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Although α-keto carbocations have been demonstrated to be viable intermediates in solvolysis reactions, their applications in synthesis are scarce. These species can be considered to be equivalent to “reversed polarity” enolates and, as such, could be useful for the asymmetric formation of carbon-carbon and carbon-heteroatom bonds. In principle, facial selectivity in additions to α-keto carbocations may be induced using easily removed ester, amide, or imide chiral auxiliaries. Efforts to achieve such diastereoselective SN1 reactions of α-keto carbocations are described herein.

Although α-keto carbocations have been demonstrated to be viable intermediates in solvolysis reactions, their applications in synthesis are scarce. These species can be considered to be equivalent to “reversed polarity” enolates and, as such, could be useful for the asymmetric formation of carbon-carbon and carbon-heteroatom bonds. In principle, facial selectivity in additions to α-keto carbocations may be induced using easily removed ester, amide, or imide chiral auxiliaries. Efforts to achieve such diastereoselective SN1 reactions of α-keto carbocations are described herein.

Les nanoparticules métalliques (MNPs) ont un grand succès dans les dernières décennies dû à la variété d'applications dans différents domaines (microélectronique, matériaux, catalyse). Mis à part les solvants organiques, les liquides ioniques, l'eau, le CO2 supercritique et les polyols, en particulier le glycérol, ont démontré leur capacité à stabiliser et immobiliser les nanoparticules métalliques. Ces milieux évitent l'agglomération des MNPs et facilitent leur recyclage. Des nanoparticules de Pd(0) et Ni(0) dans le glycérol, sphériques, petites en taille et bien dispersées, ont été synthétisées avec succès à partir d'une méthodologie simple sous pression d'hydrogène, en présence de différents stabilisants (alkaloïdes, phosphine, polymer). La caractérisation complète de ces matériaux en solution et à l'état solide, ainsi que la possibilité de faire des synthèses à grande échelle et de stocker les solutions catalytiques longtemps, montrent la grande stabilité de ces solutions colloïdales. Les nanoparticules dans le glycérol ont été impliquées dans une large variété de transformations : hydrogénations, hydrodéhalogénations, couplages de Hiyama, additions conjuguées et hydrosilylations. De plus, nous avons étudié l'effet du stabilisant sur la réactivité catalytique, nous permettant de contrôler l'état de surface des nanoparticules et moduler ainsi leur réactivité. Nous avons montré, de même, la capacité du glycérol pour immobiliser les catalyseurs, ce qui s'est traduit par la possibilité de recycler la phase catalytique entre 4 et 10 fois sans perte de metal. En parallèle, nous avons évalué le comportement du Ni(OAc)2 libre de ligands dans le glycérol, en tant que catalyseur alternatif pour des couplages C-C et C-hétéroélément. Nous présentons aussi une étude en flux continu, en collaboration avec la Maison Européenne des Procédés Innovants (MEPI), pour l'hydrogénation de différents groupes fonctionnels, en utilisant les PdNPs dans le glycérol synthétisées préalablement. / Metal nanoparticles (MNPs) have been largely studied in the last decades due to their interesting properties which found applications in several fields (microelectronics, materials and catalysis, among others). In contrast to common organic solvents, ionic liquids, water, supercritical CO2, polyols such as glycerol, represent innovative solvents for the immobilization of MNPs, avoiding their agglomeration and facilitating their recycling. Small, spherical, and well-dispersed Pd(0) and Ni(0) nanoparticles were synthesized under hydrogen pressure in glycerol, in the presence of different kinds of stabilizers (cinchona-based alkaloids, phosphine, polymer). The high stability of these colloidal solutions permitted the full characterization both in solution and at solid state, large-scale synthesis, and stocking the solutions for months. These colloidal catalysts were applied in a large variety of transformations including hydrogenations, hydrodehalogenations, Hiyama C-C couplings, hydrosilylation reactions, and Michael conjugate additions. Furthermore, we conducted a comparative study exhibiting the differences in catalytic reactivity by effect of the stabilizer, allowing us tuning the surface-state of the nanoparticles. Moreover, we showed the ability of glycerol to immobilize metal nanoparticles permitting the recycle of the catalytic phase between 4 and 10 times, without metal leaching. Additionally, we studied the behavior of ligand-free Ni(OAc)2 in glycerol as an alternative catalyst for C-C and C-heteroatom couplings. Also, we developped a continuous flow study, in collaboration with the Maison Européenne des Procédés Innovants (MEPI), for the hydrogenation of different functional groups, using PdNPs in glycerol

The thesis entitled “Copper-Catalyzed Novel Oxidative Transformations: Construction of Carbon-Hetero Bonds” is divided into two main sections. Section A deals with the utility of azide as a nitrogen source for C-N bond formation, which is further divided into 4 chapters, and section B presents decarboxylative radical coupling reaction for C-heteroatom bond formation which is further divided in to two chapters. Section A Chapter 1 describes an approach for the direct synthesis of nitrile from the corresponding alcohols using azide as a nitrogen source. Nitrile functionality is a versatile and ubiquitous which occurs in a variety of natural products. Nitrile functionality can be easily transformed into a variety of functional groups and products such as aldehydes, ketones, acids, amines, amides and nitrogen-containing heterocycles, such as tetrazoles and oxazoles. In this chapter a successful attempt for developing a novel methodology to oxidize benzylic and cinnamyl alcohols to their corresponding nitriles in excellent yields has been described. This strategy uses DDQ as an oxidant and TMSN3 as a source of nitrogen in the presence of a catalytic amount of Cu(ClO4)2·6H2O. A few representative examples are highlighted in Scheme 1.1 Scheme 1. Oxidative conversion of alcohols to nitriles Second chapter represents a protocol for the synthesis of 1,5-disubstituted tetrazoles from the corresponding secondary alcohols. Among heterocyles, tetrazole and its derivatives are important class of nitrogen containing molecules. Due to their well-known biological activities as well as vast applications in pharmaceuticals and material science, they are potential targets for synthetic organic chemists. Therefore, a simple and user-friendly method for the synthesis of tetrazole is desirable. In this chapter, a mild and convenient method to synthesize 1,5-disubstituted tetrazoles using easily accessible secondary alcohols by employing TMSN3 as a nitrogen source is developed. This reaction is performed in the presence of a catalytic amount of Cu(ClO4)2·6H2O using DDQ as an oxidant under ambient conditions (Scheme 2).2 Scheme 2. Oxidative conversion of secondary alcohols to tetrazoles Third chapter presents a method for synthesizing amides from their corresponding secondary alcohols. Amide functionality is a crucial backbone in peptide chemistry, it also serve as an important precursor or intermediate for variety of organic transformations. In this contention, a mild and convenient method to synthesize amides using easily accessible secondary alcohols by employing TMSN3 as a nitrogen source is developed. This reaction is performed in the presence of a catalytic amount of Cu(ClO4)2·6H2O using DDQ as an oxidant under ambient conditions (Scheme 3).3 Scheme 3. Oxidative conversion of secondary alcohols to amides Additionally, the application of this methodology has also been revealed for the synthesis azides directly from their alcohols. Some of the representative examples are shown in the Scheme 4.3 Scheme 4. Direct conversion of alcohols to their azides. Fourth chapter describes highly chemoselective Schmidt reaction. The classical Schmidt reaction involves the formation of new carbon-nitrogen bonds in a reaction of a carbon-centred electrophile with hydrazoic acid followed by loss of nitrogen, which usually occurs via a rearrangement. It is well known that under the Schmidt reaction conditions, ketones and carboxylic acids are converted into their corresponding amides and amines respectively, whereas aldehydes furnish a mixture of formanilides and nitriles. In this chapter, Schmidt reaction of aldehydes to obtain their nitriles without formation of the corresponding formanilide is presented (Scheme 5).4 It was also observed that aromatic ketones and acids functionalities were intact under the reaction condition, unlike the conventional Schmidt reaction. Scheme 5. Highly chemoselective Schmidt reaction Section B It is divided into two chapters, describes a copper catalyzed decarboxylative radical coupling for the synthesis of vinyl sulfones and nitroolefins (Scheme 6). Scheme 6. General strategy for the second part First chapter narrates a strategy for synthesizing nitroolefins from the α,β-unsaturated carboxylic acids. Nitroolefins represent a unique class of nitro compounds, which have multifaceted utility in organic synthesis. They possess antibacterial, rodent-repelling, and antitumor activities. They serve as important intermediates in organic synthesis. Nitroolefins also react with a variety of nucleophiles, and their electron-deficient character renders them as a powerful dienophiles in Diels-Alder reactions. In our attempt to use the decarboxylative strategy, this chapter describes a method for the nitrodecarboxylation of substituted cinnamic acid derivatives to their corresponding nitroolefins. This nitrodecarboxylation reaction is performed using catalytic amount of CuCl in the presence of air using TBN as a nitrating source (Scheme 7).5 Besides, the reaction provides a useful method for the synthesis of β,β-disubstituted nitroolefin derivatives which are generally difficult to access from other conventional methods. Scheme 7. Decarboxylative nitration Second chapter presents a new protocol for the synthesis of vinyl sulfones from the α,β-unsaturated carboxylic acid. Vinyl sulfones are versatile building blocks, which find their utility as Michael acceptors and used in cycloaddition reactions. This functional group has also been shown to potently inhibit a variety of enzymatic processes, and thus provides unique properties for drug design and medicinal chemistry. Vinyl sulfones are prominent in medicinal chemistry owing to their wide presence in pharmaceutically active molecules, such as enzyme inhibitors and biological activity. In this chapter, we report a method for the construction of C-S bonds via ligand promoted decarboxylative radical sulfonylation of ,-unsaturated carboxylic acids to synthesize vinyl sulfones using Cu catalysis (Scheme 8).6 This is the first report for this particular conversion. Scheme 8. Decarboxylative sulfonation

Les ligands multidentes montrent généralement de très bonnes activités dans la catalyse organométallique au palladium à faibles charges. Parmi ces ligands, l'utilisation des ligands polyphosphines ferrocéniques mènent à des résultats intéressants. Des systèmes catalytiques palladium/triphosphine ferrocénique robustes ont permis d'obtenir d'une part des diarylamines et d'autre part des éthers d'aryle et d'hétéroaryle avec de faibles charges catalytiques. Des calculs théoriques de DFT sur le cycle catalytique lors de la formation d'éthers d'aryle et d'hétéroaryle ont été réalisés. La présence d’un troisième groupement phosphino permettrait de stabiliser les états de transition et accélèrerait l’élimination réductrice. Les triarylamines ont pu être obtenues à l'aide d'une diphosphine ferrocénique avec une charge de 2 mol% de palladium. Des résultats modérés à excellents ont été obtenus. Enfin, les thioéthers d'aryle et d'hétéroaryle ont été obtenus avec d'excellents résultats à l'aide d'une tétraphosphine ferrocénique en présence de 0,2 mol% de palladium / Multidentate ligands usually show great activities in low loading organometallic catalysis in palladium. Among these ligands, the use of ferrocenyl polyphosphane ligands give interesting results. Robust palladium-ferrocenyl triphosphane catalytic systems have permitted to obtain biarylamines and aryl-heteroaryl ethers in the presence of low catalytic loadings. DFT studies on catalytic cycle during formation of aryl-heteroaryl ethers were carried out. The presence of third phosphino group stabilizes a transition state which enhances the rate of the reductive elimination. Triarylamines were obtained with ferrocenyl diphosphane in the presence of 2 mol% of palladium loading. Moderate to excellent results were obtained. Finally, aryl-heteroaryl sulfides were obtained with excellent results with ferrocenyl tetraphosphane ligand in the presence of 0.2 mol% of palladium.

D. Tech. (Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Applied and Computer Sciences), Vaal University of Technology. / In this study, few layer graphene (Gr) and heteroatom graphene (HGr) were synthesized by chemical vapour deposition (CVD) method. Acetylene gas was used as carbon source for the synthesis of graphene, while a mixture of nitrobenzene and dichloromethane (ratio 1:1) were used as both carbon and dopant sources for the synthesis of the heteroatom graphene (HGr). A mixture of argon and nitrogen gases were carefully combined and used as carrier gasses and purge for both the synthesis of graphene and the synthesis of heteroatom graphene. X-ray diffraction (XRD) characterized showed that the as synthesized materials were crystalline materials, Raman spectroscopy indicated that the synthesized materials consist of sp2 hybridized carbon atoms, while scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM) results showed that the synthesized materials possess regions of 2 to 7 nm of thickness. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) characterization also showed that the synthesized heteroatom graphene possesses about 5 to 7 layers with about 2 nm thickness, and x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) result showed the presence of nitrogen, oxygen and chlorine in the lattice of the synthesized heteroatom graphene while the synthesized material still retained about 80% sp2 hybridization. The synthesized materials were used in the fabrication of modified bioelectrodes for electrobiocatalytic biosensing of glucose and hydroquinone. The fabricated bioelectrodes were characterized by cyclic voltammetry (CV) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). The CV characterization showed a diffusion-controlled electrode processes in al modified electrodes, while the EIS characterization showed the presence of both diffusion controlled and kinetic controlled impedance at the electrode-electrolyte interface. The fabricated GC/PEDOT-PSS/HGr/Lac modified bioelectrode exhibited a kinetic controlled impedance of 3150 Ω, while the fabricated GC/PEDOT-PSS/Gr/Lac modified bioelectrode exhibited a kinetic controlled impedance of 4138 Ω. Chronoamperometric experiments showed that the fabricated bioelectrodes exhibited swift electrobiocatalytic activity towards glucose and hydroquinone sensing respectively for graphene and heteroatom graphene. The graphene modified bioelectrode exhibited a linear response of 0.2 to 9.8 mM glucose concentration and a sensitivity of 87.0 μA/mM/cm2, while the heteroatom modified bioelectrode also exhibited a swift response to step by step addition of hydroquinone with a limit of detection of 2.07 μM and dynamic range of 2.07μM to 2.97 mM, thus indicating the tremendous potential of the materials in a wide range of electrobiocatalytic and bioelectronics applications.

This thesis is focused on the unexplored field of organometallic copper(III) chemistry. Arylcopper(III) complexes have been proposed as key intermediates in Ullmann condensation reactions that consist in the coupling of aryl halides and heteroatom nucleophiles catalyzed by copper. The study of the reactivity of well-defined arylcopper(III) complexes may provide a better understanding of the mechanism of Ullmann condensation reactions, which is still under intense debate. In this doctoral dissertation we study the feasibility of well-defined arylcopper(III) complexes, which are stabilized within macrocyclic ligands, to participate in C-heteroatom bond forming reactions. We develop copper-catalyzed C-N and C-O bond forming reactions, as well halide exchange reactions, including fluorinations, based on Cu(I)/Cu(III) catalytic cycle within model aryl halide substrates. We uncover the fundamental understanding of the two-electron redox steps, oxidative addition and reductive elimination, at copper. / Aquesta tesi es centra en el camp de la química organometàl•lica del coure(III) que roman sense explorar. Els complexos arilcoure(III) s'han proposat com a intermedis clau en les reaccions de condensació Ullmann que consisteixen en l'acoblament d'halurs d'arils i nucleòfils basats en heteroàtoms catalitzades amb coure. L'estudi de la reactivitat de complexos arilcoure(III) ben definits pot proporcionar una millor comprensió del mecanisme de les reaccions de condensació Ullmann, el qual es troba sota un intens debat. En aquesta tesi doctoral s'estudia la viabilitat del complexos arilcoure(III), estabilitzats en lligands macrocíclics, de participar en reaccions de formació d'enllaç carboni-heteroàtom. S'han desenvolupat reaccions de formació d'enllaç C-N i C-O així com reaccions d'intercanvi d'halurs, on s'inclouen fluoracions, catalitzades amb coure i basades en un cicle catalític Cu(I)/Cu(III) utilitzant substrats models d'halur d'aril. S'ha obtingut una comprensió fonamental de les etapes redox a dos electrons, addició oxidant i eliminació reductiva, en coure.