BACKGROUND Curcumin is known to possess many anti-tumor properties such as inhibition of tumor growth and induction of apotosis. However, limited bioavailability of curcumin prevents its clinical application. A synthesized curcumin analog, 1,5-diaryl-3-oxo-1,4-pentadiene such as GO-Y030, has the improved anti-tumor potential in vitro as well as in mouse model of colorectal carcinogenesis. RES...

Catalytic conditions for the α-arylation of aryl nitromethanes have been discovered using parallel microscale experimentation, despite two prior reports of the lack of reactivity of these aryl nitromethane precursors. The method efficiently provides a variety of substituted, isolable diaryl nitromethanes. In addition, it is possible to sequentially append two different aryl groups to nitrometha...

The isothiourea HBTM-2.1 (5 mol %) catalyzes the asymmetric formal [2 + 2] cycloaddition of both arylacetic acids (following activation with tosyl chloride) and preformed 2-arylacetic anhydrides with N-sulfonylaldimines, generating stereodefined 2,3-diaryl-β-amino esters (after ring-opening) and 3,4-diaryl-anti-β-lactams, respectively, with high diastereocontrol (up to >95:5 dr) and good to exc...

Biphenols are important structure motifs for ligand systems in organic catalysis and are therefore included in the category of so-called "privileged ligands". We have developed a new synthetic pathway to construct these structures by the use of selenium dioxide, a stable, powerful, and commercially available oxidizer. Our new, and easy to perform protocol gives rise to biphenols and diaryl sele...

Highly electron deficient monoaryl, di-aryl and bis-diaryl acetonitriles were effectively synthesized using either a nucleophilic aromatic substitution (NAS) or a palladium-mediated coupling pathway. Synthesis of di-aryl acetonitriles most conveniently proceeded via NAS--palladium-mediated coupling was not required. This reaction, however, results in a product that is more acidic than the react...

Asymmetric addition of indoles to cyclic α-diaryl-substituted N-acyl imines, which are generated in situ from 3-aryl 3-hydroxyisoindolinones, is described. The transformation proceeds smoothly with a broad range of indoles and isoindolinone alcohols using a SPINOL-derived chiral Brønsted acid catalyst to afford α-tetrasubstituted (3-indolyl)(diaryl)methanamines in excellent yields and enantiose...

An efficient synthesis of 1,3-diaryl-4-halo-1H-pyrazoles was achieved. The synthesis involves the [3 + 2] dipolar cycloaddition of 3-arylsydnones and 2-aryl-1,1-dihalo-1-alkenes. The process proceeds smoothly in moderate to excellent yields. 1,3-Diaryl-4-halo-1H-pyrazoles are found to be important intermediates that can easily be converted into 1,2,5-triaryl-substituted pyrazoles via Pd-catalyz...

Palladium-catalyzed Suzuki-Miyaura cross-coupling of 2-aryl-4-azido-3-iodo-quinolines with arylboronic acids afforded the corresponding primary 4-amino-2,3-diarylquinolines in a single-pot operation along with symmetrical biaryls and traces of the 2,3-diaryl-4-azidoquinolines. A plausible mechanism, which implicates palladium hydride species in the reduction of the incipient 2,3-diaryl-4-azidoq...

In this Communication, we developed a new procedure for the synthesis of β-hydroxysulfides from thiophenols or diaryl disulfides with TBHP as the oxidant. In the presence of zinc iodide or potassium iodide, with TBHP as the oxidant and pre-reactant, thiophenols and diaryl disulfides reacted with the methyl group of tBuOH smoothly and selectivity to give the corresponding 2-methyl-1-(arylthio)pr...