A Convenient Method for the Protodesilylation of Aryltrimethylsilanes

Visible Light Thiyl Radical-Mediated Desilylation of Arylsilanes

A straightforward, visible-light triggered desilylation of arylsilanes by thiyl radicals is presented. Silyl groups are often used to block a reactive position in multi-step organic synthesis, for which a mild cleavage at a late-stage will provide new possibilities and disconnection routes by C_Ar -Si cleavage/deprotection. In this work, commercially available and cheap disulfides are employed for the first time in this type of C(sp² )-Si bond cleavage reactions. Thus, upon irradiation with visible-light, homolytic cleavage of the disulfide give rise to the corresponding thiyl radical that allows for a radical chain mechanism. This methodology represents a mild, fast and simple approach suitable for a broad variety of simply substituted arylsilanes. Moreover, the procedure could be easily extended to natural products and therapeutic derivatives, showing its robustness and synthetic application potential.

Protodesilylation of Arylsilanes by Visible-Light Photocatalysis

The first visible-light-mediated photocatalytic, metal- and base-free protodesilylation of arylsilanes is presented. The C(sp²)-Si bond cleavage process is catalyzed by a 5 mol % loading of a commercially available acridinium salt upon blue-light irradiation. Two simple approaches have been identified employing either aerobic or hydrogen atom transfer cocatalytic conditions, which enable the efficient and selective desilylation of a broad variety of simple and complex arylsilanes under mild conditions.

Synthesis of Vitisins A and D Enabled by a Persistent Radical Equilibrium

The first total synthesis of the resveratrol tetramers vitisin A and vitisin D is reported. Electrochemical generation and selective dimerization of persistent radicals is followed by thermal isomerization of the symmetric C8b-C8c dimer to the C3c-C8b isomer, providing rapid entry into the vitisin core. Computational results suggest that this synthetic approach mimics Nature's strategy for constructing these complex molecules. Sequential acid-mediated rearrangements consistent with the proposed biogenesis of these compounds afford vitisin A and vitisin D. The rapid synthesis of these complex molecules will enable further study of their pharmacological potential.

Efficient and Facile Ar−Si Bond Cleavage by Montmorillonite KSF: Synthetic and Mechanistic Aspects of Solvent-Free Protodesilylation Studied by Solution and Solid-State MAS NMR

A facile and efficient method for the cleavage of the Ar-Si bond of various aryl trimethyl silanes is described. When adsorbed on montmorillonite KSF (mont KSF), these arylsilanes readily undergo a solvent-free protodesilylation to the corresponding arenes at room temperature in excellent yields. This approach seems to be superior to the traditional mild methods (i.e., desilylation by TFA, TBAF, CsF), in terms of reaction yield, rate, and environmentally benign conditions. Some mechanistic studies using both solution and solid-state magic-angle spinning (SS MAS) (1)H NMR are also presented.

Efficient and practical method for synthesizing optically active indan-2-ols by the Ti(O-i-Pr)(4)/2 i-PrMgCl-mediated metalative Reppe reaction

An efficient and practical synthesis of optically active indan-2-ols 1 has been developed starting from readily accessible optically active 4-siloxy-1,6-alkadiynes 2 and ethynyl p-tolyl sulfone, where the metalative Reppe reaction mediated by an economical divalent titanium reagent, Ti(O-i-Pr)(4)/2 i-PrMgCl, is a key step.