A cascade process for directly converting nitriles (RCN) to cyanamides (RNHCN) via SO2F2-activated Tiemann rearrangement

Phenolate-Induced N-O Bond Formation versus TiemannType Rearrangement for the Synthesis of 3-Aminobenzisoxazoles and 2-Aminobenzoxazoles

A novel oxadiazolone-based method for the synthesis of 3-aminobenzisoxazoles by N-O bond formation and of 2-aminobenzoxazoles through a Tiemann-type rearrangement has been developed. The synthesis of these two pharmaceutically relevant heterocycles was realized by an unexplored retrosynthetic disconnection using a cyclic nitrenoid precursor-based strategy. The selective formation of the two isomers was significantly influenced by steric and electronic effects of substituents. However, tetrabutylammonium chloride (TBACl) efficiently promoted the Tiemann-type rearrangement over N-O bond formation. Control experiments indicate that deprotonation of the phenol induces both rearrangements.

The stable "F-SO2 +" donor provides a mild and efficient approach to nitriles and amides

In this update, we developed a mild, efficient and practical method using fluorosulfuryl imidazolium salt A as an environment friendly promoter for conversion of oximes to nitriles or amides via β-elimination or Beckmann rearrangement in almost quantitative yield in 10 minutes. The target products were generated in gram-scale and could be collected through crystallization without silica gel column purification in excellent yield.

Enantioselective reaction of N-cyano imines: decarboxylative Mannich-type reaction with malonic acid half thioesters

The enantioselective reaction of imines bearing a cyano group as an activating group with malonic acid half thioesters gave chiral cyanamide derivatives with high enantioselectivity. The density functional theory (DFT) calculation clarified the stereochemical outcome and importance of the N-cyano group for imines.

Rapid and column-free syntheses of acyl fluorides and peptides using ex situ generated thionyl fluoride

Thionyl fluoride (SOF₂) was first isolated in 1896, but there have been less than 10 subsequent reports of its use as a reagent for organic synthesis. This is partly due to a lack of facile, lab-scale methods for its generation. Herein we report a novel protocol for the ex situ generation of SOF₂ and subsequent demonstration of its ability to access both aliphatic and aromatic acyl fluorides in 55-98% isolated yields under mild conditions and short reaction times. We further demonstrate its aptitude in amino acid couplings, with a one-pot, column-free strategy that affords the corresponding dipeptides in 65-97% isolated yields with minimal to no epimerization. The broad scope allows for a wide range of protecting groups and both natural and unnatural amino acids. Finally, we demonstrated that this new method can be used in sequential liquid phase peptide synthesis (LPPS) to afford tri-, tetra-, penta-, and decapeptides in 14-88% yields without the need for column chromatography. We also demonstrated that this new method is amenable to solid phase peptide synthesis (SPPS), affording di- and pentapeptides in 80-98% yields.

N-Cyanation of Primary and Secondary Amines with Cyanobenzio-doxolone (CBX) Reagent

An efficient electrophilic N-cyanation of amines with a stable and less-toxic cyanobenziodoxole reagent towards the synthesis of cyanamides is disclosed. This synthetically practicable strategy allows the construction of a wide variety of cyanamides under very mild and simple conditions with a broad functional group compatibility, and showcases a huge potential in late-stage modification of complex molecules.

Sulfuryl Fluoride Promoted Thiocyanation of Alcohols: A Practical Method for Preparing Thiocyanates

A novel SO2F2-promoted thiocyanation method for the one-step synthesis of thiocyanates through C–O bond cleavage of readily available alcohols with ammonium thiocyanate as the thiocyanating agent was developed. The method avoids the use of additional catalyst, and a variety of (hetero)arene, alkene and aliphatic alcohols reacted with high efficiency in ethyl acetate under mild conditions to afford the corresponding thiocyanates in excellent to quantitative yields with broad functional-group compatibility.

SO2F2-Mediated one-pot cascade process for transformation of aldehydes (RCHO) to cyanamides (RNHCN)

A simple, mild and practical cascade process for the direct conversion of aldehydes to cyanamides was developed featuring a wide substrate scope and great functional group tolerability. This method allows for transformations of readily available, inexpensive, and abundant aldehydes to highly valuable cyanamides in a pot, atom, and step-economical manner with a green nitrogen source. This protocol will serve as a robust tool for the installation of the cyanamide moiety in various complicated molecules.