Closing the Cycle

摘要

Cyclic hydrocarbons that incorporate nitrogen in the ring are among the most heavily investigated compounds in medicinal chemistry. Hennessy and Betley (p. 591) demonstrate an iron catalyst that forms a range of such cyclic compounds by inducing linear alkyl azides to curl back on themselves, inserting the nitrogen at one end into a carbon-hydrogen bond further down the chain. The reaction furthers a trend of C-H bond activation chemistry that forms elaborate products from relatively simple precursors, without the need to install activating groups at unreactive sites.