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Twelve compounds, including four undescribed cytochalasins, xylariachalasins A–D (1–4), four undescribed polyketides (5–8), and four known cytochalasins (9–12), were isolated from the mangrove endophytic fungus Xylaria arbuscula QYF. Their structures and absolute configurations were established by extensive spectroscopic analyses (1D and 2D NMR, HRESIMS), electronic circular dichroism (ECD) calculations, 13C NMR calculation and DP4+ analysis, single-crystal X-ray diffraction, and the modified Mosher ester method. Compounds 1 and 2 are rare cytochalasin hydroperoxides. In bioactivity assays, Compound 2 exhibited moderate antimicrobial activities against Staphylococcus aureus and Candida albicans with MIC values of 12.5 μM for both Compound 10 exhibited significant cytotoxic activity against MDA-MB-435 with an IC50 value of 3.61 ± 1.60 μM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Benzyne derived from hexadehydrogenated Diels Alder (HDDA) reactions was found to be an efficient hydrosilylation acceptors. Various silanes can react smoothly with HDDA‐derived benzyne to give the arylation products. Lewis acid such as boron trifluoride etherate can accelerate these hydrosilylation reactions. Polyhydromethylsiloxane (PHMS), a widely used organosilicon polymer, was also successfully modified using our method. About 5 % of Si−H bonds in the polymer were inserted by benzynes, giving a functional PHMS with much more solubility in methanol and with a blue‐emitting fluorescence behavior. Mechanism research shows that the insertion of benzyne into the Si−H bond probably undergoes a synergistic pathway, which is quite different from the traditional radical‐initiated hydrosilylation or transition‐metal‐catalyzed hydrosilylation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Owing to the importance of arene moieties in organic chemistry, methods for arene construction attract great attention. Besides the traditional substitution strategy from pre-existing arenes, the straightforward formation of arene cores can also provide significant shortcuts towards a wide array of target molecules with different substitution patterns. Among direct arene formation reactions, applying environmentally benign organocatalysis to access arene moieties continues to attract increasing attention. This short review provides a brief summary of recent progress on organocatalyzed de novo (hetero)arene formation and applications in enantioselective synthesis. 1 Introduction 2 Arene Formation with Non-Covalent Organocatalysts 2.1 Arene Formation with Acid Organocatalysts 2.2 Arene Formation with Base Organocatalysts 2.3 Arene Formation with Hydrogen-Bonding Organocatalysts 3 Arene Formation with Covalent Organocatalysts 3.1 Arene Formation with Lewis Base Organocatalysts 3.1.1 Arene Formation with Secondary Amine Organocatalysts 3.1.2 Arene Formation with Tertiary Amine, Tertiary Phosphine and Sulfide Organocatalysts 3.1.3 Arene Formation with N-Heterocyclic Carbene Organocatalysts 3.2 Arene Formation with Lewis Acid Organocatalysts 4 Conclusion [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent decades, organocatalysis by N-heterocyclic carbenes (NHCs) has emerged as a versatile and powerful method in organic synthesis. As a result of the power of NHC organocatalysis to produce cyclic compounds, polysubstituted benzenes, which are among the most important cyclic compounds in organic chemistry, can be synthesized efficiently and selectively. This article briefly summarizes the history of NHC organocatalysis, including recent developments in benzene-formation methods, and highlights our recent work in atroposelective arene formation by carbene-catalyzed formal [4+2] cyclo-additions. We expect that more NHC-catalyzed methods for the synthesis of asymmetric arenes will be developed in the near future, providing shortcuts to syntheses of sophisticated chiral functional molecules with polysubstituted benzene nuclei. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Benzocoumarin is an important structural motif widely found in natural products and synthetic molecules. Traditional methods for the synthesis of benzocoumarins and their derivatives require multiple steps, typically with an intramolecular ester forming reaction to make the lactone ring as the last step. Another major method involves transition metal-catalyzed coupling or carbon-hydrogen bond activation reactions starting with pre-existing aryl frameworks in the substrates. Here we report a new strategy for the green and rapid access to benzocoumarins and their derivatives. Our method uses readily available unsaturated aldehydes and coumarins as the substrates and air as the green oxidant. The overall reaction proceeds through a formal [4+2] process to construct a new benzene ring and thus to afford benzocoumarins in essentially a single step. No metal catalysts were used; no toxic or expensive reagents were involved. The power of our new approach is further demonstrated in a concise formal total synthesis of cannabinol, a bioactive natural product. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Benzyne derived from hexadehydrogenated Diels Alder (HDDA) reactions was found to be an efficient hydrosilylation acceptors. Various silanes can react smoothly with HDDA-derived benzyne to give the arylation products. Lewis acid such as boron trifluoride etherate can accelerate these hydrosilylation reactions. Polyhydromethylsiloxane (PHMS), a widely used organosilicon polymer, was also successfully modified using our method. About 5 % of Si-H bonds in the polymer were inserted by benzynes, giving a functional PHMS with much more solubility in methanol and with a blue-emitting fluorescence behavior. Mechanism research shows that the insertion of benzyne into the Si-H bond probably undergoes a synergistic pathway, which is quite different from the traditional radical-initiated hydrosilylation or transition-metal-catalyzed hydrosilylation., (© 2024 Wiley-VCH GmbH.)

Colloidal silicon nanocrystals (SiNCs) have garnered significant interest in optoelectronics and biomedical applications. Direct arylation provides pathways to enhance the solution processability of particles and manipulate the photophysical and electronic properties of SiNCs. Unfortunately, existing methods employed to prepare aryl-functionalized SiNCs are based on organometallic coupling or transition-metal-catalyzed strategies, which require metal-based reagents for preactivation or the precursors and complicated post-treatment processes for product purification. Herein, we demonstrate a metal-free method that directly functionalizes SiNCs with aryl-based ligands. We design a series of benzyne derivatives formed from the thermal cyclization of predesigned alkynes, allowing efficient arylation on hydride-terminated silicon surfaces under mild conditions. These aryl-functionalized SiNCs exhibit strong blue emissions with nanosecond-scaled decay, suggesting the formation of a new radiative recombination channel on SiNC surfaces., (© 2023 Wiley-VCH GmbH.)

Atroposelective arene formation is an efficient method to build axially chiral molecules with multi-substituted arenes. Reported here is an organocatalyzed atroposelective arene formation reaction by an N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC) catalyzed formal [4+2] cycloaddition of conjugated dienals and α-aryl ketones. This study expands the synthetic potential of NHC organocatalysis and provides a competitive pathway for the synthesis of axially chiral ligands, catalysts, and other functional molecules., (© 2019 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.)