Reactivity of arynes                                     Problem set
Synthesis Workshop
1. Propose and explain a plausible mechanism for the following transformation reported by Glorius and co-workers.
   (ACIE 2010, 49, 9761–9764). [★]
                                                         NHC (15 mol%)
              O                                                                                  O
                           TMS                          KOtBu (15 mol%)
                  H    +                                                                                                            N   ClO4–
      R                     TfO                           KF (2.0 equiv.)               R
                                                                                                                                S
                                                     [18]crown-6 (2.0 equiv.)
                           (1.1 equiv.)
                                                          THF, 25 ºC, 4 h
                                                                                                                               NHC
2. In 2020, Wei and co-coworkers reported the following Pd-catalyzed transformation (Org. Lett. 2020, 22, 7470-7474).
   Identifying the product and propose a plausible mechanism. [★★]
                                                                                 Pd(OAc)2 (10 mol%)
                                                                                   CuO (2.0 equiv.)
                                    O                   TMS                       CsOAc (1.0 equiv.)
                                        R’
                                     S
                                       NH        +
                           R                               TfO                    CsF (4.0 equiv.)
                                                        (2.0 equiv.)          1-AdCO2H (1.0 equiv.)
                                                                             1,4-dioxane, 110 ºC, 24 h
3. Identifying the product and propose a plausible mechanism for the following transformation reported by Biju and co-
   workers (Chem. Commun. 2019, 55, 3004-3007). [★★]
                                                                                        KF (3.0 equiv.)
                                        N                   TMS                    [18]crown-6 (3.0 equiv.)
                                                       +                 R
                  MeO2C                     CO2tBu           TfO                   THF, -10 ºC to RT, 17 h
                                                              (1.5 equiv.)
4. Propose the structure of the product formed in this transformation reported by Sing and co-workers (J. Org. Chem. 2022,
   87, 7219-7228). Justify your answer with a plausible mechanism. [★★★]
                           Ar                          TMS                        CsF (4.0 equiv.)
                                    O
                                            OEt +
                                N                       TfO              MeCN under N2, 70 ºC, 3 h
                                                       (3.0 equiv.)
5. In 2022, Arun and co-workers reported the following transformation (J. Org. Chem. 2021, 23, 6372-6376). Identifying
   the missing starting materials and propose a plausible mechanism. [★★]
                                                                                                       Ca(NTf2)2 (2 mol%)               R
                                                 MeO               OMe
                                                                                 TMS                    CsF (3.0 equiv.)
                   +                         +                               +                                                                Ar
                                                                                  TfO                  MeCN, RT, 7-12 h                 N
                                                             OMe                                                                         R’
                       (1.05 equiv.)                                                                   then 1% HCl aq.
                                                     (1.05 equiv.)               (1.5 equiv.)
                                                                                                     Created by Francisco José Aguilar Troyano, Ph.D.