Cyclobutanone Déjà vu
Didn't I just see that reaction? [rubs eyes]
From the laboratory of Prof. Nicolai Cramer (EPF Lausanne) comes some really neat examples of cyclobutanone C-C activation. Just mix with ~2 mol% of cationic Rh(I), and presto! Out comes a [3.1.2] bicyclo product reminiscent of several neuroactive natural products.
Oftentimes, a catalytic reaction will go gangbusters, but will stubbornly refuse all attempts at asymmetric induction. Apparently not so here - Cramer reports the asymmetric version in ACIEE about two weeks after the initial Organometallics report!
Honestly, I might never have noticed, except the TOC graphics for both are nearly identical: a comic pair of orange scissors "snipping" apart the cyclobutanone ring.
So, readers, what's your take? Can't wait to see this reaction applied to a challenging target? Or, a strange choice of synthetic "least publishable units" (LPUs)?
From the laboratory of Prof. Nicolai Cramer (EPF Lausanne) comes some really neat examples of cyclobutanone C-C activation. Just mix with ~2 mol% of cationic Rh(I), and presto! Out comes a [3.1.2] bicyclo product reminiscent of several neuroactive natural products.
Oftentimes, a catalytic reaction will go gangbusters, but will stubbornly refuse all attempts at asymmetric induction. Apparently not so here - Cramer reports the asymmetric version in ACIEE about two weeks after the initial Organometallics report!
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| Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2014, ASAP |
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| Organometallics 2014, ASAP |
So, readers, what's your take? Can't wait to see this reaction applied to a challenging target? Or, a strange choice of synthetic "least publishable units" (LPUs)?
