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1. Chiral Auxiliaries for Stereoselective Electrophilic Aromatic Substitutions

   https://doi.org/10.1055/s-0040-1707296  

   Sharafi, Mona; Campbell, Joseph P.; Murphy, Kyle E.; Osadchey Brown, Reilly; Schneebeli, Severin T. (January 2021, Synlett)

   null (Ed.)

   Abstract Electrophilic aromatic substitution reactions are of profound importance for the synthesis of biologically active compounds and other advanced materials. They represent an important means to activate specific aromatic C–H bonds without requiring transition-metal catalysts. Surprisingly, few stereoselective variants are known for electrophilic aromatic substitutions, which limits the utility of these classical reactions for stereoselective synthesis. While many electrophilic aromatic substitutions lead to achiral products (due to the planar nature of aromatic rings), there are important examples where chiral products are produced, including desymmetrization reactions of aromatic cyclophanes and of prochiral substrates with multiple aromatic rings. This Synpacts article now illustrates how chiral arms, when placed precisely above and underneath delocalized carbocations, can act as chiral auxiliaries to convert classical electrophilic aromatic substitution reactions into powerful diastereo- and enantioselective transformations. 

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2. Visible Light‐Assisted Direct C−H Acyloxylation of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons using Carboxylic Acids

   https://doi.org/10.1002/adsc.202300043  

   K_Jha, Dhiraj; Sakkani, Nagaraju; Zhao, John_C‐G (May 2023, Advanced Synthesis & Catalysis)

   Abstract The direct C−H acyloxylation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) with carboxylic acids as the acyloxylating agents was achieved via the electron‐donor‐acceptor (EDA) complexes between PAHs andN‐iodosuccinimide (NIS). This visible light‐assisted metal‐free C−H acyloxylation reaction provides an easy access to the desired aryl carboxylates from readily available PAHs and aliphatic and aromatic carboxylic acids under mild reaction conditions. magnified image 

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3. Proline-Aromatic Sequences Stabilize Turns via C–H/π interactions in both cis-Proline and trans-Proline

   https://doi.org/10.26434/chemrxiv-2023-7nb44  

   Ganguly, Himal K; Elbaum, Michael B; Zondlo, Neal J (July 2023, chemRxiv)

   In proteins, proline-aromatic sequences exhibit increased frequencies of cis-proline amide bonds, via proposed C–H/π interactions between the aromatic ring and either the proline ring or the backbone C–Hα of the residue prior to proline. These interactions would be expected to result in tryptophan, as the most electron-rich aromatic residue, exhibiting the highest frequency of cis-proline. However, prior results from bioinformatics studies on proteins and experiments on proline-aromatic sequences in peptides have not revealed a clear correlation between the properties of the aromatic ring and the population of cis-proline. An investigation of the effects of aromatic residue (aromatic ring properties) on the conformation of proline-aromatic sequences was conducted using three distinct approaches: (1) NMR spectroscopy in model peptides of the sequence Ac-TGPAr-NH2 (Ar = encoded and unnatural aromatic amino acids); (2) bioinformatics analysis of structures in proline-aromatic sequences in the PDB; and (3) computational investigation using DFT and MP2 methods on models of proline-aromatic sequences and interactions. C–H/π and hydrophobic interactions were observed to stabilize local structures in both the trans-proline and cis-proline conformations, with both proline amide conformations exhibiting C–H/π interactions between the aromatic ring and Hα of the residue prior to proline (Hα-trans-Pro-aromatic and Hα-cis-Pro-aromatic interactions) and/or with the proline ring (trans-ProH-aromatic and cis-ProH-aromatic interactions). These C–H/π interactions were strongest with tryptophan (Trp) and weakest with cationic histidine (HisH+). Aromatic interactions with histidine were modulated in strength by His ionization state. Proline-aromatic sequences were associated with specific conformational poses, including type I and type VI β-turns. C–H/π interactions at the pre-proline Hα, which were stronger than interactions at Pro, stabilize normally less favorable conformations, including the ζ or αL conformations at the pre-proline residue, cis-proline, and/or the g+ χ1 rotamer or αL conformation at the aromatic residue. These results indicate that proline-aromatic sequences, especially Pro-Trp sequences, are loci to nucleate turns, helices, loops, and other local structures in proteins. These results also suggest that mutations that introduce proline-aromatic sequences, such as the R406W mutation that is associated with protein misfolding and aggregation in the microtubule-binding protein tau, might result in substantial induced structure, particularly in intrinsically disordered regions of proteins. 

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4. The effect of aromatic ring size in electron deficient semiconducting polymers for n-type organic thermoelectrics

   https://doi.org/10.1039/D0TC03347B  

   Alsufyani, Maryam; Hallani, Rawad K.; Wang, Suhao; Xiao, Mingfei; Ji, Xudong; Paulsen, Bryan D.; Xu, Kai; Bristow, Helen; Chen, Hu; Chen, Xingxing; et al (November 2020, Journal of Materials Chemistry C)

   null (Ed.)

   N-type semiconducting polymers have been recently utilized in thermoelectric devices, however they have typically exhibited low electrical conductivities and poor device stability, in contrast to p-type semiconductors, which have been much higher performing. This is due in particular to the n-type semiconductor's low doping efficiency, and poor charge carrier mobility. Strategies to enhance the thermoelectric performance of n-type materials include optimizing the electron affinity (EA) with respect to the dopant to improve the doping process and increasing the charge carrier mobility through enhanced molecular packing. Here, we report the design, synthesis and characterization of fused electron-deficient n-type copolymers incorporating the electron withdrawing lactone unit along the backbone. The polymers were synthesized using metal-free aldol condensation conditions to explore the effect of enlarging the central phenyl ring to a naphthalene ring, on the electrical conductivity. When n-doped with N-DMBI, electrical conductivities of up to 0.28 S cm −1 , Seebeck coefficients of −75 μV K −1 and maximum Power factors of 0.16 μW m −1 K −2 were observed from the polymer with the largest electron affinity of −4.68 eV. Extending the aromatic ring reduced the electron affinity, due to reducing the density of electron withdrawing groups and subsequently the electrical conductivity reduced by almost two orders of magnitude. 

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5. Ir( iii )-catalyzed ortho C–H alkylations of (hetero)aromatic aldehydes using alkyl boron reagents

   https://doi.org/10.1039/C8SC03606C  

   Chen, Xiao-Yang; Sorensen, Erik J. (December 2018, Chemical Science)

   Transition-metal-catalyzed C–H alkylation reactions directed by aldehydes or ketones have been largely restricted to electronically activated alkenes. Herein, we report a general protocol for the Ir( iii )-catalyzed ortho C–H alkylations of (hetero)aromatic aldehydes using alkyl boron reagents as the coupling partner. Featuring aniline as an inexpensive catalytic ligand, the method was compatible with a wide variety of benzaldehydes, heterocyclic aldehydes, potassium alkyltrifluoroborates as well as a few α,β-unsaturated aldehydes. An X-ray crystal structure of a benzaldehyde ortho C–H iridation intermediate was also successfully obtained. 

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