Elias James "E.J." Corey is an American organic chemist. In 1990, he won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry "for his development of the theory and methodology of organic synthesis", specifically retrosynthetic analysis. Regarded by many as one of the greatest living chemists, he has developed numerous synthetic reagents, methodologies and total syntheses and has advanced the science of organic synthesis considerably.
The aldol reaction is a means of forming carbon–carbon bonds in organic chemistry. Discovered independently by the Russian chemist Alexander Borodin in 1869 and by the French chemist Charles-Adolphe Wurtz in 1872, the reaction combines two carbonyl compounds to form a new β-hydroxy carbonyl compound. These products are known as aldols, from the aldehyde + alcohol, a structural motif seen in many of the products. Aldol structural units are found in many important molecules, whether naturally occurring or synthetic. For example, the aldol reaction has been used in the large-scale production of the commodity chemical pentaerythritol and the synthesis of the heart disease drug Lipitor.
In chemistry, stereoselectivity is the property of a chemical reaction in which a single reactant forms an unequal mixture of stereoisomers during a non-stereospecific creation of a new stereocenter or during a non-stereospecific transformation of a pre-existing one. The selectivity arises from differences in steric effects and electronic effects in the mechanistic pathways leading to the different products. Stereoselectivity can vary in degree but it can never be total since the activation energy difference between the two pathways is finite. Both products are at least possible and merely differ in amount. However, in favorable cases, the minor stereoisomer may not be detectable by the analytic methods used.
Arynes or benzynes are highly reactive species derived from an aromatic ring by removal of two substituents. The most common arynes are ortho but meta- and para-arynes are also known. o-Arynes are examples of strained alkynes.
The Bamford–Stevens reaction is a chemical reaction whereby treatment of tosylhydrazones with strong base gives alkenes. It is named for the British chemist William Randall Bamford and the Scottish chemist Thomas Stevens Stevens (1900–2000). The usage of aprotic solvents gives predominantly Z-alkenes, while protic solvent gives a mixture of E- and Z-alkenes. As an alkene-generating transformation, the Bamford–Stevens reaction has broad utility in synthetic methodology and complex molecule synthesis.
The Curtius rearrangement, first defined by Theodor Curtius in 1885, is the thermal decomposition of an acyl azide to an isocyanate with loss of nitrogen gas. The isocyanate then undergoes attack by a variety of nucleophiles such as water, alcohols and amines, to yield a primary amine, carbamate or urea derivative respectively. Several reviews have been published.
Isatin, also known as tribulin, is an organic compound derived from indole with formula C8H5NO2. The compound was first obtained by Otto Linné Erdman and Auguste Laurent in 1840 as a product from the oxidation of indigo dye by nitric acid and chromic acids.
Azomethine ylides are nitrogen-based 1,3-dipoles, consisting of an iminium ion next to a carbanion. They are used in 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition reactions to form five-membered heterocycles, including pyrrolidines and pyrrolines. These reactions are highly stereo- and regioselective, and have the potential to form four new contiguous stereocenters. Azomethine ylides thus have high utility in total synthesis, and formation of chiral ligands and pharmaceuticals. Azomethine ylides can be generated from many sources, including aziridines, imines, and iminiums. They are often generated in situ, and immediately reacted with dipolarophiles.
In organic chemistry, a cycloalkyne is the cyclic analog of an alkyne. A cycloalkyne consists of a closed ring of carbon atoms containing one or more triple bonds. Cycloalkynes have a general formula CnH2n−4. Because of the linear nature of the C–C≡C–C alkyne unit, cycloalkynes can be highly strained and can only exist when the number of carbon atoms in the ring is great enough to provide the flexibility necessary to accommodate this geometry. Large alkyne-containing carbocycles may be virtually unstrained, while the smallest constituents of this class of molecules may experience so much strain that they have yet to be observed experimentally. Cyclooctyne (C8H12) is the smallest cycloalkyne capable of being isolated and stored as a stable compound. Despite this, smaller cycloalkynes can be produced and trapped through reactions with other organic molecules or through complexation to transition metals.
The epothilones are a class of potential cancer drugs. Like taxanes, they prevent cancer cells from dividing by interfering with tubulin, but in early trials epothilones have better efficacy and milder adverse effects than taxanes.
The Smiles rearrangement is an organic reaction and a rearrangement reaction named after british chemist Samuel Smiles. It is an intramolecular nucleophilic aromatic substitution of the type:
In organic chemistry, the term organocatalysis refers to a form of catalysis, whereby the rate of a chemical reaction is increased by an organic catalyst referred to as an "organocatalyst" consisting of carbon, hydrogen, sulfur and other nonmetal elements found in organic compounds. Because of their similarity in composition and description, they are often mistaken as a misnomer for enzymes due to their comparable effects on reaction rates and forms of catalysis involved.
Horsfiline is an oxindole alkaloid found in the plant Horsfieldia superba, which is used in traditional herbal medicine. It has analgesic effects and has been the subject of research both to produce it synthetically by convenient routes and to develop analogues and derivatives which may have improved analgesic effects.
3-Oxetanone, also called oxetan-3-one or 1,3-epoxy-2-propanone, is a chemical compound with formula C3H4O2. It is the ketone of oxetane, and an isomer of β-propiolactone.
Indole is an aromatic heterocyclic organic compound with formula C8H7N. It has a bicyclic structure, consisting of a six-membered benzene ring fused to a five-membered pyrrole ring. Indole is widely distributed in the natural environment and can be produced by a variety of bacteria. As an intercellular signal molecule, indole regulates various aspects of bacterial physiology, including spore formation, plasmid stability, resistance to drugs, biofilm formation, and virulence. The amino acid tryptophan is an indole derivative and the precursor of the neurotransmitter serotonin.
The Saegusa–Ito oxidation is a chemical reaction used in organic chemistry. It was discovered in 1978 by Takeo Saegusa and Yoshihiko Ito as a method to introduce α-β unsaturation in carbonyl compounds. The reaction as originally reported involved formation of a silyl enol ether followed by treatment with palladium(II) acetate and benzoquinone to yield the corresponding enone. The original publication noted its utility for regeneration of unsaturation following 1,4-addition with nucleophiles such as organocuprates.
The Tsuji–Trost reaction is a palladium-catalysed substitution reaction involving a substrate that contains a leaving group in an allylic position. The palladium catalyst first coordinates with the allyl group and then undergoes oxidative addition, forming the π-allyl complex. This allyl complex can then be attacked by a nucleophile, resulting in the substituted product.
(-)-Versicolamide B and (+)-Versicolamide B are spiroindole alkaloids isolated from the fungus Aspergillus that belong to a class of naturally occurring 2,5-diketopiperazines. The versicolamides are structurally complex spiro-cyclized versions of prenylated cyclo(L-Trp-L-Pro) derivatives which possess a unique spiro-fusion to a pyrrolidine at the 3-position of the oxindole core together with the bicyclo[2.2.2]diazaoctane ring system. While (-)-versicolamide B was isolated from the marine fungus Aspergillus sp. the enantiomer (+)-versicolamide B was isolated from the terrestrial fungi Aspergillus versicolor NRRL. The total asymmetric syntheses of both enantiomers have been achieved and the implications of their biosynthesis have been investigated.
Biomimetic synthesis is an area of organic chemical synthesis that is specifically biologically inspired. The term encompasses both the testing of a "biogenetic hypothesis" through execution of a series of reactions designed to parallel the proposed biosynthesis, as well as programs of study where a synthetic reaction or reactions aimed at a desired synthetic goal are designed to mimic one or more known enzymic transformations of an established biosynthetic pathway. The earliest generally cited example of a biomimetic synthesis is Sir Robert Robinson's organic synthesis of the alkaloid tropinone.
Corinna S. Schindler is a Professor of Chemistry at the University of Michigan. She develops catalytic reactions with environmentally benign metals such as iron, towards the synthesis of biologically active small molecules. For her research in the development of new catalysts, Schindler has been honored with several early-career researcher awards including the David and Lucile Packard Foundation Fellowship in 2016, the Alfred P. Sloan Fellowship in 2017, and being named a member of the C&EN Talented 12 in 2017. Schindler has served on the Editorial Board of Organic and Bimolecular Chemistry since 2018.
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