I desperately need this reaction I am running now to work (a reductive detriflation). It is the last step in a long linear sequence. There were way too many hits in the literature on similar transformations, so I dissolved my starting material in DMF and added 22 equivalents of triethylamine and 20 equivalents of formic [...]

A cascade, fifteen or so step, one-pot reaction yielding one freak heterocycle as the main product, with more sulfurs in it than … I dunno what.

Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 1997, 36, 281-283. (DOI: 10.1002/anie.199702811)

Listen to this. Hünig’s base acts as a reactant and electrophilic sulfurs play the main characters. I [...]

Frequent readers know I have voiced my concern about fluorinated organic compounds, especially those containing aliphatic fluorides, from time to time. New fluorination recipes pop up all of the time, and more and more pharmaceuticals contain one or several very stable C-F bonds, which may or may not spell trouble for future generations. In the [...]

Of all the widely accepted ones out there, according to you, which is it? I vote for the free radical scavenger they put in ethers to avoid peroxide disasters

BHT – Butylated HydroxyToulene

It is preposterous. Because:

1. ‘Butylated’ implies butyl groups were added to a core structure (synthetically), which is not the case

Here is a one-step transformation that I think few, perhaps not even Corey,* would come up with upon a traditional retrosynthetic analysis.

A and B are everyday organic reagents. The solvent is DCM and the temperature is around 0 °C. No metals, complexes or weird oxidation level crap. So – go ahead and name [...]

I have a new BFF. Meet this mother of an ate-complex:

Recipe inhere: J. Org. Chem. 2007, 72, 5113-5118. (DOI: 10.1021/jo070643y)
The structure looks scary, but its preparation is quite straightforward, actually.

My new friend was able to ortho-lithiate an ‘impossible’ starting material and allowed me to introduce an electophile in [...]

Help!

I have this stubborn starting material that is quite reluctant to react the way I need it to, under typical Sonogashira conditions with propargyl alcohol (PdCl2(PPh3)2, CuI, pyrrolidine, heat).

I am unfortunately not at liberty to disclose the exact structure, but what I can say is that the arylbromide is quite electron-rich (FGs [...]

Spring was in the air today. Serious tidying up was in place. Unlabeled samples were trashed. Flasks, bottles and retorts were subjected to all kinds of solvents, then dried under the sun. Cobwebs were torched. At the end of the day, I even arsed myself to install electric lighting.

Yes, I find it so much [...]

After unpacking today’s deliveries, one bottle stood out. The upside-down fish is creepy as hell. Also, I love the other GHS symbol that says ‘no GHS symbol’ – akin to the liar paradox – poetic almost.

So… what do you think this could be? Hint: It is not fentanyl, sarin, [...]

The plan is to resurrect here in a couple of weeks from now. Until then, I am crazy busy. See you on the other side.