Synthetic chemistry progress

Although many carbonyl derivatives act as acyl cation equivalents, R(C=0)" in synthetic chemistry, the inherent polarity of the carbonyl group makes it much more difficult to find compounds that will act as equivalents of acyl anions, R(C=0) . Since the 1960s, major progress has been made in this area, and there are now a wide variety of compound types that can react in this way. As in so many areas of organic chemistry, heterocyclic compounds take pride of place and form the basis of many of the most useful methods. In recent years there has been particular interest in developing chiral acyl anion equivalents that will show high... 

Self-assembly and nanotechnology are advancing rapidly, but the challenge still remains to develop a means of fabrication and manufacturing. The rapid developments in synthetic chemistry produce myriad new polymeric and composite materials. These advances are enhanced by progress in optical, micromechanical, and spectroscopic probes. The miniaturization and diversification of synthesis through biological or combinatorial approaches provide unprecedented... 

The chemistry of 1,3,4-thiadiazole and its derivatives has been previously covered in both CHEC(1984) <1984CHEC(6)545> and CHEC-II(1996) <1996CHEC-II(4)379>. A major review which covers the synthetic chemistry of the ring system up to 2002 has also appeared <2004HOU(13)349>. Since 1991 advances in the chemistry of 1,3,4-thiadiazole have been annually reviewed in Progress in Heterocyclic Chemistry <1991PHC149>. 

Taken as a whole, the collection should serve as a reasonable representation of how the field is progressing and evolving and should serve as a model for gauging the current trends. It is hoped that the book can inspire the younger researchers who are still trying to find their niche and can be a useful source for students who are in the process of deciding whether or not to enter into this area. There is no doubt in my mind that much remains to be learned and that electrophilic chemistry and electron-deficient reactive intermediates will continue to play a pivotal role in structural/mechanistic and synthetic chemistry, both in the traditional sense and as applied to interdisciplinary areas. 

Obviously, we owe much to the pioneers of this area and it is a testimony of the importance of their work to find cross-coupling affecting so many areas of chemistry. Much progress has been made in the last decade, and at the look of things much will emerge in the very near future to solidify the crucial importance of metal-mediated cross-coupling in modern synthetic chemistry. 

TTomogeneous catalysis has made considerable progress in the past decade. Even so there is still uncertainty as to the detailed mechanism of many catalytic reactions. This is particularly true of Pd (II) catalysis. The advances in organic synthesis by Pd (II) catalytic chemistry have been impressive a recent review (I) of two volumes had few references before 1963. However the advances have mainly been in synthetic chemistry, and relatively little effort has been expended on studies of mechanism in this chemistry. To fill this gap we have undertaken a systematic study of the basic mechanisms of Pd (II) catalysis. Some choice of the many catalytic reactions available for study had to be made. For several reasons the reactions chosen for initial study were olefin oxidation and exchange reactions of vinylic and allylic esters and chlorides. Work has concentrated on the PdCl2-NaCl or LiCl systems in... 

This review does not attempt an exhaustive survey of the progress in the synthetic chemistry of dendrimers. A number of reviews have already been dedicated to this rapidly expanding subject [18-30]. 

In recent years much progress has been made in elucidating the roles of monosaccharides in chemical biology and biomedicine. The impact of monosaccharides within biological and medicinal applications has been further extended by using synthetic chemistry to prepare... 

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