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Alkyne–azide click reaction catalyzed by metallic copper under ultrasound

Abstract

This protocol is for the ultrasound (US)-assisted 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition reaction of azides and alkynes using metallic copper (Cu) as the catalyst. The azido group is a willing participant in this kind of organic reaction and its coupling with alkynes is substantially improved in the presence of Cu(I). This protocol does not require additional ligands and proceeds with excellent yields. The Cu-catalyzed azide–alkyne cycloaddition (CuAAC) is generally recognized as the most striking example of 'click chemistry'. Reactions involving metals represent the favorite domain of sonochemistry because US favors mechanical depassivation and enhances both mass transfer and electron transfer from the metal to the organic acceptor. The reaction rate increases still further when simultaneous US and microwave irradiation are applied. The US-assisted click synthesis has been applied for the preparation of a wide range of 1,4-disubstituted 1,2,3-triazole derivatives starting both from small molecules and oligomers such as cyclodextrins (CDs). Using this efficient and greener protocol, all the adducts can be synthesized in 2–4 h (including work-up and excluding characterization). Click chemistry has been shown to be able to directly link chemistry to biology, thus becoming a true interdisciplinary reaction with extremely wide applicability.

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Figure 1: Examples of copper-catalyzed azide–alkyne cycloaddition (CuAAC) with phenylacetylene under ultrasound (US) irradiation.
Figure 2: Ultrasound (US) reactor.
Figure 3: Septa for horn probe.
Figure 4
Figure 5: Complete assembling of high-intensity ultrasound (US) device (probe system with the titanium horn and the electronic generator) and a silicon oil bath on a heating plate.
Figure 6: Combined ultrasound (US)/microwave (MW) system.
Figure 7
Figure 8
Figure 9: The reaction in progress.
Figure 10: Note the complete reaction setup (horn, septa and internal temperature probe).

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the University of Turin and the Regione Piemonte (NanoSAFE—2004 and NanoIGT Project—2007).

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Contributions

All authors contributed extensively to the work presented in this paper. P.C. designed experiments and contributed to the preparation of the manuscript; A.B. and S.T. carried out all the analysis and the purifications giving the NMR attributions; L.B. carried out all the experiments optimizing the equipments set up; and G.C. supervised all the work and wrote the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Giancarlo Cravotto.

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Cintas, P., Barge, A., Tagliapietra, S. et al. Alkyne–azide click reaction catalyzed by metallic copper under ultrasound. Nat Protoc 5, 607–616 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/nprot.2010.1

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