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An enantioselective aza-Piancatelli rearrangement has been developed using a chiral Brønsted acid based on pentacarboxycyclopentadiene (PCCP). This reaction provides rapid access to valuable chiral 4-amino-2-cyclopentenone building blocks from readily available starting material and is operationally simple.

This article describes the aza-Piancatelli rearrangement with hydroxylamines to 4-aminocyclopentenones and subsequent transformations that highlight the versatility of the cyclopentene scaffold and the value of the hydroxylamine nucleophile in this transformation.

Continuing developments in the elucidation techniques of complex catalytic processes is of foremost importance to modern synthetic chemistry, and the identification of efficient synthetic techniques relies on precise, reliable, and adaptable methods to dissect the mechanism of a given transformation. Currently, methods of reaction development are grounded upon the systematic modification of specific variables - such as temperature, time, concentration, etc. - to account for and control the dynamic series of coupled equilibria within a catalytic environment. On the other hand, tandem reaction analytical methods that involve the concomitant use of different instruments to probe a reaction can provide time-resolved information regarding active chemical species and facilitate the interrogation and optimization of the system. Herein, we report our study applying tandem in situ ReactIR and HPLC-MS monitoring to the dysprosium(III) triflate-catalyzed aza-Piancatelli rearrangement of 2-furylcarbinols, a reaction that grants access to trans-4,5-disubstituted cyclopentenones - common motifs in important biologically relevant and natural compounds. With a prototype automated sampling apparatus, information was obtained about the intrinsic chemoselectivity of the reaction, and previously unseen intermediates were observed, allowing for a more detailed reaction mechanism to be substantiated. The advantages of applying this type of tandem measurement to study these types of systems are also discussed. (Figure Presented).

The observed rate of reaction in the dysprosium triflate catalyzed aza-Piancatelli rearrangement is controlled by a key off-cycle binding between aniline and catalyst. Deconvoluting the role of these ancillary species greatly broadens our understanding of factors affecting the productive catalytic pathway. We demonstrate that the rate of reaction is controlled by initial competitive binding between the furylcarbinol and nitrogen nucleophile using either a Brønsted or Lewis acid catalyst and that the resulting rearrangement proceeds without involving the Brønsted and Lewis acid catalyst. This shows conclusively that the rate-controlling step and selectivity of reaction are decoupled.

A molecular rearrangement of 5,5-spirocyclic cyclopentenones to 5,6-fused cyclopentenones catalyzed by Amberlyst®15 is described. This work emphasizes the utility of renewable resources, such as furfural, that can be transformed into a variety of valuable products. It also highlights the viability of 5,5-spirocycles as intermediates en route to 5,6-fused cyclopentenones. Copyright © 2013 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

The stimuli-responsive nature of molecular gels makes them appealing platforms for sensing. The biggest challenge is in identifying an appropriate gelator for each specific chemical or biological target. Due to the similarities between crystallization and gel formation, we hypothesized that the tools used to predict crystal morphologies could be useful for identifying gelators. Herein, we demonstrate that new gelators can be discovered by focusing on scaffolds with predicted high aspect ratio crystals. Using this morphology prediction method, we identified two promising molecular scaffolds containing lead atoms. Because solvent is largely ignored in morphology prediction but can play a major role in gelation, each scaffold needed to be structurally modified before six new Pb-containing gelators were discovered. One of these new gelators was developed into a robust sensor capable of detecting lead at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency limit for paint (5000 ppm). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]