Synthesis of Unsymmetric Ureas by Selenium-Catalyzed Oxidative-Reductive Carbonylation with CO

Unsymmetric, substituted ureas that contain the peptide bond (NHCONH), many of which possess biological activities, are widely used as herbicides, agrochemicals and pharmaceuticals. [1,2] A series of unsymmetric ureascontaining substituted groups have been synthesized via selenium-catalyzed selective oxidative-reductive carbonylation of amines and nitro compounds with CO instead of phosgene in one-pot reaction. [3,4] These catalytic reactions are important from both synthetic and industrial points of view, because not only the reactions can be proceeded with high selectivity of higher than 99% towards desired unsymmetric ureas, but also there exists a phase-transfer process of the selenium catalyst in thereaction, so that the after-treatment of the catalysts and products from the reaction systems can be easily separated by simple phase separation.……