In recent years, the chemistry of allenes has attracted the attention of many chemists giving rise to numerous studies due to the presence of a cumulated diene in the structure of the compound. Therefore, these allenes have allowed to prepare a variety of compounds of chemical and biological interest.

On the other hand, 3-iodo-1,3-dienes are interesting species in organic chemistry because of its wide reactivity. They can undergo Diels-Alder cycloaddition, palladium-catalyzed cross-coupling reactions such as Stille, Negishi, Sonogashira and carbonylation, as well as solvolysis and metallation reactions.

We wish to report herein a new protocol that allows to obtain 3-iodo-1,3-dienes through a sustainable process starting from α-allenols. In this new synthetic route, zinc (II) derivatives are used as metallic promoter which are low cost and are also non-polluting species for the environment.

Heterocyclic aldehydes show a variety of optical properties and the versatility of their reactivity allows them to yield a wide range of more complex compounds, with application in areas such as medicinal, materials and supramolecular chemistry. The biological and environmental relevance of certain molecules and ions turns them into targets for the design of molecular recognition systems. Recently, heterocyclic aldehydes have been reported in the literature as ion chemosensors.

Following the group’s work on optical chemosensors, for the detection and quantification of ions and molecules with environmental and medicinal relevance, this work reports the synthesis and characterization of two heterocyclic aldehydes based on the thieno[3,2-b]thiophene core, by Suzuki coupling, as well as the synthesis of the corresponding precursors. Preliminary chemosensory studies for the synthesized heterocyclic aldehydes in the presence of selected cations were also performed, in solution, in order to determine their potential application as optical chemosensors.

Worldwide, fungi pathogens considered to be a lead cause of loss for vegetable crop production. Although, several strategies have been used to manage soil borne fungal diseases, however, higher percentage of the loss of crop production is that caused by fungal pathogens especially in Oman. Management of Pythium-induced diseases of cucumber has relied on the use of imported fungicides, biological control and cultural practices. Mefenoxam and hymexazol are two common fungicides for the management of Pythium-induced diseases in Oman. Despite their use in different farms, mefenoxam suffers from rapid biodegradation in soil while resistance has been reported among Pythium species to hymexazol. Thus, in this work we proposed a methodology of preparing a series of 2-carbamate benzimidazole derivatives of potential antifungal activity and use it against the fungal pathogens that cause the most loss of vegetables crop production in Oman.

Benzimidazole scaffolds have been widely used in medicinal chemistry and drug development due to their numerous medical and biological activities. Methyl benzimidazole-2-yl-carbamate (MBC) in particular is a well-known building block found in many fungicidal drugs in agriculture field.

Seventeen benzimidazole derivatives were synthesized in multistep reactions with acceptable yields. Structures of all newly synthesized compounds were identified and characterized using 1H-NMR, IR, HRMS, and melting point. Final compounds were tested on five soil-borne pathogens. Results of bioassays showed some compounds significantly affected the growth of Pythium aphanidermatum, a serious pathogen of vegetable crops worldwide. At least one class of these derivatives was the most efficacious, which resulted in 96% growth inhibition in Pythium at 100 mg L-1.

A series of seven fluorinated benzyl carbamates of 4-aminosalicylanilides and unsubstituted benzyl [3-hydroxy-4-(phenylcarbamoyl)phenyl]carbamate designed as agents with the expected anticholinesterase and anti-inflammatory activity were prepared and characterized. As lipophilicity significantly influences the biological activity of compounds, the hydro-lipophilic properties of these mono-, di- and tri-substituted carbamates were investigated in the study. All the discussed derivatives 4-{[(benzyloxy)carbonyl]amino}-2-hydroxybenzoic acid were analysed using the reversed-phase high performance liquid chromatography method to measure lipophilicity. The procedure was performed under isocratic conditions with methanol as an organic modifier in the mobile phase using an end-capped non-polar C₁₈ stationary reversed-phase column. In the present study, the correlations between the logarithm of the capacity factor k, logarithm of the distributive parameter D at pH 7.4 and log P/Clog P values calculated in various ways as well as the relationships between the lipophilicity and the chemical structure of the studied compounds are discussed.

The hydrazone functional group has been extensively studied and used in fields as diverse as organic chemistry, materials and biomedical sciences. In this work, the hydrazonation of acetophenones and benzaldehydes under CeCl3-assistance was evaluated. The transformations entailed the use of the respective hydrazines (H2N-NH2.HCl, Me2N-NH2 or Ph2N-NH2.HCl) and CeCl3.7H2O (2-5 mol%). The use of different solvents in a model reaction between 3,4-dimethoxybenzaldehyde and N,N-dimethylhydrazine was studied.