The thesis entitled ‘Chemistry of molybdenum xanthate (MoO2[Et2NCS2]2): Applications in organic synthesis’ is presented in 4 chapters. Molybdenum (IV and VI) oxo-complexes are the subject of significant interest due to their functional and structural similarities with several molybdo-enzymes.1 Literature survey suggests that, molybdenum (VI as well as IV) xanthate2 1 resembles the active sites of various molybdo-enzymes. Therefore, in the present thesis, we are presenting our attempts directed towards exploiting molybdenum xanthate 1 in developing various useful methodologies. Figure 1: Molybdenum xanthate Chapter 1 discloses the utility of molybdenum xanthate (1) in catalytic, aerobic oxidation of organic azides and alcohols as presented in part A and B. Part A: A mild molybdenum xanthate catalyzed, chemoselective oxidation of benzylic azides to the corresponding aldehydes3 under aerobic condition is described. This oxidation turned out to be a general method and a variety of benzylic azides were oxidized to the corresponding aldehydes. This oxidation protocol tolerates a variety of functional groups including alcohols, esters, ketones, halides and olefins. More importantly, the oxidation of azides stops at corresponding aldehyde stage without further oxidation to the corresponding carboxylic acids. A few examples are presented in scheme 1. Part B: As our attempts to oxidize alcohols with molybdenum xanthate 1 were unsuccessful (Chapter 1, Part A), we have attempted supporting the reagent 1 and investigated its utility in the oxidation of alcohols. As a consequence, polyaniline supported molybdenum xanthate (MoO2[Et2NCS2]2) is designed and used in an aerobic and mild chemoselective oxidation of alcohols4 to the corresponding aldehydes and ketones. The scheme to use polyaniline as the support for molybdenum xanthate was derived from the fact that polyaniline is known to increase the redox activity of various metal complexes by coordinating to the metal centre.5 The present oxidation strategy tolerates a variety of functional groups such as olefin, ketones, sulfides, tertiary amines, propargyl group etc. This oxidation strategy also works very well for the oxidation of secondary benzylic alcohols. Interestingly, the supported catalyst can be filtered after the reaction and reused for further oxidation without loss of its activity. Some representative examples are presented in Scheme 2. Chapter 2 describes the chemoselective and efficient reduction of azides to the corresponding amines. In this chapter, we have shown that a catalytic amount of molybdenum xanthate (1, MoO2[S2CNEt2]2) with PhSiH3 is an effective catalyst for the reduction of azides to the corresponding amines.6 This reduction of azides by 1, was inspired by the reductive silylation of aldehydes through the activation of silanes.7 This reduction tolerates a variety of reducible functional groups such as olefin, aldehydes, ketones, esters, amides and ethers, acetals etc. This strategy was also extended to various aliphatic azides to synthesize amine and their N-Boc derivatives in good yields. Scheme 3 illustrates few examples. Chapter 3 discloses convenient methods for the synthesis of substituted thiourea derivatives as presented in part A and B. Part A: A convenient method for the synthesis of tri-substituted thiourea derivatives by the reaction of primary amines with molybdenum dialkyl dithiocarbamates is presented in Part A.8 Primary amines on reaction with molybdenum xanthate produce corresponding thioureas in moderate to good yields. Similar reactions with propargylamine and 2-aminoethanol produce cyclic thiaoxazolidine and oxazolidine derivatives respectively. This methodology has been successfully adopted for the synthesis of amino acids derived chiral thioureas. Some examples are presented in Scheme 4. Scheme 4: Molybdenum xanthate mediated synthesis of thioureas Part B: An efficient method for the synthesis of symmetrical and unsymmetrical substituted thiourea9 derivatives by simple condensation of amine and carbon disulfide in aqueous medium is extensively studied. Present method describes the involvement of amino dithiol moiety as an intermediate. Though this method is not successful with secondary amines and aryl amines, it works smoothly with aliphatic primary amines to afford various di- and tri-substituted thiourea derivatives. The present method is also useful in synthesizing various substituted 2-mercapto imidazole heterocycles in moderate yields. A few examples are seen in Scheme 5. Scheme 5: Synthesis of thiourea derivatives in aqueous medium Chapter 4 describes a chemoselective deprotection10 of terminal acetonides (isopropylidines) by using aqueous TBHP (70%). A variety of acetonide derivatives on reaction with aq. TBHP in water:t-BuOH (1:1) as solvent mixtures furnish the corresponding acetonide deprotected diol products in good yields. This unprecedented deprotection strategy, tolerates a variety of acid sensitive functional groups such as silyl ether, trityl, olefin, propargyl, methoxymethyl ether, N-Boc, lactones, esters etc. A few examples are documented in Scheme 6. Scheme 6: Chemoselective deprotection of acetonides (For structural formula pl see the pdf file)