A catalytic, asymmetric process for the synthesis of 1,4-benzoxazinones from o-benzoquinone imides and ketene enolates is reported. Addition of Lewis acids (Zn(OTf)2, In(OTf)3, and in particular Sc(OTf)3) creates a bifunctional catalytic system that dramatically increases the reaction rate and the yield of these non-natural amino acid precursors while preserving the remarkable enantioselectivit...

In the presence of TMSOTf and a trialkylamine base, acetic acid undergoes aldol addition to non-enolizable aldehydes under exceptionally mild conditions. Acidic workup yields the beta-hydroxy carboxylic acid. The reaction appears to proceed via a three-step, one-pot process, including in situ trimethylsilyl ester formation, bis-silyl ketene acetal formation, and TMSOTf-catalyzed Mukaiyama aldol...

in this paper the synthesis of some new polyaromatic monocyclic β-lactams has been reported. these cycloadducts have been synthesized by the [2+2] ketene-imine cycloaddition reaction known as the staudinger reaction. all of the products have been fully characterized by ir, 1h-nmr, 13c-nmr, mass spectroscopy and elemental analyses. the x-ray crystal structure of a cis β-lactam has been also pres...

The photophysics and photochemistry of [(CO)5MC(OMe)Me] (M = Cr or W) were investigated using picosecond time-resolved infrared spectroscopy (M = Cr or W), low-temperature matrix isolation techniques (M = Cr), and time-dependent density functional calculations (M = Cr or W). These studies provide unambiguous evidence for the photochemical formation of a long-lived, 18-electron metallaketene spe...

With a combination of transient pump-probe IR spectroscopy and ab initio molecular dynamics, the controversial pico- and nanosecond steps of the o-nitrobenzaldehyde (oNBA) photoreaction have been investigated in aqueous solution. In this way, the measured reaction kinetics have been complemented with an atomistic picture of the reactive events as obtained with unbiased simulations in explicit s...

The photoisomerisation dynamics following excitation to the S1 electronic state of two structurally related heterocyclic molecules, α-pyrone and coumarin, in acetonitrile solution have been probed by time-resolved vibrational absorption spectroscopy. Following irradiation at 310 nm, α-pyrone relaxes rapidly from its initially excited state, with a quantum yield for parent molecule reformation o...

The cleavage of carbon dioxide by the tungsten alkylidyne [CF3-ONO]W[triple bond, length as m-dash]CCtBu(THF)2 (1) {where CF3-ONO = (MeC6H3[C-(CF3)2O])2N3-}, is reported. Splitting of CO2 yields the tungsten oxo ketene complex [CF3-ONO]W(O){(CH3)3CC[double bond, length as m-dash]C[double bond, length as m-dash]O} (6). The proposed pathway occurs through initial cycloaddition of W[triple bond, l...