In an exciting new collaboration with the Baran lab, we find that the combination of alkylsulfonyl hydrazides and nickel catalysis unlocks unprecedented breadth in C(sp²)–C(sp³) cross-coupling via (hetero)aryl C–H activation. The method enables rapid synthesis of valuable attached ring motifs from minimally functionalized starting materials. Through a combination of experimental and computational techniques, we pinned down a unique C–H activation mechanism, termed amine-assisted asynchronous metalation/deprotonation, where the amine base used for radical generation plays a second role in mediating C–H cleavage. Congrats to the team led by Shuanghu and David from the Baran lab and Yilin from our group!

For a link to the pre-print in ChemRxiv, click here: https://chemrxiv.org/engage/chemrxiv/article-details/67e0130e6dde43c908ed25da

In the lab’s newest pre-print, we teamed up with the lab of Prof. Peng Liu at the University of Pittsburgh, to break ground on a new research direction aimed at unlocking copper as a general catalyst for nucleometalation to π-bonds. We discovered that under the right circumstances copper(II) is a potent π-Lewis acid that enables addition of various acidic OH and NH nucleophiles to unactivated alkynes, enabling stereodivergent access to enol esters, enolts, and enamides. Congrats to the project team: Juntao, Letian, and Shenghua from Scripps; and Thomas and Mithun from the University of Pittsburgh.

For a link to the pre-print on ChemRxiv, click here: https://chemrxiv.org/engage/chemrxiv/article-details/67a98e806dde43c9083f094e

This week we are excited to welcome the newest member of the team, Dr. Masahiro Masuda, who joins Scripps Research from Shionogi & Co, Ltd., where he currently works as a medicinal chemist. Dr. Masuda previously earned his Ph.D. in the Department of Applied Biological Chemistry at the University of Tokyo, working in the area of natural products total synthesis with Prof. Hirosato Takikawa. Welcome to the team, Dr. Masuda!