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Updated: Sep 25, 2025

Efficient Synthesis of All-Carbon Quaternary Centers via the Conjugate Addition of Functionalized Monoorganozinc Bromides
Published on: May 26, 2019
Chemoenzymatic Hunsdiecker-Type Decarboxylative Bromination of Cinnamic Acids
Huanhuan Li1,2, Sabry H H Younes3,4, Shaohang Chen2
1School of Chemical Engineering and Technology, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an 710049, China.
Abstract:
In this contribution, we report chemoenzymatic bromodecarboxylation (Hunsdiecker-type) of α,ß-unsaturated carboxylic acids. The extraordinarily robust chloroperoxidase from Curvularia inaequalis (CiVCPO) generated hypobromite from H2O2 and bromide, which then spontaneously reacted with a broad range of unsaturated carboxylic acids and yielded the corresponding vinyl bromide products. Selectivity issues arising from the (here undesired) addition of water to the intermediate bromonium ion could be solved by reaction medium engineering. The vinyl bromides so obtained could be used as starting materials for a range of cross-coupling and pericyclic reactions.
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