Post by Synthesis & Catalysis

✨ Cracking the 2-Deoxy Conundrum: Chiral Silylium Catalysis Tames the Vorbrüggen Beast! (Asymmetric Catalysis) ✅ While traditional Vorbrüggen reactions leave unfunctionalized 2-deoxy sugars running wild with poor anomeric control, this paper introduces a metal-free, highly selective alternative using chiral imidodiphosphorimidate (IDPi) silylium Lewis acid catalysts to cleanly couple silylated N-heterocycles in a non-polar solvent mixture. ✅ From a medicinal chemistry and drug discovery standpoint, this method is an absolute game-changer, opening a highly stereoselective, direct synthetic gateway to premium C2-deoxynucleoside analogues (essential antiviral and anticancer weapons) while beautifully challenging classic ionic SN1 assumptions with a newly proposed covalent glycosyl–IDPi intermediate. 📅 Publication Date: 26th May, 2026 🔗 Paper Link: https://lnkd.in/dFT9yxU2 ✍️ Authors: Tanner L. McMinn, Caleb T. Kozuszek, Bradley A. Owen, Nick M. Legaux, William A. Hearne, Frank A. Leibfarth & Michel R. Gagné #OrganicChemistry#NucleosideSynthesis#AsymmetricCatalysis#VorbruggenReaction#MedicinalChemistry#JACS ACS Publications