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A Regioselectivity-switchable Diels-Alder reaction of arynes and 4-alkenyloxazoles was explored. By regulating the reaction temperature and the polarity of the solvent, the reaction activity of aryne was controlled to selectively react with different favorable reaction sites of 4-alkenyloxazoles, providing naphtho[2,1- d ]oxazoles and 1,4-epoxyisoquinolines. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations demonstrated that the Diels-Alder reaction on acyclic dienes site needs more energy than the reaction on cyclic dienes to overcome the potential reaction barrier.

An organocatalytic asymmetric vinylogous Michael/oxa-Michael tandem reaction between β,γ-unsaturated pyrazoleamides and isatin-derived β,γ-unsaturated ketoesters has been developed with excellent regio-, diastereo-, and enantioselectivities. The methodology provides an effective approach to construct enantiomerically pure 3,4'-pyranyl spirooxindole derivatives containing three contiguous chiral centers. Moreover, the transformations of the chiral products, including the removal and reduction of the pyrazole group, have been investigated.

The Diels-Alder reactions of sulfolenodipyrrins prove to be an efficient way to construct aromatic ring-fused dipyrrins. However, adjustable annulation is still hard to achieve. To address this, molecular engineering on the H-bond has been employed. The α-position aryl group-modified sulfolenodipyrrins have been synthesized to react with various dienophiles in Diels-Alder reactions, affording the monoannulation products with different regioselectivity in good yields (45-76%). The remaining sulfolenopyrrole in monoadducts can undergo further fusion in the presence of dienophiles and TEMPO, giving the bisadducts with a lactam subunit in an appropriate yield. According to the crystal structures and theoretical calculations, the intramolecular H-bonds between the α-substituent and the nearby pyrrole confine the conjugation pathway of the dipyrrin core. With respect to the normal NH-sulfolenopyrrole, the imino-type one features low aromaticity, from which SO 2 extrusion generates more stable dipyrrin-diene, achieving regioselectivity. In addition, aromatic ring fusion results in red-shifted absorption and emission spectra, and the annulation units regulate the emission intensity. This work shows the versatility of intramolecular H-bonds in regulating the reaction through confinement of the conjugation system.

The intensive interest in expanded porphyrins can be attributed to their appealing photoelectric and coordination behavior. In this work, an N-confused heptaphyrin 1 was synthesized by an acid-catalyzed [3+4] condensation reaction. The introduction of an N-confused pyrrolic unit into the heptaphyrin macrocycle led to the formation of a figure-eight-like conformation with nonsymmetrical "NNNN" and "NNNC" coordination cavities employable for bimetallic coordination. As a result, chelation of 1 with Zn(II) and Cu(II) afforded mono-Zn(II) complex 2 and bis-Cu(II) complex 3, respectively, with the metal atoms exhibiting distorted square-planar geometries. In complex 3, an oxygen atom is attached to the α-C atom of N-confused pyrrole D, and thus the N and C atoms of ring D participate in coordination within the two cavities. Interestingly, treatment of 1 with Cs 2 CO 3 in MeOH resulted in regioselective substitution of all the seven para-F atoms in the meso-C 6 F 5 groups as well as the α-H of ring D by eight methoxy moieties. Complex 3 displays a red-shifted absorption band edge of ca. 2200 nm, compared to that of ca. 1600 nm observed for 1. This work provides an example of incorporating an N-confused pyrrole to construct expanded porphyrins with distinctive coordination behavior and tunable NIR absorption., (© 2024 Wiley-VCH GmbH.)

An enantioselective Mannich reaction with cyclic N -sulfonyl ketimines as the nucleophiles was developed. In the presence of 5 mol % chiral thiourea catalyst C11 , the asymmetric Mannich reaction between cyclic N -sulfonyl ketimines and isatin-derived ketimines was achieved in high yields and good-to-excellent enantioselectivities (84-99% yields with 75-99.8% ee). This methodology provided an effective route to construct chiral 3-amino-2-oxindoles containing a cyclic N -sulfonyl ketimine scaffold. The initial biological evaluation of the products in cell-based assays demonstrated that some compounds have excellent antiproliferative activity against human osteosarcoma cells.

A catalytic asymmetric vinylogous Mannich-type reaction between β,γ-unsaturated amides and ketimines has been developed in excellent regio-, diastereo-, and enantioselectivities. The methodology provides an efficient approach to construct chiral homoallylic amines with a 3-amino-2-oxindole scaffold. Moreover, the transformations of the chiral products, including the removal of the pyrazole group or Boc group, the reduction of the C-C double bond, and Suzuki coupling, have been investigated.

Sulfolenodipyrrins are employed as building blocks to concisely and efficiently construct aromatic rings (e.g., naphthoquinone, anthraquinone, fullerenes, and phthalimide) from fused dipyrrins by programmed [4 + 2]-cycloaddition reactions. Notably, alkylamino-substitution at the α-position not only enhances the reactivity of sulfolenodipyrrins but also results in the regio-selectivity of the cycloaddition reactions. Theoretical calculations in terms of frontier orbitals of dienes, energy of dienes, steric hindrance, and aromaticity have been conducted to understand the reason in depth. Additionally, the fusion of aromatic groups enables bathochromic absorption with up to ∼130 nm for the monoadducts and to ∼200 nm for the bis-adducts. The phthalimide annulation dipyrrin displays red emission, while the other mono- or bis-adducts do not, owing to the presence of typical acceptors such as quinone analogs or fullerene.

CF 3 -substituted imidoyl sulfoxonium ylides (TFISYs) are extraordinarily versatile and powerful synthons for use in cyclization chemistry that affords diverse CF 3 -substituted N-heterocycles. We first reacted TFISYs as a two-atom synthon with readily available azoalkenes and then subjected the products to metal-free formal (4+2) cycloaddition chemistry. This protocol features mild conditions and broad substrate scope, is simple to operate, and provides highly functionalized trifluoromethylpyridazines that are widely found in bioactive molecules.

The leaves of sea buckthorn(Hippophae rhamnoides), considered as common food raw materials, have records of medicinal use and diverse pharmacological activities, showing a potential medicinal value. However, the active substances in the sea buckthorn leaves and their mechanisms of action remain unclear. In addition, due to the extensive source and large variety variations, the quality evaluation criteria of sea buckthorn leaves remain to be developed. To solve the problems, this study predicted the main active components, core targets, key pathways, and potential pharmacological effects of sea buckthorn leaves by network pharmacology and molecular docking. Furthermore, ultra-performance liquid chromatography with diode-array detection(UPLC-DAD) was employed to determine the content of active components and establish the chemical fingerprint, on the basis of which the quality markers of sea buckthorn leaves were predicted and then verified by the enzyme activity inhibition method. The results indicated that sea buckthorn leaves had potential therapeutic effects on a variety of digestive tract diseases, metabolic diseases, tumors, and autoimmune diseases, which were consistent with the ancient records and the results of modern pharmacological studies. The core targets of sea buckthorn leaves included PTPN11, AKT1, PIK3R1, ESR1, and SRC, which were mainly involved in the PI3K-AKT, MAPK, and HIF-1 signaling pathways. In conclusion, the active components of sea buckthorn leaves are associated with the rich flavonoids and tannins, among which quercitrin, narcissoside, and ellagic acid can be used as the quality markers of sea buckthorn leaves. The findings provide a reference for the quality control and further development and utilization of sea buckthorn leaves as medicinal materials.

We report a novel rhodium-catalyzed rearrangement involving N-substituted 2-thiopyridones and diazoesters. This reaction proceeds through the rhodium-catalyzed formation of sulfur ylides, followed by a direct C-N bond cleavage to achieve N-to-C 1,4-pyridyl migration. The protocol can be used to construct various thiopyridines possessing tetrasubstituted carbon stereocenters in moderate to excellent yields, which expands the transformation pattern of sulfur ylide intermediates in rearrangement reactions.

Oxidation of thienyl-blocked bilane and pentapyrrane afforded chain length dependent products of the symmetric dimer D1 and the thienyloligopyrrin-appended pentaphyrin analogue P2 , respectively, with the latter formed by simultaneous dimerization and cyclization. Coordination of D1 and P2 with Cu(II) afforded di- and monometallic complexes D1-Cu2 and P2-Cu , respectively. These compounds exhibit distinct NIR absorption, with the absorption tail of D1-Cu2 extended to ca. 1900 nm despite its smaller conjugation framework than that of P2-Cu .

The construction of multi-stereocenters by a transition metal-catalyzed cross-coupling reaction is a major challenge. The catalytic desymmetric functionalization of unactivated alkenes remains largely unexplored. Herein, we disclose -a desymmetric dicarbofunctionalization of 1,6-dienes via a nickel-catalyzed reductive cross-coupling reaction. The leverage of the underdeveloped chiral 8-Quinox enables the Ni-catalyzed desymmetric carbamoylalkylation of both unactivated mono- and disubstituted alkenes to form pyrrolidinone bearing two nonadjacent stereogenic centers in high enantio- and stereoselectivitives with broad functional-group tolerance. The synthetic application of pyrrolidinones allows the rapid access to complex chiral fused-heterocycles., (© 2022 Wiley-VCH GmbH.)

To date, little attempt has been made to develop new treatments for Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori), although the community is aware of the shortage of treatments for H. pylori. In this study, we developed a 192-tandem-microwell-based high-throughput assay for ammonia that is a known virulence factor of H. pylori and a product of urease. We could identify few drugs, that is, panobinostat, dacinostat, ebselen, captan, and disulfiram, to potently inhibit the activity of ureases from bacterial or plant species. These inhibitors suppress the activity of urease via substrate-competitive or covalent-allosteric mechanism, but all except captan prevent the antibiotic-resistant H. pylori strain from killing human gastric cells, with a more pronounced effect than acetohydroxamic acid, a well-known urease inhibitor and clinically used drug for the treatment of bacterial infection. This study offers several bases for the development of new treatments for urease-containing pathogens and to study the mechanism responsible for the regulation of urease activity., (© 2021 Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology.)

The gram-scale synthesis of 5,6-, 6,7-, and 7,8-chromene/chromane-type aryne precursors and their applications in regioselective transformation to other functional derivatives is reported. Chromene/chromane-type arynes are generated under mild conditions, which can further undergo [2 + 2], [3 + 2], and [4 + 2] cycloaddition reactions, nucleophilic addition reactions, and σ-insertion reactions to produce structurally novel substituted chromenes and chromanes. The excellent regioselectivity of the reaction is facilitated by the oxygen-containing guiding groups at the ortho -position of the triple bond, which can be removed or switched to other functional groups including alkenyl, aryl, heteroaryl, and arylamino groups.

The 2,2-dimethyl-2H-chromene motif is widely found in many bioactive molecules, and is a privileged structure in the pharmaceutical arena. We have developed a concise and regioselective approach to chromenes and chromanes through an aryne-based synthetic strategy. A practical, gram-scale synthetic route to a chromene-type aryne precursor was explored. Subsequently, cyclization under mild conditions afforded tetracyclic xanthone skeletons with excellent regioselectivity. Our approach provides a concise strategy for the gram-scale synthesis of chromene-type xanthones such as 6-deoxyisojacareubin, cylindroxanthone D, staudtiixanthone D, brasilixanthone A and cudracuspixanthone O., (© 2020 Wiley-VCH GmbH.)

The emergence of clinically relevant β-lactam-resistant bacteria poses a serious threat to human health and presents a major challenge for medical treatment. How opportunistic pathogenic bacteria acquire antibiotic resistance and the prevalence of antibiotic-resistant opportunistic pathogenic bacteria in the environment are still unclear. In this study, we further confirmed that the selective pressure of heavy metals contributes to the increase in ampicillin-resistant opportunistic pathogens in the Xiangjiang River. Four ampicillin-resistant opportunistic pathogenic bacteria (Pseudomonas monteilii, Aeromonas hydrophila, Acinetobacter baumannii, and Staphylococcus epidermidis) were isolated on Luria-Bertani (LB) agar plates and identified by 16S rRNA sequencing. The abundance of these opportunistic pathogenic bacteria significantly increased in the sites downstream of the Xiangjiang River that were heavily influenced by metal mining activities. A microcosm experiment showed that the abundance of β-lactam resistance genes carried by opportunistic pathogenic bacteria in the heavy metal (Cu 2+ and Zn 2+ ) treatment group was 2-10 times higher than that in the control. Moreover, heavy metals (Cu 2+ and Zn 2+ ) significantly increased the horizontal transfer of plasmids in pathogenic bacteria. Of particular interest is that heavy metals facilitated the horizontal transfer of conjugative plasmids, which may lead to the prevalence of multidrug-resistant pathogenic bacteria in the Xiangjiang River., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

An efficient asymmetric vinylogous aldol/lactonization cascade reaction between β,γ-unsaturated amides and trifluoromethyl ketones has been developed. Using a chiral cyclohexanediamine-based tertiary amine-thiourea catalyst, optically active trifluoromethyl dihydropyranones have been constructed in moderate-to-excellent yields (up to 99%) with excellent stereoselectivities (96-> 99.5% ee).

Oxidative ring closure of linear oligopyrroles is one of the synthetic approaches to novel porphyrinoids with dinuclear coordination sites and helical chirality. The spatial arrangement of the pyrrolic groups of octapyrrole ( P8 ) affected the position of the intramolecular oxidative coupling of the pyrrolic units; tripyrrin-armed isosmaragdyrin analogue ( 1 ) containing a β,β-linked bipyrrole moiety was synthesized regioselectively in a high yield by using FeCl 3 . Ni II -coordination at the armed tripyrrin site of 1 allowed the formation of diastereomeric helical twisted complexes ( 2A and 2B ) and succeeding Cu II -coordination at the macrocyclic core afforded heterodinuclear Ni II /Cu II -complexes ( 3A and 3B ). Each of them comprised a pair of separable enantiomers, exhibiting P - and M -helices, respectively. Notably, diastereomeric interconversion from 2A to 2B was quantitatively achieved as a consequence of helical transformation under acidic conditions., Competing Interests: There are no conflicts to declare., (This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry.)

An N-confused phlorin isomer bearing a dipyrrin moiety at the α-position of the confused pyrrole ring (1) was synthesized. Pd II and B III coordination at the peripheral prodigiosin-like moiety of 1 afforded the corresponding complexes 2 and 3. Reflux of 2 in triethylamine (TEA) converted the meso-phenyl into the Pd II -coordinating phenoxy group to afford 4. Under the same reaction conditions, TEA was linked to the α-position of the dipyrrin unit in 3 as an N,N-diethylaminovinyl group to afford 5. Furthermore, peripheral coordination of B III in 3 and 5 improved the planarity of the phlorin macrocycle and thus facilitated the coordination of Ag III at the inner cavity to afford 3-Ag and 5-Ag, respectively. These results provide an effective approach for developing unique porphyrinoids through peripheral coordination., (© 2020 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.)

A [3 + 2] annulation protocol for the construction of N-substituted indazolo[3,2-a]isoquinolines starting from benzynes and C,N-cyclic azomethine imines was developed. A diverse range of highly functionalized products indazolo[3,2-a]isoquinolines featuring an indazole scaffold can be easily accessed via a one-step reaction under mild conditions, and they show good anti-proliferative activity on cancer cells.

A copper-catalyzed enantioselective alkynylation between terminal alkynes and pyrazole-4,5-diones has been developed. With 2.5 mol% CuI and 3 mol% chiral ligand L15, chiral propargylic alcohols bearing a pyrazolone motif were produced in 82-99% yield and up to 98% ee. Moreover, both enantiomers of the chiral propargylic alcohols were obtained with ligands L12 and L15, respectively.

An efficient and convenient cobalt-catalyzed ortho -C(sp 2 )-H amidation of benzaldehydes employing dioxazolones as the aminating reagent has been developed. The key feature of this protocol is the use of green and economic earth-abundant metals cobalt as the catalyst with the p -chloroaniline as the transient directing group. Further application of our approach was demonstrated by the synthesis of C1r serine protease inhibitor 45 and elastase inhibitor 49 .

A copper-catalyzed asymmetric Mannich reaction between glycine Schiff bases and ketimines has been developed. This method afforded 2-oxindole-based chiral syn -α,β-diamino acid derivatives in high yields (89-99%) with good to excellent diastereoselectivities (≤98:2 dr) and excellent enantioselectivities (95-99% ee).

A series of amino acid derivatives are successfully synthesized via a metal-free C-N coupling reaction of 5-alkoxy-3,4-dihalo-2(5H)-furanones and amino acids. Their structures are well characterized with 1 H NMR, 13 C NMR, ESI-MS and elemental analysis. As potential linkers of the 2(5H)-furanone unit with other drug moieties containing a hydroxyl or amino group, the effect of amino acids is investigated by comparison with other 2(5H)-furanone compounds by constructing C-O/C-S bonds. The preliminary results of the biological activity assay by the MTT method on a series of cancer cell lines in vitro reveal that the introduction of amino acids basically has no toxic effect. This can lead to these 2(5H)-furanone derivatives being further well-linked with other bioactive moieties with amino or hydroxy groups as expected. Thus, the biological activity assay gives a direction for the design of bioactive 2(5H)-furanones based on these amino acid linkers.

The palladium-catalyzed electrochemical C-H bromination of benzamide derivatives under divided cells is developed, in which NH 4 Br serves as a brominating reagent and electrolyte. The protocol avoids the use of chemical oxidants and provides an alternative method for the synthesis of aryl bromides.

The regioselective and enantioselective Cu(II)-catalyzed 1,4-conjugate addition of diethylzinc reagent to nitrodienes is described. With 0.25 mol % of Cu(OAc) 2 and chiral amidophosphine ligand L3, the 1,4-addition products were produced with a complete regioselectivity, high yields (81-98%), and excellent enantioselectivities (87-97% ee) in a short reaction time.

An excellent level of enantioselectivity in asymmetric sulfenylation of 4-substituted pyrazolones was achieved with chiral iminophosphorane as the organocatalyst under continuum solvation conditions (up to 99% ee). Importantly, this catalytic process features high efficiency with excellent enantioselectivities, easy separation of products, low catalytic loadings and scale-up to grams without loss of enantioselectivity.

An organocatalytic enantioselective Tamura cycloaddition between homophthalic anhydrides and 2-arylidene-1,3-indanediones has been developed. With 2 mol% of commercially available (DHQD)2PYR, a wide range of enantioenriched spiro-1,3-indanedione derivatives were obtained in good-to-excellent yields (68-98%), excellent diastereoselectivities (99 : 1 dr) and moderate-to-excellent enantioselectivities (up to 95% ee).

An organocatalytic enantioselective Mannich reaction between rhodanines and isatin-derived ketimines was developed. With 2 mol% of a quinine-based tertiary amine-thiourea catalyst C2, 3,3-disubstituted oxindoles with vicinal tetrasubstituted stereocenters were obtained in moderate-to-excellent yields (43-99%) with excellent diastereoselectivities (98 : 2-99 : 1 dr) and good-to-excellent enantioselectivities (up to 97% ee). The readily available substrates, low catalyst loading and high stereoselectivity are the major features.

Anilines generally act as N-nucleophiles in transition-metal-catalyzed allylic substitution reactions. In this paper, a highly enantioselective intramolecular Friedel-Crafts-type allylic alkylation of aniline derivatives was realized by using an iridium catalyst derived from [Ir(cod)Cl] 2 and (R a )-BHPphos. Various tetrahydroisoquinilin-5-amines were obtained in moderate to good yields, excellent enantioselectivity and regioselectivity under mild reaction conditions. BHPphos=N-benzhydryl-N-phenyldinaphthophosphoramidite., (© 2017 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.)

The on-surface Heck reaction of aryl bromides with terminal alkene has been achieved for the first time. With palladium as the catalyst, cross-coupling of porphyrin-derived aryl bromides with terminal alkene proceeds with high selectivity on an Au(111) surface, as determined by scanning tunneling microscopy at the single molecular level. Density functional theory calculations suggest that the on-surface Heck reaction proceeds via debromination of aryl bromide, addition to the C═C bond, and elimination of hydrogen, ultimately affording the cross-coupling product.

An unprecedented Rauhut-Currier-type 1,6-conjugate addition has been developed. With chiral cyclohexane-based phosphine-amide catalyst 3 h, the 1,6-conjugate reaction has been achieved to produce chiral diarylmethine compounds in excellent yields (91-99 %) and enantioselectivities (92-98 % ee)., (© 2017 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.)

As the first cascade C-H activation directed by a transient group, reaction of alkynols and 7-oxabenzonorbornadienes has been achieved via synergistic rhodium and scandium catalysis to afford spirocyclic dihydrobenzo[a]fluorenefurans. This transformation proceeds by a transient hemiketal group directed C-H activation, dehydrative naphthylation, and intramolecular Prins-type cyclization. Mechanistic studies and density functional theory calculations indicate that the rate-determining step is C-H bond cleavage and both the transient hemiketal group and synergistic Rh III /Sc III catalysis play key roles.

An efficient enantioselective synthesis of spiro[indoline-3,4'-pyrano[2,3-c]pyrazole] derivatives by a cascade reaction between pyrazolones and isatylidene malononitriles is described. With only 1 mol% of (DHQD)2PYR, chiral spirooxindole derivatives have been produced in excellent yields (96-99%) with good-to-excellent enantioselectivities (up to 91% ee).

1,2-Diketones are employed, for the first time, as electrophiles in the vinylogous aldol reaction. With 5 mol% of chiral tertiary amine-thiourea , a direct vinylogous aldol-cyclization cascade reaction between β,γ-unsaturated amides and o-quinones has been achieved to produce spirocyclic dihydropyranones in 76-99% yield and 82-95% ee.

The efficiency of Ullmann reaction of aryl chlorides on an Au(111) surface has been substantially increased by using dosed Cu as a catalyst. The different reactivity of aryl bromides and aryl chlorides has been exploited to design a programmed, on-surface synthesis to form 2D covalent organic frameworks.

A highly efficient copper-catalyzed asymmetric addition of terminal alkynes to isatins has been developed. In the presence of a catalytic amount of copper iodide and a chiral phosphine ligand, the reaction gave the corresponding chiral 3-alkynyl-3-hydroxyindolin-2-ones in high yields with high enantioselectivity. This methodology has a broad substrate scope, and the synthetic utility of the present protocol was further demonstrated by the transformation of chiral alkynylation products.

On-surface Ullmann coupling reaction of aryl chlorides has been achieved on Cu(111), Ag(111), and Au(111), and the mechanism has been investigated on the single molecule level using scanning tunneling microscopy and density functional theory. The different reactivity of the aryl halides was utilized to design a stepwise on-surface synthesis, which affords a zigzag template and then converts to 2D porous networks.

An acid-cleavable linker based on a dimethylketal moiety was synthesized and used to connect a nucleotide with a fluorophore to produce a 3'-OH unblocked nucleotide analogue as an excellent reversible terminator for DNA sequencing by synthesis.

A cleavable azo linker was synthesized and reacted with 5-(6)-carboxytetramethyl rhodamine succinimidyl ester, followed by further reactions with di(N-succinimidyl) carbonate and 5-(3-amino-1-propynyl)-2'-deoxyuridine 5'-triphosphate [dUTP(AP3)] to obtain the terminal product dUTP-azo linker-TAMRA as a potential reversible terminator for DNA sequencing by synthesis with no need for 3'-OH blocking.

A novel Lewis acid catalyzed tandem cyclization reaction of internal alkynols and vinyl azides has been achieved to afford a series of products containing a pyran-based indeno[1,2-c]isochromene scaffold in moderate to high yields. This tandem polycyclization protocol provides a straightforward entry to construct the complex polycyclic skeleton through cycloisomerization, formal [4 + 2] cycloaddition, and an elimination process.

The thermal 1,3-dipolar cycloadditions of 4-acetoxyallenoates 1 with various dipoles have been reported. When azomethine imines and nitrones are used as the 1,3-dipole partner, the corresponding reactions afford 2,3-dihydropyrazole and 2,3-dihydroisoxazole derivatives, respectively. These reactions might proceed via a thermal 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition and the subsequent elimination of HOAc. In addition, allenoates 1 react well with in situ generated azomethine ylides in which a similar cycloaddition pathway is followed by oxidative aromatization to give indolizine derivatives.

The direct assembly of benzo[c]carbazole derivatives via the Diels-Alder reaction of arynes and easily accessible 2-alkenylidoles was reported. By employing different aryne precursor loads, 6,7-dihydrobenzo[c]carbazoles or aryl-substituted 7,11b-dihydrobenzo[c]carbazoles could be controllably generated in good to excellent yields under a nitrogen atmosphere. On the other hand, when the reaction was conducted under oxygen, oxidated/aromatized product benzo[c]carbazoles could be generated directly with high selectivity and efficiency in a one-step manner. Interestingly, the benzo[c]carbazole-5-carboxamide amidation derivatives of the above products showed good antitumor activities. The inhibitory effect of these molecules against cancer cells was also described.

Light-driven transcription, replication and enzyme catalysis are critically dependent upon a delicate transfer between molecular and supramolecular chirality. Chemists have well realized the impressive stereospecificity over many thermally accessible cycloaddition with chiral catalysts, but making light work in the enantiomer control of diarylethene photocyclization has proved to be more challenging. Here, we report a unique sterically hindered diarylethene (BBTE) system with absolute enantiospecific photocyclization and cycloreversion. Moreover, we have fully separated all the five thermally stable isomers, consisting of one achiral parallel conformer, one pair of anti-parallel ring-open enantiomers, and another pair of ring-closed enantiomers, whose absolute chiral configurations are entirely elucidated by single X-ray crystallographic analyses. The photo-responsive feature exhibits a reversible, complete enantio-control transformation without racemism, offering an unrivaled unimolecular enantiospecific platform for potential applications as bistable chiroptical switches and all-photonic photomemories with optical rotation as non-destructive readout.

Palladium-catalyzed asymmetric intramolecular Friedel-Crafts type allylic alkylation reaction of phenols was developed under mild conditions. In the presence of Pd2(dba)3 with (1R,2R)-DACH-phenyl Trost ligand (L2) in toluene at 50 °C, the reaction provides various C4 substituted tetrahydroisoquinolines with moderate to excellent yields, regioselectivity and enantioselectivity.

The first enantioselective aza-Morita–Baylis–Hillman reaction of acrylates with ketimines derived from isatins has been developed. With 2 mol% of chiral bifunctional phosphine-squaramide 4e, optically active 3-substituted-3-amino-2-oxindoles were obtained in excellent yields with up to 91% ee.

The first enantioselective vinylogous aldol-cyclization cascade reaction of allyl pyrazoleamides with isatins is reported. With 1 mol% of Takemoto catalyst, optically active spirocyclic oxindole-dihydropyranones were obtained in excellent yields (93-99%) and good-to-excellent enantioselectivities (82-97% ee).

A copper(ii) perchlorate-promoted tandem reaction of internal alkynol and salicyl N-tosylhydrazone provides a novel, concise method for constructing isochromeno[3,4-b]chromene in 35-94% yields. The tandem reaction involves cycloisomerization, formal [4+2] cycloaddition and an elimination process.

The first organocatalytic enantioselective Mannich reaction of pyrazoleamides with isatin-derived N-Boc ketimines has been developed to afford 2-oxindole-based chiral β-amino amides in good yields (84-97%) with excellent diastereo- and enantioselectivities (up to 99:1 dr and >99% ee).