（4月3日）Molecular Assembly Line: Palladium-, Iron-, and Iodine-Catalyzed Cascade Synthesis of Carbo- and Heterocycles

报告时间：2026年4月03日下午3:00-6:00

报告地点：福州大学嘉锡楼413会议室

报 告 人：Prof. Yu CHEN（教授、美国纽约城市大学）

主持人：叶克印 教授

组织单位：有机化学研究所

联系人：叶克印

联系方式：22866161

报告摘要:

The pursuit of efficient and sustainable synthetic methodologies is a central goal in modern organic chemistry, with far-reaching implications for the development of advanced functional materials, pharmaceuticals, and biologically active compounds. This presentation introduces a unified 'Molecular Assembly Line' strategy, leveraging the unique capabilities of three distinct catalytic systems—palladium, iron, and iodine—to autonomously construct complex molecular architectures from simple precursors.

We begin with our work on palladium-catalyzed auto-tandem catalysis, where a single Pd catalyst acts as a precision molecular robot to execute multi-step sequences in one pot, efficiently building valuable scaffolds such as isoxazoles, 2-azafluorenones, and cyclooctatetraenes. Expanding this paradigm, we demonstrate the power of earth-abundant iron catalysis to drive reductive ring-opening and subsequent cascade cyclizations, transforming isoxazoles into β-enaminones and further to polysubstituted furan and pyrrole cores. Finally, we showcase a one-pot iodine-catalyzed cascade, proceeding via a single-electron-transfer mechanism, to access dihydrooxazole derivatives. This 'Molecular Assembly Line' establishes a platform of automated, one-pot technologies for the rapid discovery of new functional materials, pharmaceutical candidates, and bioactive molecules.

Reference:

1. Guo, J.; Ma, J.; Hersh, W. H.; Chang, W.; Chen. Y. “An Auto-Tandem Palladium Catalysis Strategy for Unsymmetrical Cyclooctatetraenes: Modular Synthesis and Mechanistic Elucidation”, submitted.

2. Yang, W.; Liu, X.; Leung, P.-H.; Li, Y.; Yang, D.; Chen, Y. “Iron-Mediated Ring-Opening and Rearrangement Cascade Synthesis of Polysubstituted Pyrroles from 4-Alkenylisoxazoles”, Adv. Synth. Catal. 2020, 362, 1868-1876.

3. Liu, X.; Hong, D.; Sapir, N. G.; Yang, W.; Hersh, W. H.; Leung, P.-H.; Yang, D.; Chen, Y. “Iron-Catalyzed Transfer Hydrogenation in Aged N-Methyl-2-pyrrolidone: Reductive Ring-Opening of 3,5-Disubstituted Isoxazoles and Isoxazolines”, J. Org. Chem. 2019, 84, 16204-16213.

4. Yang, W.; Chen, Y.; Yao, Y.; Lin, Q.; Yang, D. “Iron-Promoted Reductive Ring-Opening and Isomerization Reactions of C4-Alkynylisoxazoles Leading to 2-Alkynylenaminones and Polysubstituted Furans”, Adv. Synth. Catal. 2019, 361, 5634-5642.

5. Das, S.; Hong, D.; Chen, Z.; She, Z.; Hersh, W. H.; Subramaniam, G.; Chen, Y. “Auto-Tandem Palladium Catalysis: From Isoxazole to 2-Azafluorenone”, Org. Lett., 2015, 17, 5578-5581.

报告人简介：

Yu CHEN 教授2004年博士毕业于多伦多大学理学博士，师从Andrei K. Yudin教授。2007年–2009年在美国爱荷华州立大学化学系从事博士后研究（合作导师：Richard C. Larock教授），2009年加入纽约城市大学皇后学院任助理教授，2024年8月在纽约城市大学皇后学院任副教授，2024年9月至今在纽约城市大学皇后学院任教授，担任化学与生物化学系主任。陈教授长期从事高效可持续的有机合成方法研究，为新型功能材料、药物候选物及生物活性分子的快速发现提供了系统性方案。