Recent advances in hypervalent iodine(III)-catalyzed functionalization of alkenes

Dibenzothiophenium Salts: Practical Alternatives to Hypervalent I(III)-Based Reagents

ConspectusDuring the past few years, the interest among organic synthesis practitioners in the use of sulfonium salts has exponentially growth. This can arguably be attributed to a series of specific factors: (a) The recent development of more direct and efficient protocols for the synthesis of these species, which make sulfonium reagents of a wide structural variety easily available in multigram scale. (b) The recognition that the reactivity of these salts resembles that of hypervalent iodine compounds, and therefore, they can be used as effective replacement of such species in most of their applications. (c) Their intrinsic thermal stability and tolerance to air and moisture, which clearly surpass that of I(III)-reagents of analogue reactivity, and facilitate their purification, isolation as well-defined species, storage, and safely handling on larger scale. (d) Finally, the possibility to further functionalize sulfonium salts once the sulfur-containing platform has been incorporated. Specifically, this last synthetic approach is not trivial when working with hypervalent I(III)-species and facilitates the access to sulfonium salts with no counterpart in the I(III) realm.This renewed interest in sulfonium salts has led to the improvement of already existing transformations as well as to the discovery of unprecedented ones; in particular, by the development of protocols that incorporate sulfonium salts as partners in traditional cross-coupling and C-H activation steps or combine them with more modern technologies such as photocatalysis or electrosynthesis. In this Account, the reactivity of a series of sulfonium salts originally prepared in our laboratory will be outlined and compared to their I(III)-counterparts. Some of these reagents are now commercially available, and their use has started to spread widely across the synthetic chemistry community, helping to speed the process of identification of potentially bioactive products or new functionaliced materials. However, challenges still remain. The development of sulfonium reagents characterized by an optimal balance between reactivity and site-selectivity, or showing broader compatibility toward sensitive functional groups is still a need. In addition, the intrinsic stability of sulfonium salts often makes necessary the use of (sophisticated) catalysts that activate the latent reactivity hidden in their structures. Although a priori one can see this fact as a disadvantage, it might actually be decisive to harvest the full synthetic potential of sulfonium salts because their thermal stability will surely facilitate the preparation of operational reagents with no counterpart in the context of I(III)-chemistry. If this becomes true, sulfonium salts may contribute to the expediting of retrosynthetic disconnections that, to date, are impossible.

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.

Alkene 1,3-Difluorination via Transient Oxonium Intermediates

The 1,3-difunctionalization of unactivated alkenes is an under-explored transformation that leads to moieties that are otherwise challenging to prepare. Herein, we report a hypervalent iodine-mediated 1,3-difluorination of homoallylic (aryl) ethers to give unreported 1,3-difluoro-4-oxy groups with moderate to excellent diastereoselectivity. The transformation proceeds through a different mode of reactivity for 1,3-difunctionalization, in which a regioselective addition of fluoride opens a transiently formed oxonium intermediate to rearrange an alkyl chain. The optimized protocol is scalable and shown to proceed well with a variety of functional groups and substitution on the alkenyl chain, hence providing ready access to this fluorinated, conformationally controlled moiety.

PhI(OAc)2-Promoted 1,2-Transfer Reaction between 1,1-Disubstituted Allylic Alcohols and Thiophenols

The PhI(OAc)2-promoted 1,2-transfer reaction between allylic alcohols and thiophenols, conducted in an argon atmosphere, has proven to be effective in producing β-carbonyl sulfides from 1,1-disubstituted allylic alcohols in high yields. This method offers a fast and efficient way to synthesize β-carbonyl sulfides, which are valuable intermediates in organic synthesis. This discussion focuses on the effects of the oxidizer, temperature, and solvent on the reaction. A proposed tentative mechanism for this reaction is also discussed.

Hypervalent Iodine-Catalyzed Fluorination of Diene-Containing Compounds: A Computational Study

Studies have shown that the incorporation of fluorine into materials can improve their properties, but C-F bonds are not readily formed in nature. Although some researchers have studied the reaction of fluorinating alkenes catalyzed by hypervalent iodine, far too little attention has been paid to its reaction mechanism. This study aimed to explore the mechanism of the hypervalent iodine-catalyzed 1,4-difluorination of dienes. We found that the catalyst is favorable for the activation of C1=C2 double bonds through halogen bonds, and then two HFs interact with one F atom in the catalyst via hydrogen bonds, resulting in the cleavage of I-F bonds and the formation of [F-H∙∙∙F]-. Subsequently, the catalyst interacts with C1, and the roaming [F-H···F]- attacks C4 from the opposite side of the catalyst. After the fluorination step is completed, the nucleophile F- substitutes the catalyst via the SN2 mechanism. Our calculations demonstrated that the interaction between HF and F- is favorable for the stabilization of the transition state within the fluorination process for which the presence of two HFs in the reaction is the best. We also observed that [F-H∙∙∙F]- attacking C4 from the opposite side of the catalyst is more advantageous than attacking from the same side. This study therefore offers a novel perspective on the mechanism of the hypervalent iodine-catalyzed fluoridation of dienes.

Predicting bond dissociation energies of cyclic hypervalent halogen reagents using DFT calculations and graph attention network model

Although hypervalent iodine(III) reagents have become staples in organic chemistry, the exploration of their isoelectronic counterparts, namely hypervalent bromine(III) and chlorine(III) reagents, has been relatively limited, partly due to challenges in synthesizing and stabilizing these compounds. In this study, we conduct a thorough examination of both homolytic and heterolytic bond dissociation energies (BDEs) critical for assessing the chemical stability and functional group transfer capability of cyclic hypervalent halogen compounds using density functional theory (DFT) analysis. A moderate linear correlation was observed between the homolytic BDEs across different halogen centers, while a strong linear correlation was noted among the heterolytic BDEs across these centers. Furthermore, we developed a predictive model for both homolytic and heterolytic BDEs of cyclic hypervalent halogen compounds using machine learning algorithms. The results of this study could aid in estimating the chemical stability and functional group transfer capabilities of hypervalent bromine(III) and chlorine(III) reagents, thereby facilitating their development.

Hypervalent iodine-catalyzed amide and alkene coupling enabled by lithium salt activation

Hypervalent iodine catalysis has been widely utilized in olefin functionalization reactions. Intermolecularly, the regioselective addition of two distinct nucleophiles across the olefin is a challenging process in hypervalent iodine catalysis. We introduce here a unique strategy using simple lithium salts for hypervalent iodine catalyst activation. The activated hypervalent iodine catalyst allows the intermolecular coupling of soft nucleophiles such as amides onto electronically activated olefins with high regioselectivity.

Catalytic 1,1-diazidation of alkenes

Compared to well-developed catalytic 1,2-diazidation of alkenes to produce vicinal diazides, the corresponding catalytic 1,1-diazidation of alkenes to yield geminal diazides has not been realized. Here we report an efficient approach for catalytic 1,1-diazidation of alkenes by redox-active selenium catalysis. Under mild conditions, electron-rich aryl alkenes with Z or E or Z/E mixed configuration can undergo migratory 1,1-diazidation to give a series of functionalized monoalkyl or dialkyl geminal diazides that are difficult to access by other methods. The method is also effective for the construction of polydiazides. The formed diazides are relatively safe by TGA-DSC analysis and impact sensitivity tests, and can be easily converted into various valuable molecules. In addition, interesting reactivity that geminal diazides give valuable molecules via the geminal diazidomethyl moiety as a formal leaving group in the presence of Lewis acid is disclosed. Mechanistic studies revealed that a selenenylation-deselenenylation followed by 1,2-aryl migration process is involved in the reactions, which provides a basis for the design of new reactions.

Iodoxybenzoic Acid (IBX) in Organic Synthesis: A Septennial Review

This study reviews the oxidative applications of 2-iodoxybenzoic acid (IBX) in organic synthesis, focusing on C-H functionalization, hetero-hetero bond formations, ring cleavage reactions, dehydrogenation, heterocyclic ring formations, and some miscellaneous reactions in a comprehensive and critical way. It compiles the literature starting from mid-2015 to date.

Metal-Free Electrocatalytic Diacetoxylation of Alkenes

1,2-Dioxygenation of alkenes leads to a structural motif ubiquitous in organic synthons, natural products and active pharmaceutical ingredients. Straightforward and green synthesis protocols starting from abundant raw materials are required for facile and sustainable access to these crucial moieties. Especially industrially abundant aliphatic alkenes have proven to be arduous substrates in sustainable 1,2-dioxygenation methods. Here, we report a highly efficient electrocatalytic diacetoxylation of alkenes under ambient conditions using a simple iodobenzene mediator and acetic acid as both the solvent and an atom-efficient reactant. This transition metal-free method is applicable to a wide range of alkenes, even challenging feedstock alkenes such as ethylene and propylene, with a broad functional group tolerance and excellent faradaic efficiencies up to 87 %. In addition, this protocol can be extrapolated to alkenoic acids, resulting in cyclization of the starting materials to valuable lactone derivatives. With aromatic alkenes, a competing mechanism of direct anodic oxidation exists which enables reaction under catalyst-free conditions. The synthetic method is extensively investigated with cyclic voltammetry.

Bifunctional Onium and Potassium Iodides as Nucleophilic Catalysts for the Solvent-Free Syntheses of Carbonates, Thiocarbonates, and Oxazolidinones from Epoxides

The catalytic potential of organo-onium iodides as nucleophilic catalysts is aptly demonstrated in the synthesis of cyclic carbonates from epoxides and carbon dioxide (CO2 ), as a representative CO2 utilization reaction. Although organo-onium iodide nucleophilic catalysts are metal-free environmentally benign catalysts, harsh reaction conditions are generally required to efficiently promote the coupling reactions of epoxides and CO2 . To solve this problem and accomplish efficient CO2 utilization reactions under mild conditions, bifunctional onium iodide nucleophilic catalysts bearing a hydrogen bond donor moiety were developed by our research group. Based on the successful bifunctional design of the onium iodide catalysts, nucleophilic catalysis using a potassium iodide (KI)-tetraethylene glycol complex was also investigated in coupling reactions of epoxides and CO2 under mild reaction conditions. These effective bifunctional onium and potassium iodide nucleophilic catalysts were applied to the solvent-free syntheses of 2-oxazolidinones and cyclic thiocarbonates from epoxides.

Forging Medium Rings via I(I)/I(III)-Catalyzed Diene Carbofunctionalization

A main-group catalysis-based strategy to access 8-membered carbocycles via the direct carbofunctionalization of 2-phenethyl-substituted 1,3-dienes is disclosed. Through the intervention of an I(I)/I(III) catalysis cycle, the synthesis of densely functionalized, fluorinated benzocyclooctenes can be achieved in an operationally simple manner. Modulating the oxidation/activation regime, and the external nucleophile, the process has been extended to unify the challenging cyclization with formation of allylic C-O, C-N, and C-C bonds (>30 examples). Derivatization of the product benzocyclooctenes is demonstrated together with X-ray conformational analysis, preliminary validation of enantioselective catalysis and a scalable resolution protocol.

Iodine(V)-Based Oxidants in Oxidation Reactions

The chemistry of hypervalent iodine reagents has now become quite valuable due to the reactivity of these compounds under mild reaction conditions and their resemblance in chemical properties to transition metals. The environmentally friendly nature of these reagents makes them suitable for Green Chemistry. Reagents with a dual nature, such as iodine(III) reagents, are capable electrophiles, while iodine(V) reagents are known for their strong oxidant behavior. Various iodine(V) reagents including IBX and DMP have been used as oxidants in organic synthesis either in stoichiometric or in catalytic amounts. In this review article, we describe various oxidation reactions induced by iodine(V) reagents reported in the past decade.

Integrating I(I)/I(III) catalysis in reaction cascade design enables the synthesis of gem-difluorinated tetralins from cyclobutanols

Partially saturated, fluorine-containing rings are ubiquitous across the drug discovery spectrum. This capitalises upon the biological significance of the native structure and the physicochemical advantages conferred by fluorination. Motivated by the significance of aryl tetralins in bioactive small molecules, a reaction cascade has been validated to generate novel gem-difluorinated isosteres from 1,3-diaryl cyclobutanols in a single operation. Under the Brønsted acidity of the catalysis conditions, an acid-catalysed unmasking/fluorination sequence generates a homoallylic fluoride in situ. This species serves as the substrate for an I(I)/I(III) cycle and is processed, via a phenonium ion rearrangement, to an (isolable) 1,3,3-trifluoride. A final C(sp³)-F bond activation event, enabled by HFIP, forges the difluorinated tetralin scaffold. The cascade is highly modular, enabling the intermediates to be intercepted: this provides an expansive platform for the generation of structural diversity.

Cyclic diaryliodonium salts: applications and overview

Owing to the recent renewed interest and groundbreaking advances in hypervalent chemistry, cyclic diaryliodonium salts have had a myriad of unique applications in the past decade. Their numerous properties, such as an efficient dual arylation mechanism, straightforward one-pot synthesis compatibility, wide substrate scope, and functionalization tolerance, have made them appropriate starting materials for many bioactive compounds. Fluorenes, thiophenes, carbazoles, phenanthrenes, and many other useful cyclic bioactive molecules that are essential for pharmaceutical synthesis can be readily accessed from cyclic diaryliodonium salts. Particular focus has been given to the high optical activity and good enantiomeric excess of the products that facilitate the easy formation of many difficult-to-obtain optical isomers, such as atropisomers. This review aims to compile and summarize all the recent advances in synthesizing methodologies to prepare the important compounds where cyclic diaryliodonium salt is an integral part of the methodologies and would hopefully provide a good foundation for further research on this topic.

Toward a General Protocol for Catalytic Oxidative Transformations Using Electrochemically Generated Hypervalent Iodine Species

A simple catalytic electrosynthetic protocol for oxidative transformations mediated by hypervalent iodine reagents has been developed. In this protocol, electricity drives the iodine(I)/iodine(III) catalytic cycle enabling catalysis with in situ generated hypervalent iodine species, thereby eliminating chemical oxidants and the inevitable chemical waste associated with their mode of action. In addition, no added electrolytic salts are needed in this process. The developed method has been validated using two different hypervalent iodine-mediated transformations: (i) the oxidative cyclization of N-allylic and N-homoallylic amides to the corresponding dihydrooxazole and dihydro-1,3-oxazine derivatives, respectively, and (ii) the α-tosyloxylation of ketones. Both reactions proceeded smoothly under the developed catalytic electrosynthetic conditions without reoptimization, featuring a wide substrate scope and excellent functional group tolerance. In addition, scale-up to gram-scale and catalyst recovery were easily achieved maintaining the high efficiency of the process.

Recent Progress in Cyclic Aryliodonium Chemistry: Syntheses and Applications

Hypervalent aryliodoumiums are intensively investigated as arylating agents. They are excellent surrogates to aryl halides, and moreover they exhibit better reactivity, which allows the corresponding arylation reactions to be performed under mild conditions. In the past decades, acyclic aryliodoniums are widely explored as arylation agents. However, the unmet need for acyclic aryliodoniums is the improvement of their notoriously low reaction economy because the coproduced aryl iodides during the arylation are often wasted. Cyclic aryliodoniums have their intrinsic advantage in terms of reaction economy, and they have started to receive considerable attention due to their valuable synthetic applications to initiate cascade reactions, which can enable the construction of complex structures, including polycycles with potential pharmaceutical and functional properties. Here, we are summarizing the recent advances made in the research field of cyclic aryliodoniums, including the nascent design of aryliodonium species and their synthetic applications. First, the general preparation of typical diphenyl iodoniums is described, followed by the construction of heterocyclic iodoniums and monoaryl iodoniums. Then, the initiated arylations coupled with subsequent domino reactions are summarized to construct polycycles. Meanwhile, the advances in cyclic aryliodoniums for building biaryls including axial atropisomers are discussed in a systematic manner. Finally, a very recent advance of cyclic aryliodoniums employed as halogen-bonding organocatalysts is described.

Redox-active molecules as organocatalysts for selective oxidative transformations - an unperceived organocatalysis field

Organocatalysis is widely recognized as a key synthetic methodology in organic chemistry. It allows chemists to avoid the use of precious and (or) toxic metals by taking advantage of the catalytic activity of small and synthetically available molecules. Today, the term organocatalysis is mainly associated with redox-neutral asymmetric catalysis of C-C bond-forming processes, such as aldol reactions, Michael reactions, cycloaddition reactions, etc. Organophotoredox catalysis has emerged recently as another important catalysis type which has gained much attention and has been quite well-reviewed. At the same time, there are a significant number of other processes, especially oxidative, catalyzed by redox-active organic molecules in the ground state (without light excitation). Unfortunately, many of such processes are not associated in the literature with the organocatalysis field and thus many achievements are not fully consolidated and systematized. The present article is aimed at overviewing the current state-of-art and perspectives of oxidative organocatalysis by redox-active molecules with the emphasis on challenging chemo-, regio- and stereoselective CH-functionalization processes. The catalytic systems based on N-oxyl radicals, amines, thiols, oxaziridines, ketone/peroxide, quinones, and iodine(I/III) compounds are the most developed catalyst types which are covered here.

Regio- and Enantioselective Intermolecular Aminofluorination of Alkenes via Iodine(I)/Iodine(III) Catalysis

The regio- and enantio-selective, intermolecular vicinal fluoroamination of α-trifluoromethyl styrenes has been achieved by enantioselective II /IIII catalysis. Leveraging C2 -symmetric resorcinol-based aryl iodide catalysts, it has been possible to intercept the transient iodonium intermediate using simple nitriles, which function as both the solvent and nucleophile. In situ Ritter reaction provides direct access to the corresponding amides (up to 89 % yield, e.r. 93 : 7). This main group catalysis paradigm inverts the intrinsic regioselectivity of the uncatalyzed process, thereby providing facile access to tertiary, benzylic stereocenters bearing both CF3 and F groups. Privileged phenethylamine pharmacophores can be generated in which there is complete local partial charge inversion (CF3δ- /Fδ- versus CH3δ+ /Hδ+ ). Crystallographic analyses of representative β-fluoroamide products reveal highly pre-organized conformations that manifest the stereoelectronic gauche effect.

Stereocontrolled Synthesis of Fluorinated Isochromans via Iodine(I)/Iodine(III) Catalysis

The success of saturated, fluorinated heterocycles in contemporary drug discovery provides a stimulus for creative endeavor in main group catalysis. Motivated by the ubiquity of isochromans across the bioactive small molecule spectrum, the prominence of the anomeric effect in regulating conformation, and the metabolic lability of the benzylic position, iodine(I)/iodine(III) catalysis has been leveraged for the stereocontrolled generation of selectively fluorinated analogs. To augment the current arsenal of fluorocyclization reactions involving carboxylic acid derivatives, the reaction of readily accessible 2-vinyl benzaldehydes is disclosed (up to >95 : 05 d.r. and 97 : 03 e.r.). Key stereoelectronic interactions manifest themselves in the X-ray crystal structures of the products, thereby validating the [CH2 -CHF] fragment as a stereoelectronic mimic of the [O-CH(OR)] acetal motif.

Enantioselective iodolactonization to prepare ε-lactone rings using hypervalent iodine

Despite the rapid growth of enantioselective halolactonization reactions in recent years, most are effective only when forming smaller (6,5,4-membered) rings. Seven-membered ε-lactones, are rarely formed with high selectivity, and never without conformational bias. We describe the first highly enantioselective 7-exo-trig iodolactonizations of conformationally unbiased ε-unsaturated carboxylic acids, effected by an unusual combination of a bifunctional BAM catalyst, I₂, and I(iii) reagent (PhI(OAc)₂:PIDA).

We describe the first highly enantioselective 7-exo-trig iodolactonizations of conformationally unbiased ε-unsaturated carboxylic acids, effected by an unusual combination of a bifunctional BAM catalyst, I₂, and I(iii) reagent (PhI(OAc)₂:PIDA).

Structure Elucidation of In Situ Generated Chiral Hypervalent Iodine Complexes via Vibrational Circular Dichroism (VCD)

The structure of in situ generated chiral aryl-λ³ -iodanes obtained under oxidative reaction conditions was not yet observable with experimental techniques and their proposed structures are purely based on DFT calculations. Herein, we establish vibrational circular dichroism (VCD) spectroscopy as an experimental technique to verify DFT-calculated chiral iodane structures. Based on a chiral triazole-substituted iodoarene catalyst, we were able to elucidate a yet undescribed cationic chiral iodane as the most populated intermediate under oxidative conditions with a significant intramolecular N-I-interaction and no significant interactions with tosylate or m-chlorobenzoic acid as potential anionic ligands. Instead, aggregation of these substrates was found, which resulted in the formation of a non-coordinating anionic hydrogen bonded complex. The importance of VCD as a crucial experimental observable is further highlighted by the fact that our initial structural proposal, that was purely based on DFT calculations, could be falsified.

Palladium-Catalyzed Organic Reactions Involving Hypervalent Iodine Reagents

The chemistry of polyvalent iodine compounds has piqued the interest of researchers due to their role as important and flexible reagents in synthetic organic chemistry, resulting in a broad variety of useful organic molecules. These chemicals have potential uses in various functionalization procedures due to their non-toxic and environmentally friendly properties. As they are also strong electrophiles and potent oxidizing agents, the use of hypervalent iodine reagents in palladium-catalyzed transformations has received a lot of attention in recent years. Extensive research has been conducted on the subject of C—H bond functionalization by Pd catalysis with hypervalent iodine reagents as oxidants. Furthermore, the iodine(III) reagent is now often used as an arylating agent in Pd-catalyzed C—H arylation or Heck-type cross-coupling processes. In this article, the recent advances in palladium-catalyzed oxidative cross-coupling reactions employing hypervalent iodine reagents are reviewed in detail.

N-Terminal Selective C-H Azidation of Proline-Containing Peptides: a Platform for Late-Stage Diversification

A methodology for the C-H azidation of N-terminal proline-containing peptides was developed employing only commercially available reagents. Peptides bearing a broad range of functionalities and containing up to 6 amino acids were selectively azidated at the carbamate-protected N-terminal residue in presence of the numerous other functional groups present on the molecules. Post-functionalizations of the obtained aminal compounds were achieved: cycloaddition reactions or C-C bond formations via a sequence of imine formation/nucleophilic addition were performed, offering an easy access to diversified peptides.

Hypervalent Iodine(III) Promoted Tandem Reaction of o-Fluoroanilines with Formamides to Construct 2-Aminobenzoxazoles

A simple and practical synthesis of 2-aminobenzoxaoles has been developed from commercially available o-fluoroanilines, and formamides. The process can be performed in the absence of metal catalyst with high levels...

Updates on hypervalent-iodine reagents in metal-free organic synthesis

Hypervalent iodine (HVI) chemistry is a rapidly growing subdomain of contemporary organic chemistry because of its enormous synthetic applications. The high nucleofugality of the phenyliodonio group (I+Ph) and their radical...

Direct Carbonylative Difunctional of Terminal Alkynes with Sodium Sulfinates to Access Olefin Sulfonyl Methyl Esters under Metal-Free Conditions

A metal-free difunctional carbonylation procedure toward the synthesis of olefin sulfonyl methyl esters has been developed. By employing easily available terminal alkynes and sodium sulfinates as the starting materials, a...

Lewis Base Catalyzed Dioxygenation of Olefins with Hypervalent Iodine Reagents

1,2-Diols are extremely useful building blocks in organic synthesis. Hypervalent iodine reagents are useful for the vicinal dihydroxylation of olefins to give 1,2-diols under metal-free conditions, but strongly acidic promoters are often required. Herein, we report a catalytic vicinal dioxygenation of olefins with hypervalent iodine reagents using Lewis bases as catalysts. The conditions are mild and compatible with various functional groups.

Arylcyclopropane yet in its infancy: the challenges and recent advances in its functionalization

Electronically unbiased arylcyclopropane functionalization has always been a challenge to organic chemists, and the emergence of donor-acceptor cyclopropanes (DACs) has not only vehemently overshadowed them but still dominates the cyclopropane chemistry. Unlike DACs, the absence of pre-installed functional groups makes it harder for them to activate and participate in a reaction. The field has witnessed considerably slow progress since its inception due to the inherent challenges. There are only a few strategies available to open arylcyclopropanes. Therefore, this work is still in its infancy stage in spite of these materials being one of the earliest known type of cyclopropanes. This review manifests the history, endeavors, and achievements alongside the associated challenges, opportunities, and the need for concerted efforts to accomplish the long-awaited golden age of arylcyclopropanes.

The aryl iodine-catalyzed organic transformation via hypervalent iodine species generated in situ

The application of hypervalent iodine species generated in situ in organic transformations has emerged as a useful and powerful tool in organic synthesis, allowing for the construction of a series of bond formats via oxidative coupling. Among these transformations, the catalytic aryl iodide can be oxidized to hypervalent iodine species, which then undergoes oxidative reaction with the substrates and the aryl iodine regenerated again once the first cyclic cycle of the reaction is completed. This review aims to systematically summarize and discuss the main progress in the application of in situ-generated hypervalent iodine species, providing references and highlights for synthetic chemists who might be interested in this field of hypervalent iodine chemistry.

Enantio- and Regioselective Palladium(II)-Catalyzed Dioxygenation of (Aza-)Alkenols

An oxidative Pd-catalyzed intra-intermolecular dioxygenation of (aza-)alkenols has been reported, with total regioselectivity. To study the stereoselectivity, different chiral ligands as well as different hypervalent-iodine compounds have been compared. In particular, by using a C-6 modified pyridinyl-oxazoline (Pyox) ligand and hypervalent iodine bearing an aromatic ring, an excellent enantio- and diastereoselectivity has been achieved.

Stereoselective Oxidative Cyclization of N-Allyl Benzamides to Oxaz(ol)ines

This study presents an enantioselective oxidative cyclization of N-allyl carboxamides via a chiral triazole-substituted iodoarene catalyst. The method allows the synthesis of highly enantioenriched oxazolines and oxazines, with yields of up to 94% and enantioselectivities of up to 98% ee. Quaternary stereocenters can be constructed and, besides N-allyl amides, the corresponding thioamides and imideamides are well tolerated as substrates, giving rise to a plethora of chiral 5-membered N-heterocycles. By applying a multitude of further functionalizations, we finally demonstrate the high value of the observed chiral heterocycles as strategic intermediates for the synthesis of other enantioenriched target structures.

Reactions promoted by hypervalent iodine reagents and boron Lewis acids

Understanding the role of boranes in hypervalent iodine chemistry will open up new reactivities which can be utilised in organic synthesis. Due to similar reactivities, λ3-iodanes have presented themselves as viable alternatives for many transformations dominated by transition metals whilst mitigating some of the associated drawbacks of metal systems. As showcased by recent reports, boranes can adopt a dual role in hypervalent iodine chemistry that surpasses mere activation of the hypervalent iodine reagent. Increased efforts to harness this potential with diverse boranes will uncover exciting reactivity with high applicability across various disciplines including adoption in the pharmaceutical sciences. This review will be relevant to the wider synthetic community including organic, inorganic, materials, and medicinal chemists due to the versatility of hypervalent iodine chemistry especially in combination with borane activation or participation. We aim to highlight the development of hypervalent iodine compounds including their structure, bonding, synthesis and utility in metal-free organic synthesis in combination with Lewis acidic boranes.

Sulfur-Based Chiral Iodoarenes: An Underexplored Class of Chiral Hypervalent Iodine Reagents

Chiral hypervalent iodine reagents are active players in modern stereoselective organic synthesis. Structurally diverse chiral hypervalent iodine reagents have been synthesised and extensively studied, but hypervalent iodine reagents containing chiral sulfur stereogenic centre are scarce and their synthesis is challenging. A small library of iodoarenes containing chiral sulfinamide and chiral sulfoximine moieties has been synthesised using commercially available reagents. The oxidation of the chiral iodoarene precursors to iodine(III) reagents was cumbersome due to facile overoxidation of the sulfoxide moiety and hence loss of chirality under various oxidation conditions. Oxidation of chiral sulfonimidoyl derivatives to the corresponding hypervalent iodine reagents was successful and led to novel sulfur-based chiral iodine(III) reagents.

Heterocyclic group transfer reactions with I(iii) N-HVI reagents: access to N-alkyl(heteroaryl)onium salts via olefin aminolactonization

Pyridinium and related N-alkyl(heteroaryl)onium salts are versatile synthetic intermediates in organic chemistry, with applications ranging from ring functionalizations to provide diverse piperidine scaffolds to their recent emergence as radical precursors in deaminative cross couplings. Despite their ever-expanding applications, methods for their synthesis have seen little innovation, continuing to rely on a limited set of decades old transformations and a limited subset of coupling partners. Herein, we leverage (bis)cationic nitrogen-ligated I(iii) hypervalent iodine reagents, or N-HVIs, as "heterocyclic group transfer reagents" to provide access to a broad scope of N-alkyl(heteroaryl)onium salts via the aminolactonization of alkenoic acids, the first example of engaging an olefin to directly generate these salts. The reactions proceed in excellent yields, under mild conditions, and are capable of incorporating a broad scope of sterically and electronically diverse aromatic heterocycles. The N-HVI reagents can be generated in situ, the products isolated via simple trituration, and subsequent derivatizations demonstrate the power of this platform for diversity-oriented synthesis of 6-membered nitrogen heterocycles.

Radical bromination-induced ipso cyclization-ortho cyclization sequence of N-hydroxylethyl-N-arylpropiolamides

A facile procedure is reported for the synthesis of various 2-bromo-1-phenyl-5,6-dihydro-3H,7aH-benzo[b]pyrrolo[2,1-c][1,4]oxazin-3-ones via a radical bromination-induced ipso cyclization-ortho cyclization sequence of N-arylpropiolamides in the presence of TBAB and oxone. The radical cyclization sequence involves a radical bromo α-addition into the alkyne, ipso-cyclization, and ortho-trapping of the spirocyclic intermediate.

Aminolactonization of Unactivated Alkenes Catalyzed by Aryl Iodine

A one-step protocol of the aryl iodine-catalyzed aminolactonization of unactivated alkenes under oxidation conditions was first reported to efficiently construct diverse amino lactones in a short time using HNTs₂ as the compatible nitrogen source. In addition, we investigated the influence of the reaction rate based on the structure of the iodoarene precatalyst, which revealed the selective adjustment effect on aminolactonization and oxylactonization. Finally, preliminary experiments verified the feasibility of asymmetric aminolactonization catalyzed by a chiral iodoarene precatalyst.

Halonium Catalysis: An Underutilized and Underexplored Catalytic Concept in Olefin Functionalizations

Iodonium catalysis is described here to accomplish an intermolecular olefin oxyamination reaction. Urea is used as the O- and N-source to add across both activated and unactivated alkenes in a regioselective manner. Mechanistic studies confirm the presence of an iodonium intermediate.

Halogen Complexes of Anionic N-Heterocyclic Carbenes

The lithium complexes [(WCA-NHC)Li(toluene)] of anionic N-heterocyclic carbenes with a weakly coordinating anionic borate moiety (WCA-NHC) reacted with iodine, bromine, or CCl4 to afford the zwitterionic 2-halogenoimidazolium borates (WCA-NHC)X (X=I, Br, Cl; WCA=B(C6 F5 )3 , B{3,5-C6 H3 (CF3 )2 }3 ; NHC=IDipp=1,3-bis(2,6-diisopropylphenyl)imidazolin-2-ylidene, or NHC=IMes=1,3-bis(2,4,6-trimethylphenyl)imidazolin-2-ylidene). The iodine derivative (WCA-IDipp)I (WCA=B(C6 F5 )3 ) formed several complexes of the type (WCA-IDipp)I⋅L (L=C6 H5 Cl, C6 H5 Me, CH3 CN, THF, ONMe3 ), revealing its ability to act as an efficient halogen bond donor, which was also exploited for the preparation of hypervalent bis(carbene)iodine(I) complexes of the type [(WCA-IDipp)I(NHC)] and [PPh4 ][(WCA-IDipp)I(WCA-NHC)] (NHC=IDipp, IMes). The corresponding bromine complex [PPh4 ][(WCA-IDipp)2 Br] was isolated as a rare example of a hypervalent (10-Br-2) system. DFT calculations reveal that London dispersion contributes significantly to the stability of the bis(carbene)halogen(I) complexes, and the bonding was further analyzed by quantum theory of atoms in molecules (QTAIM) analysis.

C-N Axial Chiral Hypervalent Iodine Reagents: Catalytic Stereoselective α-Oxytosylation of Ketones

A simple synthesis of a library of novel C−N axially chiral iodoarenes is achieved in a three‐step synthesis from commercially available aniline derivatives. C−N axial chiral iodine reagents are rarely investigated in the hypervalent iodine arena. The potential of the novel chiral iodoarenes as organocatalysts for stereoselective oxidative transformations is assessed using the well explored, but challenging stereoselective α‐oxytosylation of ketones. All investigated reagents catalyse the stereoselective oxidation of propiophenone to the corresponding chiral α‐oxytosylated products with good stereochemical control. Using the optimised reaction conditions a wide range of products was obtained in generally good to excellent yields and with good enantioselectivities.

Catalyst-free and additive-free reactions enabling C-C bond formation: a journey towards a sustainable future

This review focuses on the catalyst- and additive-free C-C bond forming reactions reported mostly from the year 2005 to date. C-C bond forming reactions are highly important as large and complex organic molecules can be derived from simpler ones via these reactions. On the other hand, catalyst- and additive-free reactions are economical, environmentally friendly and less sensitive to air/moisture, allow easy separation of products and are operationally simple. Hence, a large number of research articles have been published in this area. Though a few reviews are available on the catalyst-free organic reactions, most of them were published a few years ago. The current review excludes catalysts as well as additives and is specific to only C-C bond formation. Besides many organic name reactions, catalyst/additive-free C-H functionalizations, coupling reactions and UV-visible-light-promoted reactions are also discussed. Undoubtedly, the contents of this review will motivate readers to do more novel work in this area which will accelerate the journey towards a sustainable future.