M. A. Kinzhalov, M. V. Kashina, E. A. Mozheeva, A. S. Mikherdov, D. M. Ivanov, A. S. Novikov, A. S. Smirnov, M. A. Kryukova, A. Yu. Ivanov, S. N. Smirnov, V. Yu. Kukushkin, K. V. Luzyanin, Dramatically enhanced solubility of halide-containing organometallic species in diiodomethane: the role of solvent•••complex halogen bonding Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., 57 (2018), doi: 10.1002/anie.201807642

In the current study, we evaluated the solubility of a number of organometallic species and showed that it is noticeably improved in diiodomethane when compared to other haloalkane solvents. The better solvation properties of CH₂I₂ were associated with the substantially better σ‐hole‐donating ability of this solvent, which results in the formation of uniquely strong solvent–(metal complex) halogen bonding. The strength of the halogen bonding is attenuated by the introduction of additional halogen atoms in the organometallic species owing to the competitive formation of more favourable intermolecular complex–complex halogen bonding. The exceptional solvation properties of diiodomethane and its inertness towards organometallic species make this solvent a good candidate for NMR studies, in particular, for the acquisition of spectra of insensitive spins.

Zimin D.P., Dar’in D.V., Rassadin V.A., Kukushkin V. Yu. Gold-Catalyzed Hydrohydrazidation of Terminal Alkynes Org. Lett., 20 (16), pp 4880–4884, 2018, doi: 10.1021/acs.orglett.8b02019

Facile gold-catalyzed hydrohydrazidation of alkynes with various hydrazides R²CONHNH₂ (R = Alk or Ar; including those with an additional nucleophilic moiety) in the presence of Ph₃PAuNTf₂ (6 mol %) leading to a wide range of substituted keto-N-acylhydrazones (18 examples) in excellent to good yields (99–66%) is reported. This novel metal-catalyzed coupling proceeds under mild conditions (chlorobenzene, 60 °C), exhibits high functional group tolerance, and is insensitive to the electronic and steric effects of the substituents in the reactants.

Jack C. Gee, Beth A. Fuller, Hannah-Marie Lockett, Gita Sedghi, Craig M. Robertson, Konstantin V. Luzyanin Visible light accelerated hydrosilylation of alkynesusing platinum–[acyclic diaminocarbene] photocatalysts, Chem. Comm. 2018, 54, 9450–9453, doi: 10.1039/c8cc04287j

Abstract Platinum–[diaminocarbene] complexes work as transition-metal photocatalysts for the hydrosilylation of alkynes. A catalytic system operates under visible light irradiation (blue LED) enabling the conversion of a range of terminal and internal alkynes to respective vinyl silanes in excellent yields.

Alexandra V Smikhovskaia, Maxim S Panov, Ilya I Tumkin, Evgeniia M Khairullina, Sergey S Ermakov, Irina A Balova, Mikhail N Ryazantsev, Vladimir A Kochemirovsky  In situ laser-induced codeposition of copper and different metals for fabrication of microcomposite sensor-active materials, Analytica Chimica Acta, 2018, doi: 10.1016/j.aca.2018.07.042

We report one-step in situ laser-induced synthesis of the conductive copper microstructures doped with iron, zinc, nickel, and cobalt with highly developed surface area. It was observed that the presence of chlorides of the aforementioned metals in the solutions used in our experiments increases the deposition rate and the amount of copper in the resulting deposits; it also leads to the deposit miniaturization. The laser deposition from solutions containing cobalt (II) chloride of concentration more than 0.003 M results in fabrication of copper microelectrode with better electrochemical properties than those deposited from solutions containing chlorides of other metals of the same concentration...