2025-07-25
Recently, the research team led by Professor Jiang Zhiyong from HNU has published a research paper entitled “Triplet Energy Transfer-Based Deracemization of Axially Chiral Alkenes Enabled by a Dual Catalyst System” in the international chemical journal Journal of the American Chemical Society. The postdoctoral researcher Zeng Guangkuo is the first author, young teacher Dr. Yin Yanli and Professor Jiang Zhiyong are the corresponding authors, and Henan Normal University is the first author’s affiliated institution.
Photochemical deracemization, as an efficient strategy that requires no additional stoichiometric reagents and features 100% atom economy, has been widely recognized in asymmetric synthesis. Mechanisms such as energy transfer (EnT), single electron transfer (SET), hydrogen atom transfer (HAT),and ligand-to-metal charge transfer (LMCT) have been successfully applied in this field. However, the energy transfer mechanism relies on chiral photocatalysts, and the current types of chiral photocatalysts are relatively scarce, which greatly limits the scope of applicable substrates. Addressing this challenge, the team employed a dual catalyst system combining photocatalyst 4CzIPN with chiral phosphoric acid (CPA), successfully synthesizing various valuable axially chiral N-heteroaryl cycloalkanes with high yields and excellent enantioselectivity. The substrate scope is remarkably broad, accommodating different N-heteroaryl-substituted cyclohexane, cyclopentane, and cyclobutane derivatives. More importantly, this method enables precise construction of various heterocycles and all-carbon quaternary stereocenters, providing an efficient and direct route for synthesizing enantioenriched pharmaceutically relevant molecules. Notably, this method can directly and efficiently construct various bioactive molecular scaffolds, including mGlu5 receptor antagonists, meeting the synthetic precision requirements of drug development and fully demonstrating the scientific value and application potential of this research.
Paper Link: https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.5c10123
(Jiang Tao and Wang Manman from School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering)
