Tetrahedron Organic Chemistry Series

Demonstrates the wide scope of cycloaddition reactions, including the Diels-Alder reaction, the ene reaction, 1,3-dipolar cycloadditions and [2+2] cycloadditions in organic synthesis. The author, a leading exponent of the subject, illustrates the ways in which they can be employed in the synthesis of a wide range of carbocyclic and heterocyclic compounds, including a variety of natural products of various types. Special attention is given to intramolecular reactions, which often provide a rapid and efficient route to polycyclic compounds, and to the stereochemistry of the reactions, including recent and developing work on enantioselective synthesis.

Although organotransition metal chemistry has been developing rapidly over the past 20 years, it is only recently that applications of transition metal complexes to organic synthesis have started to be exploited. This unique book provides an introduction to organometallic chemistry for chemists who have little or no experience in the field, describes the work that has already been done using organotransition metal complexes for synthesis, and indicates to organic and organometallic chemists the type of synthetic problems that can be solved using organometallic compounds. It covers all major advances that have been made in this rapidly expanding area of chemistry, including not only reactions that already have well established applications for synthesis but also many recently discovered potentially useful reactions, providing a survey of recent literature.

In recent years C-glycoside chemistry has been one of the main topics in carbohydrate chemistry, not only because of the synthetic challenges posed, but also because C-glycosides have the potential to serve as carbohydrate analogues resistant to metabolic processes. Consequently, this class of compounds is currently receiving much interest as a potential source of therapeutic agents for clinical use. This book provides a broad coverage of the various synthetic methods available for the preparation of C-glycosides, and illustrates the interesting breadth of connections between carbohydrate chemistry and modern general synthetic organic chemistry by including topics such as transition-metal catalysis, radical chemistry, cycloaddition and rearrangement processes. In addition, in the final chapter of the book, the syntheses of C-di and trisaccharides reported through 1994 are reviewed. This well organised account of the synthetic chemistry in this field will prove to be very valuable to a wide range of researchers and advanced students, both as an introduction to the topic and for reference.

The porphyrins are a class of naturally-occurring macrocycles and are ubiquitous in our world. As such, they have been called the Pigments of Life. This auspicious designation reflects their importance in numerous biological functions. Indeed, life as we understand it relies on the full range of biological processes that are either performed by or catalyzed by porphyrin-containing proteins. Chlorophyll-containing photosynthetic reaction centers in plants, for instance, convert light energy into chemical energy while producing oxygen along the way. It is this oxygen, evolved from photosynthesis, that is transported, stored, and reduced by heme-containing proteins in many organisms, including mammals. Not surprisingly, therefore, these molecules remain of fundamental interest to chemists and biochemists. Indeed, they continue to be intensely investigated by researchers world-wide. Inspired by the importance of the porphyrins, a new research direction has emerged in recent years that is devoted to the preparation and study of non-porphyrin polypyrrole macrocycles. Here, the principal objectives have been to generate completely synthetic systems that bear some structural resemblance to naturally-occurring porphyrin derivatives while being quite different in their specific chemical makeup. Within this context, three different research directions have evolved, namely those involving the syntheses of contracted, isomeric, and expanded porphyrins, respectively. It is the chemistry of these systems that is the subject of this book. Because of the newness of the field, the emphasis of this book will be on synthesis and characterization (all work on porphyrin isomers and much of that associated with expanded porphyrins has only appeared in the last 10 years). One chapter on applications has, however, been included. Also, in the context of the preparative portions of the text, some efforts have been made to explain why various porphyrin analogue targets are of interest.

The words "Combinatorial Chemistry" have different meanings to different people, ranging from split and mix strategies to parallel synthesis using robots, and embracing the whole range of preparative chemistry from organic molecules, to catalyst ligands, and even inorganic solids. All of these activities have in common an attempt to expand the diversity of structure available to the chemist as well as the access to this diversity, permitting the discovery of new and valuable biological acid material properties. In this outstanding survey of combinatorial organic chemistry, the authors, Obrecht who has established a new combinatorial chemistry company called Polyphor, and Villalgardo have brought together the literature, including that from 1998, and have concisely analysed the applications and achievements of this new field. This work will be of value to all chemists engaged in preparative work, both in industry and academe.

The whole field of ligand coupling has only emerged in the last decade as a basis for new synthetic transformations. As Professor Finet shows in this comprehensive survey, the recent clarification of reaction mechanisms of ligand coupling process around heteroatom centres, now provides an understanding of these reactions which are certain to permit their application in organic synthesis, thereby achieving transformations which are quite difficult to achieve by other methods. This book provides in a thorough and scholarly way, a balanced coverage of the whole field.