Alkyl halides, including heteroarylmethyl and arylmethyl halides, bromoacetate, and cinnamyl bromide, are readily prepared via halogenation from basic raw materials, even using green processes. It is essential to replace their downstream products with them to prepare medicinally important heterocycles quinazolin-4(3H)-ones. Copper(I) bromide catalyzed domino reaction of alkyl halides and anthranilamides under air affords 2-substituted quinazolin-4(3H)-ones in good to excellent yields and with wide functional group tolerance. A mechanism for a copper(I) bromide involved organometal-catalyzed reaction via a four-step domino reaction is proposed.
A new and convenient copper-catalyzed synthesis of alkyl sulfides has been accomplished using S-alkyl butanethioate as a thiol source. This catalytic protocol displayed a good functional groups tolerance and high efficiency. Both secondary and primary alkyl iodides can be used in this procedure. In addition, this method features operational simplicity and a wide substrate range, providing a complementary method for alkyl sulfide synthesis without requiring toxic thiols and noble metals.
Ideal rechargeable lithium battery electrolytes should promote the Faradaic reaction near the electrode surface while mitigating undesired side reactions. Yet, conventional electrolytes usually show sluggish kinetics and severe degradation due to their high desolvation energy and poor compatibility. Here we propose an electrolyte design strategy that overcomes the limitations associated with Li salt dissociation in non-coordinating solvents to enable fast, stable Li chemistries. The non-coordinating solvents are activated through favourable hydrogen bond interactions, specifically F δ− –H δ+ or H δ+ –O δ− , when blended with fluorinated benzenes or halide alkane compounds. These intermolecular interactions enable a dynamic Li + –solvent coordination process, thereby promoting the fast Li + reaction kinetics and suppressing electrode side reactions. Utilizing this molecular-docking electrolyte design strategy, we have developed 25 electrolytes that demonstrate high Li plating/stripping Coulombic efficiencies and promising capacity retentions in both full cells and pouch cells. This work supports the use of the molecular-docking solvation mechanism for designing electrolytes with fast Li + kinetics for high-voltage Li batteries.