phenylnitrene and carbene

Transition metal-catalysed carbene- and nitrene transfer to the C1-building blocks carbon monoxide and isocyanides provides heteroallenes (

Topics: Carbon Monoxide; Cyanides; Imines; Methane; Transition Elements

Hemoprotein-catalyzed carbene and nitrene transformations have emerged as powerful tools for constructing complex molecules; they also nicely illustrate how new protein catalysts can emerge, evolve and diversify. These laboratory-invented enzymes exploit the ability of proteins to tame highly reactive carbene and nitrene species and direct their fates with high selectivity. New-to-nature carbene and nitrene transferases catalyze many useful reactions, including some that have no precedent using chemical methods. Here we cover recent advances in this field, including alkyne cyclopropenation, arene cyclopropanation, carbene CH insertion, intramolecular nitrene CH insertion, alkene aminohydroxylation, and primary amination. For such transformations, biocatalysts have exceeded the performance of reported small-molecule catalysts in terms of selectivity and catalyst turnovers. Finally, we offer our thoughts on using these new enzymatic reactions in chemical synthesis, integrating them into biological pathways and chemo-enzymatic cascades, and on their current limitations.

Topics: Hemeproteins; Imines; Methane; Transferases

Despite the astonishing diversity of naturally occurring biocatalytic processes, enzymes do not catalyze many of the transformations favored by synthetic chemists. Either nature does not care about the specific products, or if she does, she has adopted a different synthetic strategy. In many cases, the appropriate reagents used by synthetic chemists are not readily accessible to biological systems. Here, we discuss our efforts to expand the catalytic repertoire of enzymes to encompass powerful reactions previously known only in small-molecule catalysis: formation and transfer of reactive carbene and nitrene intermediates leading to a broad range of products, including products with bonds not known in biology. In light of the structural similarity of iron carbene (Fe═C(R

Topics: Cytochrome P-450 Enzyme System; Hemeproteins; Imines; Iron Compounds; Methane; Molecular Structure

Nitrogen-containing heterocycles are widely found in various biologically active substrates, pharmaceuticals, natural products and organic materials. Consequently, the continuous effort has been devoted towards the development of straightforward, economical, environmentally acceptable, efficient and ingenious methods for the synthesis of various N-containing heterocycles and their functionalizations. Arguably, one of the most prominent direct strategy is regioselective C-H bond functionalizations which provide the step and atom economical approaches in the presence of suitable coupling partners. In this context, site-selective migratory insertion of metal carbenes/nitrenes to the desired C-H bonds has proven as a useful tool to access various functionalized nitrogen heterocycles. In this personal account, we highlight some of our contemporary development toward constructing N-containing heterocycles and their direct functionalizations via transition metal catalysed C-H bond functionalizations based on migratory insertion of metal-carbenes and nitrenes.

Topics: Catalysis; Imines; Methane; Nitrogen; Transition Elements

Cytochrome P450 monooxygenases (P450s) catalyze regioselective and stereoselective oxidative modifications of a wide variety of substrates, and are involved in the biosynthesis of many natural products. Despite the complex requirements of the P450 reaction system and its intransigence to recombinant expression, the promise of harnessing P450 reactivity for the industrial-scale production of specialty chemicals has led to much effort invested in P450 engineering. Here we review recent developments (between 2015 and 2017) in the application of P450s and their engineered variants as biocatalysts. We describe strategies for the reconstitution of P450 activity in heterologous microbial hosts, and the expanding repertoire of non-natural reactions catalyzed by engineered P450s.

Topics: Bacteria; Biocatalysis; Biological Products; Cytochrome P-450 Enzyme System; Imines; Methane; Plants; Protein Engineering; Substrate Specificity; Yeasts

The surge in reports of heme-dependent proteins as catalysts for abiotic, synthetically valuable carbene and nitrene transfer reactions dramatically illustrates the evolvability of the protein world and our nascent ability to exploit that for new enzyme chemistry. We highlight the latest additions to the hemoprotein-catalyzed reaction repertoire (including carbene Si-H and C-H insertions, Doyle-Kirmse reactions, aldehyde olefinations, azide-to-aldehyde conversions, and intermolecular nitrene C-H insertion) and show how different hemoprotein scaffolds offer varied reactivity and selectivity. Preparative-scale syntheses of pharmaceutically relevant compounds accomplished with these new catalysts are beginning to demonstrate their biotechnological relevance. Insights into the determinants of enzyme lifetime and product yield are providing generalizable cues for engineering heme-dependent proteins to further broaden the scope and utility of these non-natural activities.

Topics: Biocatalysis; Cyclopropanes; Hemeproteins; Imines; Methane; Protein Engineering

Despite increasing interest in using enzymes as tools for synthesis, many reactions discovered through the creativity of synthetic chemists remain beyond the scope of biocatalysis. This vacancy in the field has compelled researchers to develop strategies to adapt protein scaffolds for new reactivity. Heme proteins have recently been shown to activate synthetic precursors to generate reactive metallocarbenoid and metallonitrenoid species that enable the biosynthetic construction of novel C-C, C-N, and other bonds using mechanisms not previously explored by Nature. By interrogating heme proteins with synthetic, non-natural reagents, scientists are merging the reaction space traditionally dominated by organocatalysis and transition metal catalysis with the mild reaction conditions, selectivity, and adaptability imparted by native protein scaffolds.

Topics: Alkenes; Aziridines; Catalysis; Hemeproteins; Imines; Methane

Recently, several novel iridium complexes have been shown to catalyse group transfer reactions in a highly selective fashion. Rhodium complexes, and in particular dirhodium tetracarboxylate salts, have proven to be a remarkably useful class of catalysts for these reactions through several decades of development. Recent results suggest that iridium may offer opportunities to address challenges in this chemistry and provide complementary reactivity patterns. This tutorial review outlines the recent developments in Ir-catalyzed enantioselective group transfer chemistry with highlights on examples which display this unique reactivity.

Topics: Catalysis; Cyclopropanes; Imines; Iridium; Methane; Stereoisomerism

I describe how we direct the evolution of non-natural enzyme activities, using chemical intuition and information on structure and mechanism to guide us to the most promising reaction/enzyme systems. With synthetic reagents to generate new reactive intermediates and just a few amino acid substitutions to tune the active site, a cytochrome P450 can catalyze a variety of carbene and nitrene transfer reactions. The cyclopropanation, N-H insertion, C-H amination, sulfimidation, and aziridination reactions now demonstrated are all well known in chemical catalysis but have no counterparts in nature. The new enzymes are fully genetically encoded, assemble and function inside of cells, and can be optimized for different substrates, activities, and selectivities. We are learning how to use nature's innovation mechanisms to marry some of the synthetic chemists' favorite transformations with the exquisite selectivity and tunability of enzymes.

Topics: Bacteria; Biocatalysis; Catalysis; Cytochrome P-450 Enzyme System; Directed Molecular Evolution; Enzymes; Evolution, Molecular; Hydrogen Bonding; Imines; Methane; Protein Engineering

Topics: Biotin; Cell Membrane; Fluorescent Dyes; Free Radicals; Imines; Lipids; Membrane Proteins; Methane; Photoaffinity Labels; Sterols

Reinvestigation of the thermolysis of azido-meta-hemipinate (I) yielded, in addition to known II, unusual products III and IV. These products are formed via a rare intramolecular nitrene insertion into an adjacent methoxy C-H bond followed by an intermolecular reaction during a ring-expansion and a ring-extrusion reaction followed by a carbene insertion. The structures of the new compounds were confirmed using a battery of techniques, including HRMS (ESI-QTOF) and 2D NMR as well as X-ray crystallography for compound IV. Density functional theory methods were used to support the proposed mechanism of formation of the products.

Topics: Crystallography, X-Ray; Imines; Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy; Methane; Quantum Theory

Three-center/four-electron (3c/4e) bonds are important bonding motifs that dictate the electronic structure, and thereby the reactivity, of metal-metal bonded carbene and nitrene intermediate complexes that are crucial to the dirhodium-catalyzed functionalization of hydrocarbons. In this Perspective article, general features of the 3c/4e bond are presented and discussed in comparison to two-center/two-electron (2c/2e) bonds. Specifically, 3c/4e bonding interactions lead to longer distances between the atoms involved and measurably weaker bonds. Additionally, excited states derived from the 3c/4e bonding manifold are lower in energy than those derived from a 2c/2e manifold, signifying a greater degree of reactivity in the former case. Three coterminous 3c/4e Ru-Ru-N bonds are present in metal-metal/metal-ligand multiply bonded diruthenium terminal nitrido compounds. This bonding situation results in an unusual superelectrophilic character of the nitride nitrogen atom, exemplified by its insertion into aryl C-H bonds via an electrophilic aromatic substitution mechanism. The key catalytic intermediates in dirhodium-catalyzed C-H functionalization reactions, dirhodium carbene and dirhodium nitrene complexes, may also be described as superelectrophilic by virtue of 3c/4e Rh-Rh-C(or N) σ and π bonds. These 3c/4e bonding interactions set apart dirhodium carbene and nitrene intermediates from other, less electrophilic, carbene or nitrene species.

Topics: Catalysis; Electrons; Hydrogen; Imines; Methane; Models, Theoretical; Molecular Structure; Rhodium

Topics: Alkynes; Catalysis; Gold; Imines; Indoles; Methane; Stereoisomerism

Photolysis of triazolo[1,5-b]pyridazine 8 isolated in Ar matrix generates diazomethylpyridazines 9Z and 9E and diazopentenynes 11Z and 11E as detected by IR spectroscopy. ESR spectroscopy detected the 3-pydidazylcarbene 10 as well as pent-2-en-3-yn-1-ylidene 12 formed by loss of one and two molecules of N(2), respectively. Further photolysis caused rearrangement of the carbenes to 1,2-pentadien-4-yne 13 and 3-ethynylcyclopropene 14. Flash vacuum thermolysis (FVT) of 8 at 400-500 degrees C with Ar matrix isolation of the products yielded 13, 14, and 1,4-pentadiyne 15. At higher temperatures, glutacononitriles 27Z and 27E were formed as well together with minor amounts of 2- and 3-cyanopyrroles 28 and 29. Tetrazolo[1,5-a]pyridine/2-azidopyridine 22T/22A yields 2-pyridylnitrene 19 as well as the novel open-chain cyanodienylnitrene 23 and the ring-expanded 1,3-diazacyclohepta-1,2,4,6-tetraene 21 on short wavelength photolysis. Nitrenes 19 and 23 were detected by ESR spectroscopy, and cumulene 21 by IR and UV spectroscopy. FVT of 22T/22A also affords 2-pyridylnitrene 19 and diazacycloheptatetraene 21, as well as glutacononitriles 27Z,E and 2- and 3-cyanopyrroles 28 and 29. Photolysis of 21 above 300 nm yields the novel spiroazirene 25, identified by its matrix IR spectrum. The reaction pathways connecting the four carbenes (10Z,E and 12Z,E) and three nitrenes (19, 23EZ, and 23ZZ) in their open-shell singlet and triplet states are elucidated with the aid of theoretical calculations at DFT, CASSCF, and CASPT2 levels. Three possible mechanisms of ring-contraction in arylnitrenes are identified: (i) via ring-opening to dienylnitrenes, (ii) concerted ring-contraction, and (iii) via spiroazirenes 25, whereby (i) is the energetically most favorable.

Topics: Cyclization; Imines; Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy; Methane; Molecular Structure; Nitriles; Photolysis; Pyridazines; Spiro Compounds

Flash vacuum thermolysis (FVT) of 9-azidophenanthrene 8, 6-(5-tetrazolyl)phenanthridine 18, and [1,2,3]triazolo[1,5-f]phenanthridine 19 yields 9-cyanofluorene 12 as the principal product and 4-cyanofluorene as a minor product. In all cases, when the product is condensed at or below 77 K, the seven-membered ring ketenimine 24 is detectable by IR spectroscopy (1932 cm(-1)) up to 200 K. Photolysis of Ar matrix isolated 8 at lambda = 308 or 313 nm generates at first the azirine 26, rapidly followed by the ylidic cumulene 27. The latter reverts to azirine 26 at lambda > 405 nm, and the azirine reverts to the ylidic cumulene at 313 nm. Nitrene 9 is observed by ESR spectroscopy following FVT of either azide 8, tetrazole 18, or triazole 19 with Ar matrix isolation of the products. Nitrene 9 and carbene 21 are observed by ESR spectroscopy in the Ar matrix photolyses of azide 8 and triazole 19, respectively.

Topics: Azirines; Electron Spin Resonance Spectroscopy; Ethylenes; Hot Temperature; Hydrocarbons; Imines; Ketones; Methane; Models, Molecular; Phenanthridines; Photolysis; Spectrophotometry; Thermodynamics