A three-component reaction between 1,2-phenylenediamine, ferrocenecarbaldehyde, and isocyanides in the presence of a catalytic amount of p-toluenesulfonic acid for the synthesis of 3,4-dihydroquinoxalin-2-amine derivatives containing a ferrocene unit is reported. This approach is an effective procedure because the products have a broad spectrum of biological and pharmacological activities such ...

Isocyanide (formerly isonitrile) hydratase (EC 4.2.1.103) is an enzyme of the DJ-1 superfamily that hydrates isocyanides to yield the corresponding N-formamide. In order to understand the structural basis for isocyanide hydratase (ICH) catalysis, we determined the crystal structures of wild-type and several site-directed mutants of Pseudomonas fluorescens ICH at resolutions ranging from 1.0 to ...

Herein we describe a catalyst-free, one-pot procedure employing an Ugi-4CR between propargyl glycine, functionalised 2-azidoanilines, different isocyanides and aldehydes, followed by a thermal azide-alkyne Huisgen cycloaddition to generate a 14-member set of amino-benzotriazolodiazocine-bearing dipeptides with multiple points of diversification and high atom economy. These structures were deriv...

Imidazolium salts are privileged compounds in organic chemistry, and have valuable biological properties. Recent studies show that symmetric imidazolium salts with bulky moieties can display antiparasitic activity against T. cruzi. After developing a facile methodology for the synthesis of tetrasubstituted imidazolium salts from propargylamines and isocyanides, we screened a small library of th...

We have recently reported a novel multicomponent reaction between arylacetic acids and isocyanides, affording α-acyloxyacrylamides through an unusual mechanism. The products of this novel multicomponent reaction can rearrange to five membered heterocyclic compounds when exposed to an alkaline environment. Depending on the reaction conditions and on the substitution pattern on the substrates, va...