Current Organic Synthesis, Volume 1, No. 2, 2004
Contents
Transition Metals-Mediated Reformatsky Reactions Pp.111-135
F.
Orsini and G. Sello
Recent Advances in Solvent-free Oxidation of Alcohols Pp.137-154
Fernando
Sineriz, Christine Thomassigny and Ji-Dong Lou
Syntheses and Transformations of
1-(α-Aminobenzyl)-2-Naphthol Derivatives Pp.155-165
Istvan
Szatmari and Ferenc Fulop
Chemistry of Natural Retinoids and Carotenoids:
Challenges for the Future
Pp.167-209
Alain
R. Valla, Dominique L. Cartier and Roger Labia
Abstracts
[Back to top] Transition Metals-Mediated Reformatsky Reactions
F. Orsini and G. Sello
The reaction of a-haloesters and carbonyl compounds in the presence of metallic zinc to give b-hydroxy esters represents a powerful synthetic tool for carbon-carbon bond formation. Since its discovery by Reformatsky, this reaction has been undergoing several improvements and its scope and selectivity have been considerably extended. To this purpose many parameters, such as metal activation, reaction temperature, solvent, properly designed reactants and substrates have been investigated. Furthermore, reactions are not restricted to the use of zinc, but include a variety of other metals or metal derivatives. Among them, transition metals may offer important advantages in terms of milder conditions, higher reproducibility and stereoselectivity.
[Back to top] Recent Advances in Solvent-free Oxidation of Alcohols
Fernando
Sineriz, Christine Thomassigny and Ji-Dong Lou
Recent advance of solvent-free oxidation of alcohols to the corresponding carbonyl compounds is reviewed. The usefulness of different kinds of oxidizing reagents for this transformation, mainly concentrated on chromium- and manganese-based compounds, is discussed.
[Back to top] Syntheses and Transformations of
1-(α-Aminobenzyl)-2-Naphthol Derivatives
Istvan
Szatmari and Ferenc Fulop
The syntheses and transformations of 1-(a-aminobenzyl)-2-naphthol (Betti base) derivatives are reviewed. Special attention is paid to the applications of enantiopure Betti base derivatives as chiral ligands in asymmetric transformations.
[Back to top] Chemistry of Natural Retinoids and Carotenoids: Challenges
for the Future
Alain
R. Valla, Dominique L. Cartier and Roger Labia
Natural retinoids, especially retinol, are present in all living organisms and are known as fundamental mediators for many biological processes. Recently, protective effects of carotenoids against severe diseases have encouraged exhaustive chemical and biochemical researches. The emphasis for the past twenty years has been the stereoselective syntheses of economically important retinoids and carotenoids, such as retinol, retinal, RAs, b-carotene, astaxanthin, lycopene etc.
This review covers the major developments of synthetic chemistry on natural retinoids and carotenoids from 1990 to the present.