Current Organic Chemistry - Volume 14, Issue 20, 2010

The 2010 Catalysis/Natural Product Chemistry issue of Current Organic Chemistry contains four contributions from eminent scientists in different fields. The first review, written by María J. Hernaiz and coworkers focused on recent progress in the field of “Biocatalysis in Green Solvents”. There has been a variety of attempts to explore the properties of green solvents in combination with biocatalysis wich has led to development Read More

During the past decade there has been increasing interest in the use of biocatalysts (enzymes or cells) for the transformation of synthetic or natural materials with high selectivity (chemo-, regio- and stereoselectivity). At least three advantageous features have contributed to the development of biocatalytic processes. In the first place, relatively mild reaction conditions are sufficient to run enzyme-catalysed reacti Read More

The use of reagents supported on inorganic carriers is becoming increasingly more common due to their high efficiency, which is mainly caused by a combination of several factors: a) an increase in the effective surface area for reaction; b) the presence of pores which constrain both substrate and reactant, thus lowering the activation entropy of the reaction; c) a synergism (for displacement reactions) resulting from bringing el Read More

The present review is devoted to illustrate the state of the art of the syntheses of indoles, focusing particularly on the most recent developments of new synthetic approaches. Emphasis is given to the preparation of natural products or bioactive compounds containing the indole unit. We present a historical perspective of indole synthesis showing the strategies by choosing the nitrogen precursors. The review is organized sharing t Read More

The importance of selenium as essential trace element is today generally recognized. The major biological form of this element is represented by the selenocysteine, incorporated into certain protein having redox motifs. Selenoenzymes are known to catalyze in nature the reduction of peroxides (gluthathione peroxidase) as well the selective deiodination of iodothyronine (iodothyronine deiodinase) and the reduction of d Read More

The purine ring is undoubtedly among the most ubiquitous of all the heterocyclic compounds. This arises not only from the universal occurrence of adenine and guanine in DNA and RNA and of additional modified derivatives in the various tRNAs but also from the subsidiary uses of the ring system in a great number of biochemical systems. The development of new methods for metal-mediated coupling with aryl or heteroar Read More

Due to the relevant biological role of sphingosines, ceramides and glycosyl ceramides, and the increasing demand of these compounds for biological evaluations, developing methods targeting sphingosine and phytosphingosine and derivatives have attracted the interest of researchers. The review initially presents the structural features of these compounds, presenting the different types of nomenclature of phytosphingo Read More

4-(Aryl)-6-pyridin-3-yl-1H-pyrazolo[3,4-b]pyridin-3-amines were reacted with dimethylformamide-dimethylacetal to give the corresponding pyrazolopyridin-3-yl-imidoformamides which in turn, reacted with malononitrile or 2-cyanoethanethioamide and ethyl cyanoacetate to give the corresponding pyridopyrazolo-pyrimidines. Also, they reacted with active halogen-containing compounds to give the corresponding imid Read More

The selective introduction of a boron unit in an organic framework opens new perspectives in both building block design and functionalization protocols. The presence of carbonyl or imino groups in β position with regard to the boryl moiety makes them suitable organoboron intermediates for difunctionalized purposes. Catalytic synthetic methodologies have recently been developed to introduce a boryl group at the β- positi Read More

This review covers recent advances in the preparation and diverse chemistry of various types of bimetallic reagents derived from organoboranes. 1,1-Bimetallics containing lithium, zinc and zirconium were most extensively investigated among metalated alkyl and alkenylboranes. Recently, there is a significant progress in the chemistry of metalated arylboron derivatives such as lithiated and magnesiated arylboronic esters Read More