An operationally simple and efficient protocol for the construction of dihydrofuran derivatives has been accomplished via a sequential addition of N-chlorosuccinimide and a base to 2-amino-4H-pyran derivatives in alcohol medium. The one-pot protocol proceeding via tandem oxidative difunctionalization and ring contraction provides an entirely new strategy for the construction of the dihydrofuran...

During the past decades, building on the seminal contributions of Overman and Shibasaki, the asymmetric intramolecular Heck reaction has been successfully applied in natural product synthesis to install tertiary and quaternary stereocenters. In stark contrast, the intermolecular version of this asymmetric transformation has not reached the same level of development and its synthetic utility rem...

In addition to their importance as abundant hydrocarbon deposits in nature, clathrate hydrates are being studied as potential media for hydrogen and carbon dioxide storage and as "nano-reactors" for small molecules. However, little is known about the behavior of reactive species in such materials. We have employed muon spin spectroscopy to characterize various organic free radicals that reside ...