Copper Catalyzed Synthesis of Heterocyclic Molecules via C-N and C-O Bond Formation under Microwaves: A Mini-Review

Microwave-Assisted Selective Nucleopalladation-Triggered Cascade Process: Synthesis of Highly Functionalized 3-Chloro-1H-indenes

A nucleopalladation-triggered cascade transformation of internal alkynes bearing an amino nucleophile and an electrophilic enone was investigated under unconventional microwave-assisted conditions. Among the three possible pathways, the chloropalladation-triggered domino process proceeded selectively to furnish 3-chloro-1H-indenes in good to excellent yields. The reactions under microwave irradiation were completed in 30 min, and the conventional heating required 3-5 h for completion. The yields obtained under nonclassical heating using microwave irradiation are marginally higher (71-97%) than those of the conventional heating conditions (67-96%). The mechanism of this domino process involves chloropalladation of alkynes to deliver σ-vinylpalladium intermediates, intramolecular carbopalladation via Heck-type olefin insertion, and protodepalladation steps. The other two competitive intramolecular aminopalladation-initiated cascades via 7-endo-dig or 6-exo-dig cyclizations leading to oxazepine or benzoxazine scaffolds were not observed.

Microwave-assisted solid-state pretreatment for fabrication of hemp fibres using ethanolamine at low temperature

Conventional methods faced challenges in pretreating natural cellulose fibres due to their high energy consumption and large wastewater drainage. This research devised an efficient solid-state pretreatment method for pretreating hemp fibres using ethanolamine (ETA) assisted by microwave (MW) heating. This method produced a notable removal rate of lignin (85.4 %) with the highest cellulose content (83.0 %) at a high solid content (30 %) and low temperature (70 °C). Both FT-IR and XRD analyses indicated that the pretreatment did not alter the structure of cellulose within the hemp fibres but increased crystallinity as the CrI increased from 84 % in raw hemp fibre to 89 % in pretreated fibre. As a result, it produced hemp fibres with impressive fineness (4.6 dtex) and breaking strength (3.81 cN/dtex), meeting the requirement of textile fibre. In addition, an improvement in glucose concentration (15.6 %) was observed in enzymatic hydrolysis of the MW pretreated hemp fibres compared to the fibres pretreated without MW. Furthermore, the FT-IR and NMR data confirmed that the amination of lignin occurred even at low temperature, which contributed to the high lignin removal rate. Thus, this study presents a potentially effective energy-saving, and environmentally sustainable solid-state method for pretreating hemp fibres.