Researchers Develop Iron-Catalyzed Route to Cyclopropanols from Three Carbon Sources

Researchers at Scripps Research have developed a new iron-catalyzed method for synthesizing cyclopropanols, valuable structures used in organic synthesis and medicinal chemistry. Reported in Chemical & Engineering News, the approach offers a new way to construct these three-membered carbon rings by combining three different carbon sources.

The method, developed by a research team led by Ryan Shenvi, uses iron catalysis to generate a key silyl enol ether intermediate. This intermediate can then undergo further reaction to form cyclopropanols, allowing the three carbon atoms of the ring to originate from separate components. This modular strategy could provide synthetic chemists with greater flexibility when designing complex molecules.

A notable feature of the reaction is its ability to produce cyclopropanols with controlled stereochemistry, including cis-configured products that can be challenging to access through conventional approaches. The researchers also demonstrated that the reaction intermediates can be transformed into other useful molecular structures, including acyclic ketones and macrocycles.

The study highlights the potential of iron catalysis as a practical tool for developing new synthetic pathways. The researchers plan to further investigate the macrocyclization chemistry and its potential applications in natural-product synthesis and other areas of complex-molecule construction.

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