Enantioselective intramolecular propargylic amination using chiral copper-pybox complexes as catalysts

The concept of prochirality leads to the nomenclature of the individual faces of a molecule and plays a crucial role in the enantioselective reaction. It is a concept where two or more achiral molecules react to produce chiral products. A typical process is the reaction of an achiral ketone to generate a chiral alcohol. Here, the achiral reactant reacts with an achiral reducing agent, sodium borohydride, to generate an equimolar mixture of the chiral enantiomers of the product. For example, an...

If a set of reactants can yield multiple constitutional isomers, but one of the isomers is obtained as the major product, the reaction is said to be regioselective. In such reactions, bond formation or breaking is favored at one reaction site over others.
The hydrohalogenation of an unsymmetrical alkene can yield two haloalkane products, depending on which vinylic carbon takes up the halogen. However, one product usually predominates, where hydrogen adds to the vinylic carbon bearing the...

The Hofmann and Curtius rearrangement reactions can be applied to synthesize primary amines from carboxylic acid derivatives such as amides and acyl azides. In the Hofmann rearrangement, a primary amide undergoes deprotonation in the presence of a base, followed by halogenation to generate an N-haloamide. A second proton abstraction produces a stabilized anionic species, which rearranges to an isocyanate intermediate via an alkyl group migration from the carbonyl carbon to the neighboring...

The rate of acid-catalyzed hydration of alkenes depends on the alkene's structure, as the presence of alkyl substituents at the double bond can significantly influence the rate.

Direct alkylation of ammonia produces polyalkylated amines, along with a quaternary ammonium salt. To exclusively prepare primary amines, the azide synthesis method can be used.
Azide ions act as good nucleophiles and react with unhindered alkyl halides to form alkyl azides. Alkyl azides do not participate in further nucleophilic substitution reactions, thereby eliminating the chances of polyalkylated products. Alkyl azides are reduced by hydride-based reducing agents, like lithium aluminum...

In the presence of organic peroxides, the addition of hydrogen bromide to an alkene yields the isomer that is not predicted by Markovnikov’s rule. For example, the addition of hydrogen bromide to 2-methylpropene in the presence of peroxides gives 1-bromo-2-methylpropane. This addition reaction proceeds via a free radical mechanism, which reverses the regioselectivity. The free radical reaction mechanism involves three stages: initiation, propagation, and termination.