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Azahetereocycles constitute important structural components in many biologically active natural compounds and marketed drugs, and represent the most promising scaffolds in drug discovery. Accordingly, the development of efficient and general synthetic methods for the construction of diverse azaheterocycles is the major goal in synthetic chemistry. Herein, we report the efficient construction of a wide range of azaheterocycles via a Pd-catalyzed migratory cycloannulation strategy with unactivated alkenes. This strategy enables the rapid synthesis of a series of 6-, 7- and 8-membered azaheterocycles in high efficiency, and features a broad substrate scope, excellent functional group tolerance under redox-neutral conditions. The significance of this finding is demonstrated by the efficient synthesis of drug-like molecules with high step-economy. Preliminary mechanistic investigations reveal that this reaction underwent a sequentially migratory insertion to alkenes, metal migration process, and the aza-Michael addition to a quinone methide intermediate., (© 2022. The Author(s).)

A modified protocol has been identified for Pd-catalyzed intermolecular aminoacetoxylation of terminal and internal alkenes that enables the alkene to be used as the limiting reagent. The results prompt a reassessment of the stereochemical course of these reactions. X-ray crystallographic characterization of two of the products, together with isotopic labeling studies, show that the amidopalladation step switches from a cis-selective process under aerobic conditions to a trans-selective process in the presence of diacetoxyiodobenzene.

Palladium-catalyzed oxidative amination of unactivated alkyl olefins has been developed to produce linear (E)-allylimides with high regioselectivity. This highly efficient transformation of alkenes has been achieved by enhancing the reoxidation of palladium with the strong oxidant PhI(OPiv)(2). The present work also provides the first systematic analysis of the mechanism of the allylic C-H oxidative amination. It has been found that naphthoquinone (NQ) plays a vital role in promoting olefin coordination to the palladium catalyst: in the absence of NQ, the turnover-limiting step is olefin coordination to palladium catalyst; in the presence of NQ, the reaction involves a rapid equilibration to give a nitrogen-coordinated olefin-Pd(NQ) complex that undergoes turnover-limiting allylic C-H bond activation to generate a pi-allyl-Pd intermediate. This work provides valuable insights for further studies on the functionalization of unactivated olefins.

The precise control of the regioselectivity in the transition metal‐catalyzed migratory hydrofunctionalization of alkenes remains a big challenge. With a transient ketimine directing group, the nickel‐catalyzed migratory β‐selective hydroarylation and hydroalkenylation of alkenyl ketones has been realized with aryl boronic acids using alkyl halide as the mild hydride source for the first time. The key to this success is the use of a diphosphine ligand, which is capable of the generation of a Ni(II)‐H species in the presence of alkyl bromide, and enabling the efficient migratory insertion of alkene into Ni(II)‐H species and the sequent rapid chain walking process. The present approach diminishes organosilanes reductant, tolerates a wide array of complex functionalities with excellent regioselective control. Moreover, this catalytic system could also be applied to the migratory hydroarylation of alkenyl azahetereoarenes, thus providing a general approach for the preparation of 1,2‐aryl heteroaryl motifs with wide potential applications in pharmaceutical discovery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The use of molecular oxygen as the terminal oxidant in transition metal catalyzed oxidative process is an appealing and challenging task in organic synthetic chemistry. Here, we report a Ni‐catalyzed hydroxylarylation of unactivated alkenes enabled by a β‐diketone ligand with high efficiency and excellent regioselectivity employing molecular oxygen as the oxidant and hydroxyl source. This reaction features mild conditions, broad substrate scope and incredible heterocycle compatibility, providing a variety of β‐hydroxylamides, γ‐hydroxylamides, β‐aminoalcohols, γ‐aminoalcohols, and 1,3‐diols in high yields. The synthetic value of this methodology was demonstrated by the efficient synthesis of two bioactive compounds, (±)‐3′‐methoxyl citreochlorol and tea catechin metabolites M4. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The transition metal-catalyzed hydrofunctionalization of alkenes offers an efficient solution for the rapid construction of complex functional molecules, and significant progress has been made during last decades. However, the hydrofunctionalization of internal alkenes remains a significant challenge due to low reactivity and the difficulties of controlling the regioselectivity. Here, we report the hydroarylation and hydroalkenylation of internal alkenes lacking a directing group with aryl and alkenyl boronic acids in the presence of a nickel catalyst, featuring a broad substrate scope and wide functional group tolerance under redox-neutral conditions. The key to achieving this reaction is the identification of a bulky 1-adamantyl β-diketone ligand, which is capable of overcoming the low reactivity of internal 1,2-disubstituted alkenes. Preliminary mechanistic studies unveiled that this reaction undergoes an Ar-Ni(II)-H initiated hydroarylation process, which is generated by the oxidative addition of alcoholic solvent with Ni(0) species and sequential transmetalation. In addition, the oxidative addition of the alcoholic solvent proves to be the turnover-limiting step. The hydrocarbofunctionalization of alkenes represents one of the most efficient methods for generating complex products from simple starting materials. Here, the authors report a bulky β-diketone-ligand-enabled hydroarylation and hydroalkenylation of internal alkenes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reported here is the discovery of a redox‐neutral NiII/NiII catalytic cycle which is capable of the linear‐selective hydroarylation of unactivated alkenes with arylboronic acids for the first time. This novel catalytic cycle, enabled by the use of an electron‐rich diimine ligand, features broad substrate scope, and excellent functional‐group and heterocycle compatibility under mild reaction conditions in the absence of additional oxidants and reductants. Mechanistic investigations using kinetic analysis and deuterium‐labelling experiments revealed the protonation to be the rate‐determining step in this redox‐neutral catalysis, and the reversible chain‐walking nature of the newly developed diimine‐Ni catalyst. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In comparison to related reactions under aerobic conditions, the utilization of Ph-I(OAc)2 changes the aminopalladation step from a cis-selective process to a trans-selective one. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]