Research news, Oct. 11th, 2014
Recent development on the synthetic methods of guanidines via transition metal catalysis
Wen-Xiong Zhang,* Ling Xu and Zhenfeng Xi
Chem. Commun. 2014, DOI: 10.1039/C4CC05291A (Feature Article).
Multi-substituted guanidines have received much attention because of their important applications in many fields, such as pharmaceutics, organometallic and coordination chemistry, and organic synthesis. Although classical methods are available for the preparation of guanidines, the synthetic approaches to guanidines is still in great demand. In this review, we summarize recent development on the synthetic methods of guanidines via C–N bond formation. Three aspects are included: i) transition-metal-catalyzed guanidine synthesis based on classical methods; ii) catalytic guanylation reaction of amines with carbodiimides; and iii) tandem catalytic guanylation/cyclization reactions.