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Chiral α-aminophosphonates with adjacent carbon and phosphonate stereogenic centers have been employed as ligands in the copper-catalyzed oxidative coupling of 2-naphthols, resulting in the production of chiral BINOLs in favorable yields and moderate to good enantiomeric excess. This represents the first application of chiral P-based ligands to enable such a transformation. The synthesis of these chiral α-aminophosphonate ligands offers a significant advantage over approaches that typically necessitate elaborate synthetic processes for chiral ligand production.

We have developed a Tf 2 O-mediated approach for the direct amination of either P(O)-OH or P(O)-H reagents with a variety of aliphatic or aromatic amines. Without the requirement of precious metals and toxic reagents, this protocol provides an alternative route to various phosphinamides and phosphoramides. The reaction proceeds under simple and mild conditions and can be effectively scaled up with similar efficiency.

An efficient and facile visible-light-mediated tandem difluoromethylation/cyclization of alkenyl aldehydes, with easily accessible and air-stable [Ph 3 PCF 2 H] + Br - as the difluoromethylation reagent, has been established. A range of CF 2 H-substituted chroman-4-one skeletons and their derivatives, such as 2,3-dihydroquinolin-4(1 H )-ones, chroman, 3,4-dihydronaphthalen-1(2 H )-one, 2,3-dihydrobenzofuran, and 2,3-dihydro-1 H -inden-1-one, are efficiently produced in moderate to good yields with excellent chemoselectivity under mild reaction conditions.

A facile and efficient method for the synthesis of primary phosphinamides from Ar 2 P(O)-H reagents with stable and readily available ammonium carbonate as an ammonia source is disclosed herein for the first time. This ethyl bromoacetate-mediated primary amination proceeds smoothly under mild and simple conditions, without any metal catalyst or oxidant. Moreover, this method is also appropriate for the reaction of Ar 2 P(O)-H with a variety of amines, alcohols, and phenols to construct P-N or P-O bonds, with features of handy operation, good functional group tolerance, and broad substrate scope.

A Tf 2 O/DMSO-based system for the dehydrogenative coupling of a wide range of alcohols, phenols, thiols, and thiophenols with diverse phosphorus reagents has been developed. This metal- and strong-oxidant-free strategy provides a facile approach to a great variety of organophosphinates and thiophosphates. The simple reaction system, good functional-group tolerance, and broad substrate scope enable the application of this method to the modification of natural products and the direct synthesis of bioactive molecules and flame retardants.

A novel catalytic tautomeric transformation of a β-enaminophosphoryl and 2-aza-Cope rearrangement sequence has been successfully applied to the one-pot synthesis of β-aminophosphonates with high efficiency and good tolerance. In this tandem reaction, Bi(OTf) 3 exhibits unique activities and promotes both of enamine-imine tautomerism and 2-aza-Cope rearrangement.

The palladium-N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC)-catalyzed allylic alkylation of various pronucleophiles with alkynes has been accomplished under mild conditions. The protocol exhibits broad functional group compatibility and high atom economy. Moreover, the catalytic process avoids the use of external oxidants and acid as additives.

In this work, an efficient palladium-catalyzed Heck-type reaction was successfully used to synthesize a wide range of monoaryl- or diaryl-substituted P-ligands with excellent yields and diastereoselectivity (up to 98% yield, dr >20:1). The preliminary mechanistic studies demonstrated that it possibly underwent a cationic Heck reaction that was assisted by silver salt, and it revealed the significant role of P(O)Ar 2 for excellent yields and diastereoselectivity.

A Pd-catalyzed enantioselective C-H carbonylation by desymmetrization was developed with commercially available L-pyroglutamic acid as chiral ligand. Isoquinolinones were successfully obtained with good yields and high enantioselectivities. Mechanistic studies and DFT calculations provided a reasonable reaction pathway.

A new approach to the synthesis of 2-phosphinoylindoles through photoredox catalysis without external oxidants has been developed. Promoted by a ruthenium photoredox catalyst, a broad scope of 2-phosphinoylindoles can be synthesized through phosphinoylation/cyclization of diphenylphosphine oxide at room temperature under irradiation without external oxidants. The estrone skeleton isocyan is also an amenable substrate for this cyclization, yielding a molecule that has potential medicinal applications.

Diazo compounds as coupling partners are efficiently applied to Ir(III)-catalyzed direct C-H functionalization of arylphosphine oxides. Involving C-H activation, carbene insertion, and tautomerism, this reaction proceeds under mild conditions, thus proving an approach to the synthesis of MOP-type ligand precursor in a single step. The utility of this transformation has been further demonstrated in ligand synthesis as well as in the construction of phosphole framework.

Bismuth selenide (Bi 2 Se 3 ), with a wide bulk band gap and single massless Dirac cone at the surface, is a promising three-dimensional topological insulator. Bi 2 Se 3 possesses gapless surface states and an insulator-like bulk band gap as a new type of quantum matter. Different Bi 2 Se 3 nanostructures were prepared using electron beam evaporation with high production efficiency. Structural investigations by energy-dispersive X-ray analysis, scanning electron microscopy, and X-ray diffraction revealed the sample stoichiometries and the structural transition mechanism from nanocrystals to nanoflakes. The optical properties systematically probed and analyzed by spectroscopic ellipsometry showed strong dependence on the nanostructures and were also predicted to have structure-modifiable technological prospects. The optical parameters, plasma frequencies, scattering rates of the free electrons, and optical band gaps were related to the topological properties of the Bi 2 Se 3 nanostructures via light-matter interactions, offering new opportunities and approaches for studies on topological insulators and spintronics. The high-quality Bi 2 Se 3 nanostructures provide advantages in exploring novel physics and exploiting prospective applications.

Given the important influence of phosphine ligands in transition metal-catalyzed reactions, chemists have searched for straightforward and efficient methodologies for the synthesis of diverse phosphine ligands. Although significant progress has been made in this aspect over the past decades, the development of new phosphorus-containing ligands with properties superior to their predecessors remains a central task for chemists. Recently, researchers have demonstrated that biphenyl monophosphine ligands function as highly efficient ligands for transition-metal-catalyzed organic transformations, especially for reactions where chelating bisphosphine ligands cannot be used. In 1998, Buchwald introduced a new class of air-stable phosphine ligands based on the dialkylbiaryl phosphine backbone. These ligands have been successfully used for a wide variety of palladium-catalyzed carbon-carbon, carbon-nitrogen, and carbon-oxygen construction processes as well as serving as supporting ligands for a number of other reactions. At the same time, the use of the biphenyl monophosphine ligands often allows reactions to proceed with short reaction times and low catalyst loadings and under mild reaction conditions. However, the synthesis of chiral biphenyl monophosphine ligands, especially those the chirality of which is due to biaryl axial chirality, is very limited. In this Account, we summarize our methodologies for the synthesis of this kind of biphenyl monophosphine ligands including the P═O directed C-H functionalization, P═O directed diastereoselective C-H functionalization, P═O directed enantioselective C-H functionalization, and metal-free diastereoselective radical oxidative C-H amination under mild reaction conditions. With these methods, a series of biphenyl phosphine ligand precursors containing achiral or axially chiral centers and precursors possessing both axial chirality and a chirogenic phosphorus center with different electronic properties and steric effect have been obtained under different reaction conditions. For the preparation of chiral biphenyl monophosphine ligands, which not only possess axial chirality but in many cases also possess chirality at phosphorus, the primary means of introducing chirality is through the use of the menthyl phenylphosphinate. As a chiral auxiliary group, the menthyl phenylphosphinate has some unique features: (i) it is easy to prepare; (ii) the products contain both axial chirality and central chirality on the phosphorus atom; (iii) the menthyl group could easily be transformed into other functional groups, which is crucial for the diversity of the corresponding biphenyl ligands. In our reaction, the P═O group not only acts as the directing group but also facilitates the construction of the phosphine ligands. In addition, the application of these products in asymmetric catalysis has also been studied with good results obtained in some reactions. The further application of these ligands, especially the chiral biphenyl monophosphine ligands in catalysis reactions is underway in our laboratory, and we hope different kinds of reactions will be achieved with these ligands.

An effective synthesis of chiral atropoisomeric biaryl phosphine-olefin compounds via palladium-catalyzed enantioselective C-H olefination has been developed for the first time. The reactions are operationally simple, tolerate wide functional groups, and have a good ee value. Notably, P(O)R 2 not only acts as the directing group to direct C-H activation in order to make a useful ligand but also serves to facilitate composition of the product in a useful manner in this transformation.

A new class of chiral atropoisomeric (P, N) ligand precursors has been obtained with excellent diastereoselectivities and high yields through diastereoselective metal-free intramolecular radical oxidative C-H amination with chiral phosphamide as the auxiliary group. This method provides a concise and highly valuable pathway for the synthesis of enantiopure aminophosphine ligands in large-scale.

A new strategy for the synthesis of chiral α-amino phosphonates by enantioselective C-H phosphonylation of allylamine with phosphite in the presence of a chiral Brønsted acid catalyst has been developed. This protocol successfully integrates direct C-H oxidation with asymmetric phosphonylation and exhibits high enantioselectivity.

The first Pd-catalyzed allylic dearomatization of substituted indoles triggered by C-H bond activation is reported. The presence of a catalytic amount of 2,5-DMBQ is proven to be a key factor for the high yield. This one-pot tandem allylic C-H activation/dearomatization sequence provides a straightforward access to 3,3-disubstituted indolines.

The first rhodium(I)-catalyzed difunctionalization of arylacrylamides to synthesize oxindoles is developed, and it does not require the assistance of an oxidant. This method provides an efficient approach to generate various useful functionalized oxindoles, some of which cannot be easily accessed by previous approaches.

An efficient method of Pd(II)-catalyzed P(O)R(1)R(2)-directed asymmetric C-H activation and dynamic kinetic resolution for synthesis of chiral phosphinate ligands has been performed and exhibits a wide scope of substrates and an excellent diastereomeric ratio (>95:5).

A novel oxyfluorination of olefin reactions has been developed. The reactions involve a metal-free and green catalytic system for the synthesis of α-fluoroketones which is an important building block for organic synthesis. Moreover, this reaction system exhibits great functional group tolerance.

A palladium-catalyzed allylic C-H arylation reaction with electron-deficient arenes with high regio- and stereoselectivity is reported. This work represents the first successful use of 1,1'-bi-2-naphthol as the ancillary ligand in allylic C-H activation, which is the key factor for chemoselectivity. Furthermore, high selectivity allylic C-H acetoxylation and amination were also successfully achieved under the same catalytic system.

The first Pd(II)-catalyzed C-H addition to isatins by direct sp(2)/sp(3) C-H bond activation for the construction of 3-substituted-3-hydroxy-2-oxindoles is reported. The bidentate nitrogen ligands were found to promote this reaction. Specifically, the preliminary bioassay indicated that 3-(5-chlorobenzoxazole)-3-hydroxy-N-benzyl-2-oxindole (2w) is a new inhibitor of human kidney cancer and hepatocellular carcinoma cells. Moreover, this reaction system exhibits great functional group tolerance and requires no directing group, extra base, or additives.

A novel and selective method of simple copper-salt catalyzed phosphonation of α-amino carbonyl compounds to afford imidoylphosphonates is reported. This reaction system has a broad reaction scope. The convenient and environmentally benign process makes this protocol very attractive.

A novel method has been developed for the synthesis of substituted N-methylacridones from 2-(N-methyl-N-phenylamino)benzaldehydes via dehydrogenative cyclization. This transformation involves two primary processes: the aldehyde first coordinates with Sc(OTf)3 and induces the aromatic electrophilic substitution (S(E)Ar) reaction to form the active intermediate N-methyl-acridin-9-ol, which is then quickly oxidized in situ to afford the acridones. Furthermore, the procedure involved is both environmental friendly and atom efficient; H2O is the only byproduct in this reaction.