Recent advances in synthetic approaches for bioactive cinnamic acid derivatives

• Betty A. Kustiana,
• Galuh Widiyarti and
• Teni Ernawati

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 1031–1086, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.85

• Cinnamic acid derivatives represent a significant class of biologically active compounds exhibiting a broad spectrum of activities, such as antifungal, antidengue, antimetastatic, antimicrobial, antibacterial, and anticancer properties. Their preparation has attracted considerable attention due to their

• versatile applications across the pharmaceutical, food, and chemical sectors. This review elucidates the functional groups of cinnamic acid that are instrumental in the rational design of biologically active derivatives. A comprehensive representative of recent advancements in synthetic methodologies over

• the past five years is presented, particularly emphasizing the active scaffolds of bioactive cinnamic acid derivatives. The review provides a strategic overview of alternative synthetic routes and highlights the latest innovations, including more efficient, highly selective, and environmentally

Biobased carbon dots as photoreductants – an investigation by using triarylsulfonium salts

• Valentina Benazzi,
• Arianna Bini,
• Ilaria Bertuol,
• Mariangela Novello,
• Federica Baldi,
• Matteo Hoch,
• Alvise Perosa and
• Stefano Protti

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 1024–1030, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.84

• different organic sources as photoreductants. Such carbon nanomaterials were synthesized by two different approaches, either hydrothermal or pyrolytic, from citric acid and glucose as the starting organic substrates. On the other hand, carbon dots deriving from fishery waste (bass scales) and fruit

• efficiency of the resulting CDs. In this context, citric acid-derived materials (both graphitic and amorphous) were found as the most promising materials, while less satisfactory results have been observed when using CDs derived from glucose and biowastes. Keywords: agricultural waste; carbon dots (CDs

• have been considered as a promising source of aryl radicals and employed in organic synthesis [20][21][22][23][26][27][28][29][30][31][32]. This investigation aims to compare the performance of CDs prepared from several carbon precursors including citric acid, glucose, and organic waste materials via

Recent total synthesis of natural products leveraging a strategy of enamide cyclization

• Chun-Yu Mi,
• Jia-Yuan Zhai and
• Xiao-Ming Zhang

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 999–1009, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.81

• quaternary center in a single step. As depicted in Scheme 1, key enamide 1 was prepared from (R)-pulegone in 6 steps. In the presence of the weak acid H3PO4, protonation of 1 generates a stabilized iminium ion 2, which then undergoes a 6-exo-trig cyclization to deliver 4 after hydration of cation 3. Notably

On the photoluminescence in triarylmethyl-centered mono-, di-, and multiradicals

• Daniel Straub,
• Markus Gross,
• Mona E. Arnold,
• Julia Zolg and
• Alexander J. C. Kuehne

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 964–998, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.80

• to be altered sufficiently to evoke a noticeable improvement of the ϕ [48]. This also holds true for mono-para-substitution with boronic acid derivatives, yielding λem = 580 nm and ϕ of 1–3% (in dichloromethane) [49]. Substituting one or two of the 2,4,6-trichlorinated rings in TTM with 2,4,6

Studies on the syntheses of β-carboline alkaloids brevicarine and brevicolline

• Benedek Batizi,
• Patrik Pollák,
• András Dancsó,
• Péter Keglevich,
• Gyula Simig,
• Balázs Volk and
• Mátyás Milen

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 955–963, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.79

• 21 under extremely harsh conditions (100 °C, 130 bar), followed by N-acetylation gave a mixture of diastereomeric racemates 22, which was cyclized to a diastereomeric mixture of β-carboline derivatives 23. Heating of 23 in pivalic acid in the presence of a catalytic amount of trifluoroacetic acid

• -monomethylation of the primary amino group of compound 25 by alkylation with methyl iodide or by Eschweiler–Clarke reductive amination with formaldehyde and formic acid were unsuccessful, because the dimethylated byproduct was also formed, even when one equivalent alkylating agent was used. Finally, our efforts

• worth mentioning that in a similar reaction of 30 with NaCNBH3 in acetic acid (instead of TFA) we did not observe any reaction, however, with NaBH4 (instead of NaCNBH3) in TFA, the formation of 32 was detected. Conclusion In conclusion, a new method for the synthesis of β-carboline alkaloid brevicarine

Harnessing tethered nitreniums for diastereoselective amino-sulfonoxylation of alkenes

• Shyam Sathyamoorthi,
• Appasaheb K. Nirpal,
• Dnyaneshwar A. Gorve and
• Steven P. Kelley

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 947–954, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.78

• disulfonoxylation [2] and alkene amino-trifluoroacetoxylation [4], we hypothesized that treatment of (E)-hex-3-en-1-yl methoxycarbamate with a mixture of an I(III) oxidant and a sulfonic acid would lead to the formation of amino-sulfonoxylated product. We were thus very pleased to observe 59% of desired product B

• using a combination of 1 equivalent of commercially available 1-acetoxy-1,2-benziodoxol-3-(1H)-one (CAS [1829-26-1]) and 1 equivalent of methanesulfonic acid (MsOH) (Table 1, entry 1). Increasing the equivalents of both reagents to 1.5 completely consumed starting material and delivered product B in an

• other sulfonoxylated products, we found that stirring substrate with a combination of 1-acetoxy-1,2-benziodoxol-3-(1H)-one and the appropriate sulfonic acid worked best. Here, we hypothesize that rapid exchange of the acetate for the sulfonate occurred at the I(III) nucleus, and this unstable sulfonoxy

A convergent synthetic approach to the tetracyclic core framework of khayanolide-type limonoids

• Zhiyang Zhang,
• Jialei Hu,
• Hanfeng Ding,
• Li Zhang and
• Peirong Rao

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 926–934, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.75

• Nazarov cyclization under a variety of conditions (Table 1). Initial trials under acid-mediated Nazarov conditions (AlCl3, BF3·Et2O and Me2AlCl) led to complete decomposition, while the exposure to AcOH resulted in recovery of the starting material (Table 1, entries 1–4). Recognizing the limitations of

Silver(I) triflate-catalyzed post-Ugi synthesis of pyrazolodiazepines

• Muhammad Hasan,
• Anatoly A. Peshkov,
• Syed Anis Ali Shah,
• Andrey Belyaev,
• Chang-Keun Lim,
• Shunyi Wang and
• Vsevolod A. Peshkov

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 915–925, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.74

• [20][21][22][23]. For example, the Ugi four-component reaction (U4CR), involving a carbonyl compound, a primary amine, a carboxylic acid, and an isocyanide, provides a straightforward method for constructing dipeptide-like adducts [24][25][26][27]. These adducts can subsequently be rigidified into

• involving the Ugi reaction between arylglyoxals 1, benzylamines 2, o-azidobenzoic acid (3), and cyclohexyl isocyanide (4a), followed by a triphenylphosphine-promoted tandem Staudinger/aza-Wittig cyclization (Scheme 1a) [33]. The overall strategy was enabled by the presence of an azide group in the

• carboxylic acid component 3 and additional keto-carbonyl group in aryl glyoxal 1. This approach was further advanced by Ding's group to produce a broader range of benzodiazepines with diverse substitution patterns by shuffling the necessary functional groups within the Ugi reaction components [34][35][36

Recent advances in controllable/divergent synthesis

• Jilei Cao,
• Leiyang Bai and
• Xuefeng Jiang

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 890–914, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.73

• -29. This intermediate undergoes reductive elimination via an inner-sphere mechanism to generate the C(sp3)–N-coupled chiral product 22. Notably, benzoic acid acts as a critical additive, likely by stabilizing key intermediates and modulating the steric/electronic environment for enhanced

• influence of steric and electronic effects during the hydrometallation process, simultaneously achieving the synthesis of chiral α-quaternary carbon amino acid derivatives 26 and α-chiral β-amino acid derivatives 27. Using a copper catalyst, the chiral α-quaternary carbon amino acid derivatives 26 were

• obtained with exclusive regioselectivity and excellent enantioselectivity. Employing a nickel catalyst, α-chiral β-amino acid derivatives 27 were synthesized with single regioselectivity and outstanding enantioselectivity. In the same year, Rong and co-workers reported a highly efficient catalyst

Cu–Bpin-mediated dimerization of 4,4-dichloro-2-butenoic acid derivatives enables the synthesis of densely functionalized cyclopropanes

• Patricia Gómez-Roibás,
• Andrea Chaves-Pouso and
• Martín Fañanás-Mastral

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 877–883, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.71

• Patricia Gomez-Roibas Andrea Chaves-Pouso Martin Fananas-Mastral Centro Singular de Investigación en Química Biolóxica e Materiais Moleculares (CiQUS), Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, 15782 Santiago de Compostela, Spain 10.3762/bjoc.21.71 Abstract 4,4-Dichloro-2-butenoic acid derivatives

• versatile building blocks for the stereoselective synthesis of chlorocyclopropanes. Keywords: chlorocyclopropanes; copper; cyclization; 4,4-dichloro-2-butenoic acid derivatives; dimerization; Introduction In the last years our group has been focused on the development of catalytic methodologies for the

• mechanism for the copper-catalyzed diastereoselective dimerization of 4,4-dichoro-2-butenoic acid derivatives (Scheme 4). Initially, the LCu–pin complex generated through reaction between LCu–Ot-Bu and B2pin2 undergoes coordination and regioselective insertion into 1 giving rise to β-borylated organocopper

Light-enabled intramolecular [2 + 2] cycloaddition via photoactivation of simple alkenylboronic esters

• Lewis McGhie,
• Hannah M. Kortman,
• Jenna Rumpf,
• Peter H. Seeberger and
• John J. Molloy

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 854–863, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.69

• cyclobutyldiol. A) Product derivatization and B) transition-metal EnT catalysis. Reaction conditions A): 4d (1 equiv), H2O2 (30 wt % in H2O), aq NaH2PO4, THF, 0 °C; B) 4 (1 equiv), KF (4 equiv), ʟ-tartaric acid (2.1 equiv), MeOH, MeCN, H2O, rt. Probing EnT catalysis of alkenylboronic ester 1a via alkene

Chitosan-supported CuI-catalyzed cascade reaction of 2-halobenzoic acids and amidines for the synthesis of quinazolinones

• Xuhong Zhao,
• Weishuang Li,
• Mengli Yang,
• Bojie Li,
• Yaoyao Zhang,
• Lizhen Huang and
• Lei Zhu

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 839–844, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.67

• -iodobenzoic acid (1a, 0.5 mmol, 1.0 equiv) and acetamidine hydrochloride (2a, 0.75 mmol, 1.5 equiv) as model substrates, Na2CO3 (1.25 mmol, 2.5 equiv) as a base, and chitosan-supported copper (5.0 mol %) as the catalyst under an argon atmosphere (Table 1). First, various solvents were investigated. When

• obtained (Table 1, entry 19). With the optimized conditions in hand, we explored the substrate scope of the CS@CuI-catalyzed cascade reactions of 2-halobenzoic acids (including 2-iodobenzoic acid and 2-bromobenzoic acid) with amidines (Scheme 2). Initially, when the amidine substituent (R2) is a methyl

• group, we investigated the reactions with various substituted 2-halobenzoic acids. The reactivity of 2-iodobenzoic acid derivatives (3a–d, 90−96% yields) was higher than that of 2-bromobenzoic acid derivatives (3a–d, 57−73% yields), the electronic properties of the substituents on the benzene ring had

Synthesis and photoinduced switching properties of C₇-heteroatom containing push–pull norbornadiene derivatives

• Daniel Krappmann and
• Andreas Hirsch

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 807–816, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.64

• a subsequent Suzuki cross-coupling reaction with (4-(diphenylamino)phenyl)boronic acid was performed. The reaction conditions were adapted from prior experiments with C-NBD1 [40] and further refined for the heterocyclic analogues. Optimal results were achieved using K2CO3, Pd(OAc)2 and RuPhos with

• the corresponding boronic acid in a degassed toluene/H2O mixture (4:1, v/v) which was heated to 80 °C for 18 h (for detailed information see Supporting Information File 1). Using the described procedure, the oxygen containing derivatives O-NBD2 and nitrogen substituted N-NBD2 were successfully

• , various light-, heat-, and acid-induced rearrangements have been reported [35], complicating the distinct structural determination of these compounds. In comparison to published NMR and UV–vis data, formation of neither known species can be assumed with certainty. Last, through addition of mono-carboxylic

Recent advances in the electrochemical synthesis of organophosphorus compounds

• Babak Kaboudin,
• Milad Behroozi,
• Sepideh Sadighi and
• Fatemeh Asgharzadeh

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 770–797, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.61

• a mononuclear palladacycle pathway, where a high electrolysis potential facilitates the formation of the ortho-phosphonate product with a favorable yield. On the other hand, when acid was used, forming a tetranuclear palladium intermediate led to the creation of a C−O−P bond. This reaction was

New advances in asymmetric organocatalysis II

• Radovan Šebesta

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 766–769, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.60

• describes the enantioselective Michael addition of pyrazoline-5-ones to α,β-unsaturated ketones. The enantioselectivity and chemical efficiency of this transformation were achieved with a cinchona-alkaloid-derived primary-amine–Brønsted acid composite [22]. A good demonstration of how organocatalysis

Development and mechanistic studies of calcium–BINOL phosphate-catalyzed hydrocyanation of hydrazones

• Carola Tortora,
• Christian A. Fischer,
• Sascha Kohlbauer,
• Alexandru Zamfir,
• Gerd M. Ballmann,
• Jürgen Pahl,
• Sjoerd Harder and
• Svetlana B. Tsogoeva

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 755–765, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.59

• studies by the groups of Akiyama and Terada in 2004 [14][15], many excellent results have been achieved by applying BINOL-derived phosphoric acids, which can act as proton donor and acceptor [16][17][18][19], possessing both Brønsted acid and Lewis base character [20]. Substantial effort has been invested

• applications of calcium complexes with axially chiral BINOL phosphate ligands have been reported in recent years [28][32][33][34][35][36][37][38], as well as complexes with other chiral phosphoric acid ligands [39]. Since then, other main group metal complexes with BINOL phosphate ligands have been discovered

• hydrocyanation of hydrazone 1 towards product 2 (Table 1) using an achiral model calcium-based catalyst (4, Figure 1) with monodentate biphenyl phosphate ligands. This model catalyst 4, derived from the literature-known phosphoric acid BIPO4-H 3 [51], was synthesized by reacting 3 with Ca(OiPr)2 under inert

Copper-catalyzed domino cyclization of anilines and cyclobutanone oxime: a scalable and versatile route to spirotetrahydroquinoline derivatives

• Qingqing Jiang,
• Xinyi Lei,
• Pan Gao and
• Yu Yuan

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 749–754, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.58

• remains a formidable challenge, primarily due to the inherent ring strain and the difficulties associated with achieving high diastereoselectivity during cyclization [4]. Recently, Chen and co-workers developed a chiral phosphoric acid (CPA)-catalyzed multicomponent reaction of anilines, aldehydes, and

Orthogonal photoswitching of heterobivalent azobenzene glycoclusters: the effect of glycoligand orientation in bacterial adhesion

• Leon M. Friedrich and
• Thisbe K. Lindhorst

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 736–748, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.57

• potency as inhibitors of Man-specific bacterial adhesion investigated. Results and Discussion Synthesis For the preparation of the homobivalent glycocluster 6αMan3αMan 2, the known mannosyl thioacetate 7 [31] was prepared from the trichloroacetimidate 6 [32] and thioacetic acid in an α-selective reaction

Acyclic cucurbit[n]uril bearing alkyl sulfate ionic groups

• Christian Akakpo,
• Peter Y. Zavalij and
• Lyle Isaacs

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 717–726, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.55

• temperature overnight. Afterwards, the mixture was centrifuged (4400 rpm, 10 min) to pellet excess insoluble C1. An aliquot of the supernatant and a solution of dimethyl malonic acid as a non-binding internal standard of known concentration were transferred to an NMR tube followed by collection of a 1H NMR

• spectrum using a delay time between pulses of 20 seconds to ensure accurate integration. The inherent aqueous solubility of C1 was determined to be 3.97 mM by comparison of the integrals for Ha of C1 with that of the CH3-resonance for dimethyl malonic acid (Figure S5 in Supporting Information File 1

Origami with small molecules: exploiting the C–F bond as a conformational tool

• Patrick Ryan,
• Ramsha Iftikhar and
• Luke Hunter

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 680–716, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.54

• compared to the non-fluorinated stearic acid 12 (Figure 3) [26]. If two fluorines are introduced into the middle of an alkyl chain in a 1,2-pattern, several competing factors arise that can influence the molecular conformation [27]. One factor is hyperconjugation: conformations in which the σ*C–F orbitals

• (III, Figure 11) [149]. These effects have been exploited to control the conformations of simple bioactive amines such as γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA, 86, Figure 11) [150][151][152][153][154][155]. GABA is a neurotransmitter that binds to a variety of different GABA receptors, and information about the

• protonated amine. These conformational changes alter the DNA-binding mode, such that the pyrrolidine NH groups of 95 now interact with the DNA phosphates rather than the bases or the sugars [164]. Progressing now to a six-membered ring system, consider the scaffold, pipecolic acid (96, Figure 11) [165][166

Asymmetric synthesis of fluorinated derivatives of aromatic and γ-branched amino acids via a chiral Ni(II) complex

• Maurizio Iannuzzi,
• Thomas Hohmann,
• Michael Dyrks,
• Kilian Haoues,
• Katarzyna Salamon-Krokosz and
• Beate Koksch

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 659–669, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.52

• diastereomerically pure γ‑branched fluorinated amino acids. This work further underlines the importance of chiral Ni(II) complexes in the synthesis of fluorinated amino acids. Keywords: chiral nickel complexes; fluorinated amino acids; gram-scale amino acid synthesis; stereoselective synthesis; Introduction Non

• -natural amino acids are pivotal in protein engineering and drug development. Over 30% of approved small‑molecule drugs today contain non‑canonical amino acid building blocks [1][2]. In peptide and protein engineering, non‑natural amino acids significantly increase the respective range of tools used to

• hectogram range, is a major strength of this method. In this context, Han et al. could show that the trifluorinated variant of α-aminobutyric acid, trifluoroethylglycine (TfeGly), can be synthesized on a 100 g scale with great enantiomeric purity [8]. The critical step here is the alkylation of the Ni(II

Recent advances in allylation of chiral secondary alkylcopper species

• Minjae Kim,
• Gwanggyun Kim,
• Doyoon Kim,
• Jun Hee Lee and
• Seung Hwan Cho

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 639–658, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.51

• field was achieved in 2016 by Yun and co-workers, who developed a copper-catalyzed regio- and enantioselective hydroallylation of vinylboronic acid pinacol esters (Bpin) and 1,8-diaminonaphthalene boramides (Bdan) 33 (Scheme 12) [53]. Subsequently, Hoveyda and co-workers introduced a complementary

Entry to 2-aminoprolines via electrochemical decarboxylative amidation of N‑acetylamino malonic acid monoesters

• Olesja Koleda,
• Janis Sadauskis,
• Darja Antonenko,
• Edvards Janis Treijs,
• Raivis Davis Steberis and
• Edgars Suna

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 630–638, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.50

• 10.3762/bjoc.21.50 Abstract The electrochemical synthesis of 2-aminoprolines based on anodic decarboxylation–intramolecular amidation of readily available N-acetylamino malonic acid monoesters is reported. The decarboxylative amidation under Hofer–Moest reaction conditions proceeds in an undivided cell

• -disubstituted piperidine-containing amino acid subunits. Likewise, a cyano-substituted cyclic aminal is a core structural unit of the fibroblast activation protein inhibitor 5 [3] (Figure 1). The widespread use of non-proteinogenic cyclic amino acids in drug discovery justifies both the design of new analogs

• and the development of efficient synthetic methods to access these medicinally relevant structural motifs. Herein, we report an electrochemical synthesis of 2-aminoproline and 2-aminopipecolic acid derivatives 6 (Figure 1). Recently, we disclosed an electrochemical approach to tetrahydrofuran and

Photocatalyzed elaboration of antibody-based bioconjugates

• Marine Le Stum,
• Eugénie Romero and
• Gary A. Molander

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 616–629, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.49

• different molecules, such as a drug and a targeting moiety. This technique has been shown to be useful in applications such as cell labeling, protein–protein interactions, and photoradiosynthesis of bioconjugates, but the most important challenge remains the lack of specificity to target one amino acid, and

• structures [38][39]. In 2021, Bottecchia and Noël reported the utility of photoredox catalysis for the functionalization of amino acid side chains, paving the way for tailored modifications in biotherapeutics [40]. More recently, Sato et al. have reviewed photochemical strategies enabled by a range of

• selectivity and the preservation of sensitive biological structures when appropriate redox potentials of photocatalysts are applied to the targeted amino acid. Additional advantages of photoinduced reactions include the ability to perform the reactions rapidly (typically <15 minutes). It was only in the late

Total synthesis of (±)-simonsol C using dearomatization as key reaction under acidic conditions

• Xiao-Yang Bi,
• Xiao-Shuai Yang,
• Shan-Shan Chen,
• Jia-Jun Sui,
• Zhao-Nan Cai,
• Yong-Ming Chuan and
• Hong-Bo Qin

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 601–606, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.47

• dearomatization offers considerable versatility. Not only can it be employed under basic dearomatization conditions, but it is also effective under Lewis acid conditions. Combined with a reductive elimination using Zn/AcOH, the benzofuran skeleton can be easily synthesized. This dual applicability of the new

• 14 was performed next and the desired iodide was isolated and, to our delight, the cleavage of the MOM group occurred concomitantly, affording compound 15 in 75% yield. This reaction is likely triggered by the in situ-generated acid. As in our previously reported synthesis, a Zn/AcOH reductive