Phew! Other than the weather it has been a hot month here at Chemical Science. Here’s the monthly round up of the articles our referees thought were particularly exciting:
A couple of catalysts for coupling
Stephen Buchwald and colleagues report their studies on the use of two catalyst systems that provide the widest scope for palladium-catalysed C–N cross-coupling reactions to date. What were these systems? Find out in their Edge Article.
Frustrated about global warming?
Nitrous oxide is three times more potent a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide and can hang around for over 150 years in the stratosphere. So Douglas Stephan and colleagues have been investigating how frustrated Lewis pairs interact with nitrous oxide with a view to converting the gas into a less environmentally harmful species. Read what they discovered in their Edge Article.
Additions to the molecular toolbox
The interaction of a sulfamate ester-derived metallonitrene with an allene generates a versatile intermediate with 2-amidoallylcation-like reactivity. In their Edge Article, Armin Stoll and Simon Blakey outline reactivity patterns for this novel dipolar species, demonstrating both [3 + 2] reactions with benzaldehyde, and unusual [3 + 3] annulation reactions with a variety of nitrones.
Economical extensions
The hydroxymethylation reaction is one of the most powerful and atom-economical one-carbon extension methods. Now Xiaoming Feng and colleagues have managed to hydroxymethylate unprotected oxindoles, which they say could provide practical and broadly applicable access to chiral linchpins bearing oxindoles. Find out how they did it in their Edge Article.
Mechanistic insights
Intermediates in gold(I)-catalysed cyclizations of enynes are not simple carbocations, say Antonio Echavarren and colleagues. They’ve investigated the mechanism of the gold-catalysed cyclopropanation of alkenes with 1,6-enynes, showing that it is stereospecific and mechanistically related to the Simmons-Smith reaction. Read all their insights in their Edge Article.
Let us know what you think of these articles by commenting below. And if you have your own hot research, submit it to Chemical Science today.
