Synthesis of Imides,N-Acyl Vinylogous Carbamates and Ureas, and Nitriles by Oxidation of Amides and Amines with Dess-Martin Periodinane

Solvent-controlled amidation of acid chlorides at room temperature: new route to access aromatic primary amides and imides amenable for late-stage functionalization†

Herein, we report a solvent-controlled highly selective amidation and imidation of aroyl chlorides using an alkali-metal silyl-amide reagent (LiHMDS), which serves as a nitrogen source at room temperature. A unique feature of this method lies in the sequential silyl amidation of aryol chlorides and nitrogen–silicon bond cleavage of the corresponding N,N-bis(trimethylsilyl)benzamide in a one-pot method in a very short reaction time. This effective strategy was extended to late-stage functionalization.

Herein, we report a solvent-controlled highly selective amidation and imidation of aroyl chlorides using an alkali-metal silyl-amide reagent (LiHMDS), which serves as a nitrogen source at room temperature.

Metal-free photoredox-catalyzed direct α-oxygenation of N,N-dibenzylanilines to imides under visible light

An efficient synthesis of imides using metal-free photoredox-catalyzed direct α-oxygenation of N,N′-disubstituted anilines in the presence of 9-mesityl-10-methylacridinium [Acr⁺-Mes]BF₄ as a photoredox catalyst and molecular oxygen as a green oxidant under visible light was developed. This photochemical approach offered operational simplicity, high atom economy with a low E-factor, and functional group tolerance under mild reaction conditions. Control and quenching experiments confirmed the occurrence of a radical pathway and superoxide radical anion α-oxygenation reactions, and also provided strong evidence for the reductive quenching of [Acr⁺-Mes]BF₄ based on a Stern–Volmer plot, which led to the proposed mechanism of this reaction.

A visible-light-mediated direct α-oxygenation of N,N-dibenzylanilines to imides in the presence of [Acr⁺-Mes]BF₄ as a metal-free photocatalyst and O₂ as a green oxidant.

Co-Catalysis for Hydroamidocarbonylation of Alkynes with Amides over a Bifunctional Ligand-Based Pd Catalyst

The hydroamidocarbonylation of alkynes with amides allows for the synthesis of α,β-unsaturated imides with the advantage of 100% atomic economy. Herein, the bifunctional ligand (L1) containing a sulfonic acid group (-SO₃ H) and phosphino-fragment enable the Pd catalyst to accomplish the hydroamidocarbonylation of alkynes with amides. It was found that, due to an intramolecular synergetic effect, the L1-based Pd-catalyst exhibited much higher activity than the individual mechanical mixtures of Xantphos-based Pd-complex and MeSO₃ H. The formation and stability of Pd-H species were promoted by the presence of L1, which was verified by in situ high-pressure FT-IR analysis. Under the optimized conditions, the target products of the branched imides were obtained with yields in the range of 46-87% over the L1-based Pd-catalyst. Advantageously, as an ionic ligand, the L1-based Pd-catalyst could be recycled for 4 runs in the ionic liquid of [Bmim]NTf₂ without any obvious activity loss and detectable metal leaching.

N-acylation of amides through internal nucleophilic catalysis

An efficient method for N-acylation of amides is described using a pyridine ring as the internal nucleophilic catalyst to give imides in moderate to excellent yields. The methodology provides a facile, air insensitive, and environmentally friendly route to form diversified imide scaffolds, which exist widely in natural products and biologically active materials.

Copper-Catalyzed Oxidative C-H Bond Functionalization of N-Allylbenzamide for Regioselective C-N and C-O Bond Formation

Copper-catalyzed oxidative couplings of N-allylbenzamides for C-N and C-O bond formations have been developed through C-H bond functionalization. To demonstrate the utility of this approach, it was applied to the synthesis of β-aminoimides and imides. To the best of our knowledge, these are the first examples in which different classes of N-containing compounds have been directly prepared from the readily available N-allylbenzamides using an inexpensive catalyst/oxidant/base (CuSO₄ /TBHP/Cs₂ CO₃ ) system.

Catalytic Promiscuity of Galactose Oxidase: A Mild Synthesis of Nitriles from Alcohols, Air, and Ammonia

We report an unprecedented catalytically promiscuous activity of the copper-dependent enzyme galactose oxidase. The enzyme catalyses the one-pot conversion of alcohols into the related nitriles under mild reaction conditions in ammonium buffer, consuming ammonia as the source of nitrogen and dioxygen (from air at atmospheric pressure) as the only oxidant. Thus, this green method does not require either cyanide salts, toxic metals, or undesired oxidants in stoichiometric amounts. The substrate scope of the reaction includes benzyl and cinnamyl alcohols as well as 4- and 3-pyridylmethanol, giving access to valuable chemical compounds. The oxidation proceeds through oxidation from alcohol to aldehyde, in situ imine formation, and final direct oxidation to nitrile.

Ruthenium-Catalyzed Aerobic Oxidation of Amines

Amine oxidation is one of the fundamental reactions in organic synthesis as it leads to a variety of value-added products such as oximes, nitriles, imines, and amides among many others. These products comprise the key N-containing building blocks in the modern chemical industry, and such transformations, when achieved in the presence of molecular oxygen without using stoichiometric oxidants, are much preferred as they circumvent the production of unwanted wastes. In parallel, the versatility of ruthenium catalysts in various oxidative transformations is well-documented. Herein, this review focuses on aerobic oxidation of amines specifically by using ruthenium catalysts and highlights the major achievements in this direction and challenges that still need to be addressed.

Reconsidering Water Electrolysis: Producing Hydrogen at Cathodes Together with Selective Oxidation of n-Butylamine at Anodes

Electrocatalysis for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) is of great interest for improving the effectiveness of water splitting devices. Decreasing the anodic overpotential and simultaneously changing the anodic reaction selectively to produce valuable chemicals instead of O₂ would be a major improvement of the overall cost efficiency. Some amines, when present in aqueous electrolytes, were recently shown to change the selectivity of the anodic process to generate H₂ O₂ rather than O₂ on MnO_x at pH 10. This results in unusually high apparent "anodic activities". In this work, industrially relevant OER catalysts, oxyhydroxides of cobalt (CoO_x ), nickel-iron (NiFeO_x ), and nickel (NiO_x ) all show more pronounced effects. Moreover, as anodes they also selectively catalyzed the production of nbutyronitrile from n-butylamine at higher pH as an easily retrievable valuable product. The pH dependence of the activity was investigated at pH values closer those at which alkaline electrolyzers operate. The highest activities were observed for NiO_x thin-film electrodes at pH 12 in the presence of 0.4 m n-butylammonium sulfate, without poisoning the active sites of Pt electrocatalysts at the hydrogen evolution electrode. ¹ H NMR spectroscopy showed that n-butylamine is selectively oxidized to n-butyronitrile, an organic chemical with numerous applications. However, measurements using rotating ring-disk electrodes indicated that some H₂ O₂ is also generated at the surface of the oxide anodes.

Palladium-Catalyzed Hydroamidocarbonylation of Olefins to Imides

Carbonylation reactions allow the efficient synthesis of all kinds of carbonyl-containing compounds. Here, we report a straightforward synthesis of various imides from olefins and CO for the first time. The established hydroamidocarbonylation reaction affords imides in good yields (up to 90 %) and with good regioselectivity (up to 99:1) when applying different alkenes and amides. The synthetic potential of the method is highlighted by the synthesis of Aniracetam by intramolecular hydroamidocarbonylation.

Synthesis and biological evaluation of some novel cyclic-imides as hypoglycaemic, anti-hyperlipidemic agents

Certain new halogenated cyclic-imides related to N-substituted phthalimide moiety were synthesized. Spacers of one or two carbon atom distances were inserted to connect the N-terminus of the cyclic-imide nuclei to the used heteroaryl groups to evaluate the effect of such alteration on biological activity. The synthesized compounds were subjected to hypoglycaemic and anti-hyperlipidemic evaluation. Some of the tested compounds proved to be more potent than the reference drugs glibenclamide and clofibrate. Compound 5e remarkably reduced serum glucose level by 55%; while 5c, 5e, 7d and 8e reduced total serum cholesterol by 58, 56, 54 and 53%, respectively. Those new cyclic-imides could be considered as useful template for future development to obtain more potent hypoglycaemic and anti-hyperlipidemic agents.

General and simple route to micro/nanostructured hollow-sphere arrays based on electrophoresis of colloids induced by laser ablation in liquid

A general and simple route was presented to fabricate hollow sphere arrays (HSAs) with hierarchical micro/nanostructure based on electrophoresis on a polystyrene colloidal monolayer in a corresponding colloidal solution prepared by laser ablation in liquid. Si was chosen as a model material to demonstrate the validity of the route. The size and structure of such-prepared hollow spheres can be easily controlled by the size of the polystyrene spheres, the electrophoresis parameters, and the morphology of the colloidal nanoparticles. Further experiments have revealed that this strategy can be extended to produce other semiconductors' and metals' compact or noncompact HSAs, and even multicomponent HSAs with controllable spacings between adjacent spheres and tunable size of nanoparticles in the shell layers. This study could be important to synthesize some key materials in the fields of ion batteries, surface enhanced Raman scattering, new micro/nanostructured devices, and so on.