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A new Lewis acid promoted domino isocyanide insertion/5-exo-dig cyclization of readily available Strecker 3-component adducts to 4-substituted 5-aminoimidazole derivatives is herein reported. Despite their potential as relevant heterocyclic scaffolds in medicinal chemistry programs, this class of compounds is still underrepresented, with current synthetic strategies poorly efficient in terms of timing and yields. To this end, we show how the exploitation of unconventional reactivities of isocyanides, promoted by ytterbium-triflate, could represent a key resource to enable a fast and easy access to such an unexplored area of the chemical space. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A practical experience to showcase the potential of flow technology in the synthesis optimization of drugs has been developed and carried out by fourth year undergraduate students in Pharmaceutical Chemistry and Technology (CTF) at the University of Perugia. In particular, we present an experiment aimed at optimizing the monobromination reaction of 2′,4′-dichloroacetophenone, the limiting step to the synthesis of the antifungal drug econazole nitrate. Throughout the experiment, the students learn how to integrate flow chemistry and experimental design to expedite experimental screening and reaction optimization. Moreover, the students have the possibility to exploit the use of automation to improve data generation and reduce human intervention in repetitive, expensive or hazardous experiments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]