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

• via a proton transfer promoted by diisopropylethylamine. In 2023, the Jiang research group achieved a chemically divergent photocatalytic asymmetric synthesis using a dual catalytic system consisting of a chiral phosphoric acid and dicyanopyrazine (DPZ) as the photosensitizer (Scheme 20) [49]. By

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

• enantioselectivity achieved with the calcium catalyst remains modest, mainly due to competing pathways for the Z- and E-hydrazone isomers leading to opposite enantiomers. The experimental results confirm these computational proposals. Keywords: asymmetric synthesis; calcium–BINOL phosphate catalysis; hydrocyanation

• through calcium catalysis [8][9][10]. Asymmetric synthesis has also been achieved via, e.g., 1,4-addition and [3 + 2] cycloaddition of 3-tetrasubstituted oxindoles with a calcium Pybox catalyst [11][12], or through enantioselective Friedel–Crafts and carbonyl–ene reactions [13]. Since the pioneering

• in elucidating the mechanism by which these bifunctional compounds act as powerful catalysts [21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29]. Since Ishihara disclosed the crucial role of calcium in many purportedly purely organocatalytic BINOL phosphate-catalyzed reactions [30][31], several asymmetric synthesis

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

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

• into a powerful and versatile tool in asymmetric synthesis, capable of employing a wide array of organometallic reagents that furnish the desired compounds with high efficiency and selectivity. The regioselective asymmetric construction of stereogenic carbon centers from prochiral allylic substrates

• will be crucial for advancing the field of asymmetric synthesis. Representative transition-metal catalysis for allylic substitution. Formation of stereogenic centers in copper-catalyzed allylic alkylation reactions. Copper-mediated, stereospecific SN2-selective allylic substitution through retentive

Asymmetric synthesis of β-amino cyanoesters with contiguous tetrasubstituted carbon centers by halogen-bonding catalysis with chiral halonium salt

• Yasushi Yoshida,
• Maho Aono,
• Takashi Mino and
• Masami Sakamoto

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 547–555, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.43

• , which formed the corresponding products in high to excellent enantioselectivities. In this paper, the asymmetric synthesis of β-amino cyanoesters with contiguous tetrasubstituted carbon stereogenic centers by the Mannich reaction through chiral halonium salt catalysis is presented, which provided the

Recent advances in organocatalytic atroposelective reactions

• Henrich Szabados and
• Radovan Šebesta

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 55–121, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.6

• stereoselectivity (96% ee, >95:5 dr). No racemization was observed after 36 hours at 150 °C in o-xylene. The asymmetric synthesis of arylindolylindolinones 139 or 141 bearing both central and axial chirality was accomplished by a combination of arylindoles 137 or 140 and indolinones 138 with CPA (R)-C22 acting as

Non-covalent organocatalyzed enantioselective cyclization reactions of α,β-unsaturated imines

• Sergio Torres-Oya and
• Mercedes Zurro

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 3221–3255, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.268

• Brønsted acid catalysis has been widely studied in asymmetric synthesis [38][39]. While the asymmetric transformations of 2-azadienes have been more intensively investigated, enantioselective derivatizations of 1-azadienes are scarce. In this section, the cycloaddition reactions involving α,β-unsaturated

Advances in the use of metal-free tetrapyrrolic macrocycles as catalysts

• Mandeep K. Chahal

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 3085–3112, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.257

• macrocycles, both synthetic and found in nature, and their ability to act as organocatalysts, metal-free porphyrin macrocycles have a potential to be excellent candidates for green, cost-effective catalysts of various organic transformations including asymmetric synthesis. 2 Metal-free tetrapyrrolic

5th International Symposium on Synthesis and Catalysis (ISySyCat2023)

• Anthony J. Burke and
• Elisabete P. Carreiro

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 2704–2707, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.227

• terazosin and prazosin were successfully synthesized. Oliveira Jr. et al. developed a new methodology for the asymmetric synthesis of β-aryl-γ-lactam derivatives with very good yield and enantioselectivity [16]. This was achieved through a palladium-catalyzed Heck–Matsuda desymmetrization of N-protected 2,5

Asymmetric organocatalytic synthesis of chiral homoallylic amines

• Nikolay S. Kondratyev and
• Andrei V. Malkov

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 2349–2377, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.201

• , encompassing cutting-edge advances in hydrogen-bond catalysis and non-classical approaches. Furthermore, practical examples showcasing the application of these innovative methodologies in total synthesis are presented. Keywords: asymmetric catalysis; asymmetric synthesis; chiral amines; organicatalysis

Stereoselective mechanochemical synthesis of thiomalonate Michael adducts via iminium catalysis by chiral primary amines

• Michał Błauciak,
• Dominika Andrzejczyk,
• Błażej Dziuk and
• Rafał Kowalczyk

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 2313–2322, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.198

• attention. The controlled formation of C–C and C–X bonds in a stereoselective fashion has found extensive application in asymmetric synthesis. Notably, the addition of malonates has attracted significant interest, albeit primarily limited to methyl or ethyl diesters [18][19][20]. The combination of iminium

Factors influencing the performance of organocatalysts immobilised on solid supports: A review

• Zsuzsanna Fehér,
• Dóra Richter,
• Gyula Dargó and
• József Kupai

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 2129–2142, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.183

• applications in organic chemistry. Keywords: asymmetric synthesis; catalyst recycling; heterogenisation; organocatalysis; solid support; Introduction Organocatalysts are small molecules that do not contain a metal atom in the reaction centre and are able to increase the speed of reactions. They have proven

• immobilisation of catalysts, it is necessary to consider whether the solid support itself can catalyse the desired or side reactions. This could be advantageous in some cases, i.e., when the solid support cooperatively helps the reaction [118], but in asymmetric synthesis, background activity of the solid

Harnessing the versatility of hydrazones through electrosynthetic oxidative transformations

• Aurélie Claraz

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 1988–2004, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.175

• -methoxymethylpyrrolidine)hydrazones could be also key intermediates for the asymmetric synthesis of α-substituted aldehydes and ketones [18][19]. Interestingly, depending on the substitution pattern, the C=N bond can feature different electronic properties [20]. For instance, various hydrazones have been employed for the

Chiral bifunctional sulfide-catalyzed enantioselective bromolactonizations of α- and β-substituted 5-hexenoic acids

• Sao Sumida,
• Ken Okuno,
• Taiki Mori,
• Yasuaki Furuya and
• Seiji Shirakawa

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 1794–1799, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.158

• remained a formidable challenge in the field of catalytic asymmetric synthesis (Scheme 1b) [23][24][25]. To address this limitation, we have investigated the use of BINOL-derived chiral bifunctional sulfide catalysts, which were developed by our group [10], in asymmetric bromolactonizations of α

• enantioselectivity. The reactions of α,α-dialkyl-5-hexenoic acids 2e and 2f gave the corresponding bromolactonization products 3e and 3f with moderate enantioselectivities. The present catalytic method could also be applied to the asymmetric synthesis of spirolactones [37][38][39]. For example, α-spiro-δ-lactone

Towards an asymmetric β-selective addition of azlactones to allenoates

• Behzad Nasiri,
• Ghaffar Pasdar,
• Paul Zebrowski,
• Katharina Röser,
• David Naderer and
• Mario Waser

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 1504–1509, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.134

• ; quaternary ammonium salt catalysis; Introduction The development of asymmetric synthesis routes to access non-natural amino acids has for decades been one of the most heavily investigated tasks in organic synthesis and catalysis-oriented research [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13]. As a consequence

• in a straightforward manner. Conclusion The development of novel catalytic methods for the asymmetric synthesis of non-natural amino acid derivatives is a contemporary task and we herein introduce an organocatalytic protocol for the β-selective addition of various azlactones 1 to allenoates 3. Upon

Enantioselective synthesis of β-aryl-γ-lactam derivatives via Heck–Matsuda desymmetrization of N-protected 2,5-dihydro-1H-pyrroles

• Arnaldo G. de Oliveira Jr.,
• Martí F. Wang,
• Rafaela C. Carmona,
• Danilo M. Lustosa,
• Sergei A. Gorbatov and
• Carlos R. D. Correia

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 940–949, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.84

• preclude chirality as in the transformation of a prochiral molecular entity into a chiral one [1]. It is a powerful and elegant strategy in asymmetric synthesis [2], which combined with the use of chiral ligands and transition-metal catalysts enabled many valuable transformations to increase molecular

Trifluoromethylated hydrazones and acylhydrazones as potent nitrogen-containing fluorinated building blocks

• Zhang Dongxu

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 1741–1754, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.127

• programs. Synthesis of trifluoromethylpyrazoles from trifluoroacetaldehyde hydrazones. Synthesis of polysubstituted pyrazolidines and pyrazolines. Asymmetric synthesis of 3-trifluoromethyl-1,4-dihydropyridazines reported by Rueping et al. [39]. Synthesis of 3-trifluoromethyl-1,4-dihydropyridazine with

N-Sulfenylsuccinimide/phthalimide: an alternative sulfenylating reagent in organic transformations

• Fatemeh Doraghi,
• Seyedeh Pegah Aledavoud,
• Mehdi Ghanbarlou,
• Bagher Larijani and
• Mohammad Mahdavi

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 1471–1502, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.106

• organosulfur chemistry, sulfenylating agents are an important key in C–S bond formation strategies. Among various organosulfur precursors, N-sulfenylsuccinimide/phthalimide derivatives have shown highly electrophilic reactivity for the asymmetric synthesis of many organic compounds. Hence, in this review

Synthesis of ether lipids: natural compounds and analogues

• Marco Antônio G. B. Gomes,
• Alicia Bauduin,
• Chloé Le Roux,
• Romain Fouinneteau,
• Wilfried Berthe,
• Mathieu Berchel,
• Hélène Couthon and
• Paul-Alain Jaffrès

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 1299–1369, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.96

Selective construction of dispiro[indoline-3,2'-quinoline-3',3''-indoline] and dispiro[indoline-3,2'-pyrrole-3',3''-indoline] via three-component reaction

• Ziying Xiao,
• Fengshun Xu,
• Jing Sun and
• Chao-Guo Yan

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 1234–1242, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.91

• multicomponent reactions have been successfully developed to construct multifunctionalized or polycyclic spirooxindoles. For example, Zhang successfully developed a recyclable bifunctional cinchona/thiourea-catalyzed four-component Michael/Mannich cyclization sequence for the asymmetric synthesis of

Aromatic C–H bond functionalization through organocatalyzed asymmetric intermolecular aza-Friedel–Crafts reaction: a recent update

• Anup Biswas

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 956–981, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.72

• years ago, the concept became increasingly accepted and popular only by the last decade of the last century [2][3]. Nowadays, organocatalysis is especially applied to asymmetric synthesis and a huge number of organocatalysts has been introduced in last three decades for the asymmetric synthesis of

Photoredox catalysis enabling decarboxylative radical cyclization of γ,γ-dimethylallyltryptophan (DMAT) derivatives: formal synthesis of 6,7-secoagroclavine

• Alessio Regni,
• Francesca Bartoccini and
• Giovanni Piersanti

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 918–927, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.70

• position via a sequential electron transfer–proton transfer (ET/PT) [52][53][54][55][56][57][58][59]. With our ongoing interest of establishing new methods for the asymmetric synthesis of nonproteinogenic tryptophan derivatives as well as their associated indole alkaloid natural products [60][61][62][63

A new oxidatively stable ligand for the chiral functionalization of amino acids in Ni(II)–Schiff base complexes

• Alena V. Dmitrieva,
• Oleg A. Levitskiy,
• Yuri K. Grishin and
• Tatiana V. Magdesieva

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 566–574, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.41

• complex. Solubility of the t-Bu-containing ligand and its Schiff base complexes is increased, facilitating scaling-up the reaction procedure and isolation of the functionalized amino acid. Keywords: asymmetric synthesis; chiral auxiliaries; cysteine derivatives; Ni–Schiff base complexes; voltammetry

• testing; Introduction Asymmetric synthesis of functionalized amino acids is a subject of intense research because these compounds are of great demand for pharmaceutical industry, health care, and food production [1][2][3]. Various approaches to enantiomerically enriched amino acids have been developed

Asymmetric synthesis of a stereopentade fragment toward latrunculins

• Benjamin Joyeux,
• Antoine Gamet,
• Nicolas Casaretto and
• Bastien Nay

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 428–433, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.32

Strategies to access the [5-8] bicyclic core encountered in the sesquiterpene, diterpene and sesterterpene series

• Cécile Alleman,
• Charlène Gadais,
• Laurent Legentil and
• François-Hugues Porée

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 245–281, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.23