Iodanyl Radical Catalysis

Electrochemical Dichlorinative Cyclization of 1,n-Enynes by 4-Iodotoluene Catalysis

An electrochemical approach for the indirect oxidative generation of hypervalent iodoarene as a reaction catalyst has been reported. The reaction proceeds first from the generation of active Cl species by electro-oxidation, followed by oxidative transfer to generate ArICl2, which subsequently reacts with enynes to achieve cyclization. This protocol provides a simple and green method for accessing dichlorinative cyclization products in high yields with good selectivity.

Recent Progress in Synthetic Applications of Hypervalent Iodine(III) Reagents

Hypervalent iodine(III) compounds have found wide application in modern organic chemistry as environmentally friendly reagents and catalysts. Hypervalent iodine reagents are commonly used in synthetically important halogenations, oxidations, aminations, heterocyclizations, and various oxidative functionalizations of organic substrates. Iodonium salts are important arylating reagents, while iodonium ylides and imides are excellent carbene and nitrene precursors. Various derivatives of benziodoxoles, such as azidobenziodoxoles, trifluoromethylbenziodoxoles, alkynylbenziodoxoles, and alkenylbenziodoxoles have found wide application as group transfer reagents in the presence of transition metal catalysts, under metal-free conditions, or using photocatalysts under photoirradiation conditions. Development of hypervalent iodine catalytic systems and discovery of highly enantioselective reactions using chiral hypervalent iodine compounds represent a particularly important recent achievement in the field of hypervalent iodine chemistry. Chemical transformations promoted by hypervalent iodine in many cases are unique and cannot be performed by using any other common, non-iodine-based reagent. This review covers literature published mainly in the last 7-8 years, between 2016 and 2024.

Photoexcitation of (diarylmethylene)amino benziodoxolones for alkylamination of styrene derivatives with carboxylic acids

The alkylamination of alkenes using pristine carboxylic acids was achieved by the photoexcitation of (diarylmethylene)amino benziodoxolones (DABXs), which serve as both an oxidant and an aminating reagent (an iminyl radical precursor). The developed method is a simple photochemical reaction without the need for external photosensitizers and shows a broad substrate scope for aliphatic carboxylic acids leading to the formation of primary, secondary, and tertiary alkyl radicals, thus enabling the facile synthesis of various structurally complex amines. Mechanistic investigations including transient absorption spectroscopy measurements using a laser flash photolysis (LFP) method disclosed the unique photochemical reactivity of DABXs, which undergoes homolysis of their I-N bonds to give an iminyl radical and ortho-iodobenzoyloxy radical, the latter of which participates in the single-electron oxidation of carboxylates.

Halogen Bonding and/or Covalent Bond: Analogy of 3c-4e N···I···X (X = Cl, Br, I, and N) Interactions in Neutral, Cationic, and Anionic Complexes

X-ray structural measurements and computational analysis demonstrated the similarity of the geometries and electronic structures of the X-I···N (X = Cl, Br, I, and N) bonding in strong halogen-bonded (HaB) complexes and in the anionic or cationic halonium ions. In particular, I···N bond lengths in the solid-state associations formed by strong HaB donors (e.g., I2, IBr, ICl, and N-iodosuccinimide) and acceptors (e.g., quinuclidine or pyridines) were in the same range of 2.3 ± 0.1 Å as those in the halonium ions [e.g., the bis(quinuclidine)iodonium cation or the 1,1'-iodanylbis(pyrrolidine-2,5-dione) anion]. In all cases, bond lengths were much closer to those of the N-I covalent bond than to the van der Waals separations of these atoms. The strong N···I bonding in the HaB complexes led to a substantial charge transfer, lengthening and weakening of the I···X bonds, and polarization of the HaB donors. As a result, the central iodine atoms in the strong HaB complexes bear partial positive charges akin to those in the halonium ions. The energies and Mayer bond orders for both N···I and I···X bonds in such associations are also comparable to those in the halonium ions. The similarity of the bonding in such complexes and in halonium ions was further supported by the analysis of electron densities and energies at bond critical (3, -1) points in the framework of the quantum theory of atoms in molecules and by the density overlap region indicator. Overall, all these data point out the analogy of the symmetric N···I···N bonding in the halonium ions and the asymmetric X···I···N bonding in the strong HaB complexes, as well as the weakly covalent character of these 3c-4e interactions.