Synthesis and activity of a new generation of ruthenium-based olefin metathesis catalysts coordinated with 1,3-dimesityl-4,5-dihydroimidazol-2-ylidene ligands.

ion. The oxidative addition mechanism was originally proposed22i because of the lack of a strong rate dependence on polar factors and on the acidity of the medium. Later, however, the electrophilic substitution mechanism also was proposed. Recently, the oxidative addition mechanism was confirmed by investigations into the decomposition and protonolysis of alkylplatinum complexes, which are the reverse of alkane activation. There are two routes which operate in the decomposition of the dimethylplatinum(IV) complex Cs2Pt(CH3)2Cl4. The first route leads to chloride-induced reductive elimination and produces methyl chloride and methane. The second route leads to the formation of ethane. There is strong kinetic evidence that the ethane is produced by the decomposition of an ethylhydridoplatinum(IV) complex formed from the initial dimethylplatinum(IV) complex. In D2O-DCl, the ethane which is formed contains several D atoms and has practically the same multiple exchange parameter and distribution as does an ethane which has undergone platinum(II)-catalyzed H-D exchange with D2O. Moreover, ethyl chloride is formed competitively with H-D exchange in the presence of platinum(IV). From the principle of microscopic reversibility it follows that the same ethylhydridoplatinum(IV) complex is the intermediate in the reaction of ethane with platinum(II). Important results were obtained by Labinger and Bercaw62c in the investigation of the protonolysis mechanism of several alkylplatinum(II) complexes at low temperatures. These reactions are important because they could model the microscopic reverse of C-H activation by platinum(II) complexes. Alkylhydridoplatinum(IV) complexes were observed as intermediates in certain cases, such as when the complex (tmeda)Pt(CH2Ph)Cl or (tmeda)PtMe2 (tmeda ) N,N,N′,N′-tetramethylenediamine) was treated with HCl in CD2Cl2 or CD3OD, respectively. In some cases H-D exchange took place between the methyl groups on platinum and the, CD3OD prior to methane loss. On the basis of the kinetic results, a common mechanism was proposed to operate in all the reactions: (1) protonation of Pt(II) to generate an alkylhydridoplatinum(IV) intermediate, (2) dissociation of solvent or chloride to generate a cationic, fivecoordinate platinum(IV) species, (3) reductive C-H bond formation, producing a platinum(II) alkane σ-complex, and (4) loss of the alkane either through an associative or dissociative substitution pathway. These results implicate the presence of both alkane σ-complexes and alkylhydridoplatinum(IV) complexes as intermediates in the Pt(II)-induced C-H activation reactions. Thus, the first step in the alkane activation reaction is formation of a σ-complex with the alkane, which then undergoes oxidative addition to produce an alkylhydrido complex. Reversible interconversion of these intermediates, together with reversible deprotonation of the alkylhydridoplatinum(IV) complexes, leads to multiple H-D exchange

Activation of c-h bonds by metal complexes

Dioxygen activation at mononuclear nonheme iron active sites: enzymes, models, and intermediates.

Electrochemistry represents one of the most intimate ways of interacting with molecules. This review discusses advances in synthetic organic electrochemistry since 2000. Enabling methods and synthetic applications are analyzed alongside innate advantages as well as future challenges of electroorganic chemistry.

Synthetic Organic Electrochemical Methods Since 2000: On the Verge of a Renaissance

Kinetics of II-VI and III-V Colloidal Semiconductor Nanocrystal Growth: “Focusing” of Size Distributions

Use of cyclopropanes and their derivatives in organic synthesis

Modern Methods of Monosaccharide Synthesis from Non-Carbohydrate Sources.

This tutorial review provides a survey of syntheses in which an enzymatic step contributed to generating downstream molecular complexity in the target. The first part provides a guide to the types of enzymatic transformations suitable for incorporation into synthetic schemes. The principles of symmetry, especially the concept of “latent symmetry”, which are often used to simplify enantiodivergent design of targets, are discussed next. The examples are discussed in the order of a degree of experimental difficulty associated with the execution of a particular biological technique. Lipase resolutions and desymmetrizations are discussed first followed by more advanced protocols involving oxidoreductase enzymes and ending with examples of syntheses that employ pathway engineering and directed evolution of proteins. Future prospects of biocatalytic methods as means of efficient preparation of target compounds are indicated. The authors hope that the review will serve to convince those synthetic chemists reluctant to use biological methods to include enzymatic procedures in their design.

Applications of biotransformations and biocatalysis to complexity generation in organic synthesis.

Anionic approaches to the construction of cyclopentanoids

Antitumor substances related to vinblastine and vincristine are exclusively found in the Catharanthus roseus (Madagascar periwinkle), a member of the Apocynaceae plant family, and continue to be extensively used in cancer chemotherapy. Although in high demand, these valuable compounds only accumulate in trace amounts in C. roseus leaves. Vinblastine and vincristine are condensed from the monoterpenoid indole alkaloid (MIA) precursors catharanthine and vindoline. Although catharanthine biosynthesis remains poorly characterized, the biosynthesis of vindoline from the MIA precursor tabersonine is well understood at the molecular and biochemical levels. This study uses virus-induced gene silencing (VIGS) to identify a cytochrome P450 [CYP71D1V2; tabersonine 3-oxygenase (T3O)] and an alcohol dehydrogenase [ADHL1; tabersonine 3-reductase (T3R)] as candidate genes involved in the conversion of tabersonine or 16-methoxytabersonine to 3-hydroxy-2,3-dihydrotabersonine or 3-hydroxy-16-methoxy-2,3-dihydrotabersonine, which are intermediates in the vindorosine and vindoline pathways, respectively. Biochemical assays with recombinant enzymes confirm that product formation is only possible by the coupled action of T3O and T3R, as the reaction product of T3O is an epoxide that is not used as a substrate by T3R. The T3O and T3R transcripts were identified in a C. roseus database representing genes preferentially expressed in leaf epidermis and suggest that the subsequent reaction products are transported from the leaf epidermis to specialized leaf mesophyll idioblast and laticifer cells to complete the biosynthesis of these MIAs. With these two genes, the complete seven-gene pathway was engineered in yeast to produce vindoline from tabersonine.

https://www.pnas.org/content/pnas/112/19/6224.full.pdf

Tomas Hudlicky

Papers

Use of cyclopropanes and their derivatives in organic synthesis

Modern Methods of Monosaccharide Synthesis from Non-Carbohydrate Sources.

Applications of biotransformations and biocatalysis to complexity generation in organic synthesis.

Anionic approaches to the construction of cyclopentanoids

Completion of the seven-step pathway from tabersonine to the anticancer drug precursor vindoline and its assembly in yeast