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Updated: Sep 20, 2025

A Microwave-Assisted Direct Heteroarylation of Ketones Using Transition Metal Catalysis
Published on: February 16, 2020
Synthesis of Enantiopure Unnatural Amino Acids by Metallaphotoredox Catalysis
Tomer M Faraggi1, Caroline Rouget-Virbel1, Juan A Rincón2
1Merck Center for Catalysis at Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey 08544, United States.
Abstract:
We describe herein a two-step process for the conversion of serine to a wide array of optically pure unnatural amino acids. This method utilizes a photocatalytic cross-electrophile coupling between a bromoalkyl intermediate and a diverse set of aryl halides to produce artificial analogues of phenylalanine, tryptophan, and histidine. The reaction is tolerant of a broad range of functionalities and can be leveraged toward the scalable synthesis of valuable pharmaceutical scaffolds via flow technology.
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