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A new series of febrifuginol analogues was prepared from l -glutamic acid. An antimalarial activity evaluation against chloroquine-sensitive (T96) and chloroquine-resistant (K1) Plasmodium falciparum indicated that all the tested compounds had very strong inhibitory activity. Compounds 4 and 17b ′ were inactive against KB, MCF7, HepG2 and LU1 cell lines even at a concentration of 100 μM, while they exhibited significant inhibition towards P. falciparum . Comparison of the antimalarial activity and the cytotoxic properties revealed that the 2′ S isomers were more active than the corresponding 2′ R isomers for this series of febrifuginol analogues, indicating that the C-2′ position is critical for the biological activity of this class of compounds.

A new air- and moisture-stable palladium complex with salicylaldehyde N (4)-hexamethyleneiminylthiosemicarbazone has been synthesized. According to its crystal structure, the metal is bonded to 2 equiv monoanionic thiosemicarbazone moieties in a N , S -bidentate fashion, forming two five-membered chelate rings, while additional intramolecular bonds stabilize the structure. In contrast to other palladium complexes with thiosemicarbazones, this complex was inactive towards the Suzuki–Miyaura coupling under aerobic conditions, by conventional heating. On the other hand, microwave irradiation promoted the effective catalytic activity of the complex for the coupling of aryl bromides and chlorides with phenylboronic acid in DMF/H 2 O, under aerobic conditions, with turnover numbers of up to 37,000.

An efficient method for ring-closing metathesis under solvent-free conditions and by microwave activation was established. Non-thermal microwave specific effects were evident.

A new class of monophosphine ligands has been prepared from natural chirality renewable source, 1,4:3,6-dianhydrohexitol compounds, via a nucleophilic substitution process, or a hydrophosphination reaction involving microwave activation. These ligands have been evaluated for the rhodium-catalyzed enantioselective hydrogenation of olefins giving good conversion and enantioselectivity up to 95% and 96% ee, respectively.

A highly enantioselective synthesis of the indolizidine alkaloid (−) 237A is described via the diastereoselective reduction of a heterocyclic enamine.