthesis of α-Amino Acids

Practical Catalytic Enantioselective Synthesis of α,α-Dialkyl-α-amino Acids by Chiral Phase-Transfer Catalysis

Asymmetric hetero-Diels-Alder reaction catalyzed by a chiral organoaluminum reagent

It's a PTC: A highly efficient reaction of 3-aryloxindoles in an asymmetric Michael addition was achieved by using a quaternary tetraalkylphosphonium salt as a chiral phase-transfer catalyst (PTC). The products were obtained in quantitative yields high ee values. The reaction of 3-aryloxindoles in an asymmetric Mannich reaction using the same catalyst also proved to be feasible.

Keiji Maruoka

Papers

Molecular Design of a C2-Symmetric Chiral Phase-Transfer Catalyst for Practical Asymmetric Synthesis of α-Amino Acids

Design of N-Spiro C2-Symmetric Chiral Quaternary Ammonium Bromides as Novel Chiral Phase-Transfer Catalysts: Synthesis and Application to Practical Asymmetric Synthesis of α-Amino Acids

Practical Catalytic Enantioselective Synthesis of α,α-Dialkyl-α-amino Acids by Chiral Phase-Transfer Catalysis

Asymmetric hetero-Diels-Alder reaction catalyzed by a chiral organoaluminum reagent

Phosphonium Salts as Chiral Phase‐Transfer Catalysts: Asymmetric Michael and Mannich Reactions of 3‐Aryloxindoles