Current Organic Synthesis - Volume 8, Issue 6, 2011

Ionic liquids have advanced from the curiosity of ‘novel materials’ [1] of 1980s, ‘green solvents’ [2] of 1990s to the ‘designer chemicals’ [3] of the 21st century. This has been possible to a large extent due to realization that their physiochemical properties can be ‘tuned’ by judicious pairing of cations and anions. Of course, this feature has attracted scientists from various disciplines leading to phenomenal growth in our underst Read More

Nucleoside chemistry represents an important research area for drug discovery, as many nucleoside analogues are prominent drugs that have been widely applied in cancer and viral chemotherapy. However, the synthesis of modified nucleosides presents a major challenge. Most of the currently available methods require toxic, high-boiling solvents, long reaction times and tedious workup methods. The situation is further Read More

N-heterocyclic compounds, which constitute a major portion of heterocyclic compounds are present in many parmaceutical products that mimic the biological activity of natural products. Access to these complex structures became available through a variety of novel methods and the strategic deployment of known methods. Because of the current trend in environmental protection, which has resulted in more restrictiv Read More

This review highlights the tool box for the development of continuous green/sustainable processes aimed at the synthesis of fine chemicals. By combining either chemical and/or biological catalysts with biphasic systems based on neoteric solvents, e.g. ionic liquids (ILs) and supercritical carbon dioxide (scCO2), interesting alternatives to organic solvents for designing continuous clean (bio)transformations methods are gro Read More

During the past few years, Lewis-acidic ionic liquids (ILs) have emerged from their role as mere reaction media toward a role as novel catalytic systems. Iron-containing chloroferrate ionic liquids in particular offer a novel approach to sustainable and environmentally benign catalysis and can be applied in a surprising diversity of transformations. In this review, we present this emerging topic and report the application of chloro Read More

Carbohydrates have a high number of hydroxyl groups, which makes them preferentially soluble in water, although this solvent is not always the most suitable. Polar organic solvents, such as pyridine, dimethylsulfoxide and dimethyformamide, are the few solvents able to dissolve carbohydrates however they have a higher impact in the environment and provide a less efficient solvent media due to deactivation in b Read More

Our novel approach starts from a 1,1,3,4-tetrachloro-2,4-dinitrobuta-1,3-diene (5) being one of the most prominent members of this relatively new class of synthetic building blocks. Because of its multifunctional chemical behavior, polyhalogenated nitrobuta-1,3- dienes proved to be versatile reagents in the synthesis of a large variety of sulfurated, (hetero)cyclic, and acyclic derivatives. We describe our studies concerning suc Read More

Sugar and nucleoside identifications are important for the detection and treatment of dangerous diseases. In this study, a fluorescent boronic acid (3-(5-(dimethylamino)naphthalene-1-sulfonamido)phenyl)boronic acid (DNSBA) was bound to a diol quencher via a boronic ester linkage, and fluorescence recovery upon exposure to saccharides and nucleosides was demonstrated. Further, we successfully detected sugars and Read More

As focus is increasing on conducting chemistry in a greener fashion, this implies that chemists need to find new methods for synthetic transformations that are more efficient or open up the possibility for recycling. By such means less waste will be generated. Catalysts on solid supports are one of many avenues that are being explored in order to reach this goal. For the reasons just stated palladium on solid sup Read More

New synthetic approaches to the functionally substituted nitriles as well as the chemical reactivity profiles of these substances are reviewed.

Ephedra compounds are well known due to their biological activity. They have been widely used in asymmetric synthesis during the last decades. To our knowledge no review about acyclic ephedra derivative compounds has appeared in the literature. In this paper, the synthetic methodologies to access ephedrines and chiral compounds derived from them are summarized, including those by substitution of the hydroxy group by c Read More