Search

Visible light-mediated selective and efficient oxidation of various primary/secondary benzyl alcohols to aldehydes/ketones and oxidative dehydrogenation (ODH) of partially saturated heterocycles using a scalable and reusable heterogeneous photoredox catalyst in aqueous medium are described. A systematic study led to a selective synthesis of aldehydes under an argon atmosphere while the ODH of partially saturated heterocycles under an oxygen atmosphere resulted in very good to excellent yields. The methodology is atom economical and exhibits excellent tolerance towards various functional groups, and broad substrate scope. Furthermore, a one-pot procedure was developed for the sequential oxidation of benzyl alcohols and heteroaryl carbinols followed by the Pictet–Spengler cyclization and then aromatization to obtain the β-carbolines in high isolated yields. This methodology was found to be suitable for scale up and reusability. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report on the oxidation of structurally diverse aryl carbinols and ODH of partially saturated N-heterocycles using a recyclable and heterogeneous photoredox catalyst under environmentally friendly conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Herein, a simple and efficient method for the oxidative dehydrogenation (ODH) of tetrahydro-β-carbolines, indolines and tetrahydro-(iso)quinolines is described using a reusable, homogeneous cobalt-phthalocyanine photoredox catalyst in a biphasic medium. A biphasic system offers an advantage of easy separation of the product and an efficient reusability of the homogeneous photoredox catalyst. Also, the current system significantly helps to overcome the solubility issue of the substrate and catalyst at room temperature. Its potential applications to organic transformations are demonstrated by the synthesis of various biologically active N-heterocycles such as indoles, (iso)quinolines and β-carbolines and natural products such as eudistomin U, norharmane, and harmane and precursors to perlolyrine and flazin. Without isolation and purification, the catalyst solution can be reused up to 5 times with almost comparable reactivity. Furthermore, the efficiency of the reaction was demonstrated on a gram scale. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report on ODH reactions using a non noble, reusable and homogeneous cobalt photoredox catalyst under environmentally friendly conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Aerial Bay group of Islands are one of the diverse environments of Andaman & Nicobar Islands, where the coral reefs degraded much due to the natural calamity of tsunami on 26 December 2004. After this event, the entire North Andaman Islands got elevated, which resulted in the exposure of coral reefs during low tide, causing mass mortalities and destructions to this pristine environment. In order to understand the current status, bio-physical monitoring of coral reefs was carried out and compared with classified coral map of pre-tsunami period. A decline from 411.14 to 68.25 hectares (ha) of live coral area was observed in the Aerial Bay group of Islands. The dead corals and other abiotic factors (sand, mud and rubble) were observed to be 317.33 and 25.56 ha respectively, based on comparisons between ground truthed and classified pre-tsunami coral map (2004) processed in ArcGIS®. The detrended correspondence analysis of coral life form categories showed maximum cover of dead coral with algae, in comparison with the live corals. Bray-curtis cluster analysis revealed three different groups of study sites with 60 % similarity based on life-form categories within the coral reef environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]