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

• /carbenoid reactions: α-Diazocarbonyl compounds are useful reagents especially to synthesize aziridine compounds through reactive carbene species. A few examples of utilizing α-diazocarbonyl compounds to prepare olefins have also been reported, either mediated by metal catalysts or through a more sustainable

• to 429 (Scheme 88A) [149]. On the other hand, Novikov and co-workers (2019) utilized Rh(II) to catalyze the [2 + 1 + 1] assembly of spiro β-lactams 431–434 from diazocarbonyl compound 430 and azirines via Rh carbenoid 435 followed by aziridine ring-opening (436 and 437) (Scheme 88B) [150]. Lv and co

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

• follows a concerted metalation–deprotonation (CMD) mechanism to generate ruthenium intermediate Int-75. Subsequently, diazo compound 78 or 79 coordinates with intermediate Int-75, followed by deazidation to form the ruthenium carbenoid species Int-76. The ruthenium–aryl bond in this intermediate migrates

• into the carbenoid unit, providing heptacyclic ruthenium ring intermediate Int-77. Intermediate Int-78 is then formed via ruthenium migration insertion into the C=N bond from Ru–C(alkyl). For diazoketoester substrates, the final product 81 is released from Int-78 through protonation, intramolecular

Cu(OTf)₂-catalyzed multicomponent reactions

• Sara Colombo,
• Camilla Loro,
• Egle M. Beccalli,
• Gianluigi Broggini and
• Marta Papis

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 122–145, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.7

• [3 + 2] cycloaddition reaction between azodicarboxylates and nitrile ylides XXXVI as 1,3-dipoles. The latter are generated from diazoalkanes under the coordination of the copper catalyst to form a carbenoid species that undergoes nucleophilic attack of the nitriles. This transformation has

N-Glycosides of indigo, indirubin, and isoindigo: blue, red, and yellow sugars and their cancerostatic activity

• Peter Langer

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 2840–2869, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.240

• with the carbenoid intermediate of the isatin and, thus, exerts an unfavorable influence. Oxoisoindigo-N-glycosides The reaction of isatin-N-rhamnoside β-16a with 2-coumaranone (63), carried out in our group, afforded the acetyl-protected oxoisoindigo-N-rhamnoside β-64a as an orange to red solid in 44

Aldiminium and 1,2,3-triazolium dithiocarboxylate zwitterions derived from cyclic (alkyl)(amino) and mesoionic carbenes

• Nedra Touj,
• François Mazars,
• Guillermo Zaragoza and
• Lionel Delaude

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 1947–1956, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.145

• significantly altered by the nature of the adjacent heterocycle, in line with a lack of electronic communication between these two moieties, as further discussed below. Contrastingly, the 13C NMR resonance for the carbenoid center of all the reagents and products used in this study was clearly affected by the

• and its substituents. The synthesis of 1,2,3-triazolium salts via a “click” reaction is a particularly attractive and straightforward strategy to prepare dithiocarboxylate zwitterions with two different alkyl or aryl groups flanking the carbenoid center and the adjacent CS2 unit. This is in sharp

• contrast with the most common cyclization processes leading to imidazol(in)ium derivatives, which afford symmetrical products with identical substituents on both nitrogen atoms [82]. Although cyclic aldiminium salts are less readily available, they feature a quaternary carbon atom next to the carbenoid

N-Boc-α-diazo glutarimide as efficient reagent for assembling N-heterocycle-glutarimide diads via Rh(II)-catalyzed N–H insertion reaction

• Grigory Kantin,
• Pavel Golubev,
• Alexander Sapegin,
• Alexander Bunev and
• Dmitry Dar’in

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 1841–1848, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.136

• , C–H insertion products 9 were also observed. Thus, when reacting with indole, the product of carbenoid attack at position 3 (9a) was isolated along with target compound 6a. Introduction of a carbomethoxy group into this position of indole leads to the exceptional formation of the N–H insertion

• regioselectivity of this reaction can be attributed to several factors, including steric hindrances to the attack of the nitrogen atom by the carbenoid. When reacting with tetrahydroquinoline (with insignificant steric shielding of the N-nucleophilic center), the product of N–H insertion 6x was obtained in good

• reaction with indazole, compound 6g, formed as a result of the attack of the carbenoid on the 2-N atom, was obtained. The regioselectivity of the reaction with 7-azaindazole was similar, however, the introduction of an additional basic nitrogen atom resulted in a significant increase in reaction time and a

1,4-Dithianes: attractive C2-building blocks for the synthesis of complex molecular architectures

• Bram Ryckaert,
• Ellen Demeyere,
• Frederick Degroote,
• Hilde Janssens and
• Johan M. Winne

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 115–132, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.12

• expected allyl cation (3 + 2) cycloaddition reactivity is not operating under gold(I) catalysis, but instead it behaved as a reliable and quite stereoselective vinylgold carbenoid species, affording exclusively cyclopropanation products with a wide range of olefin substrates (Scheme 18c). The carbene-type

• -migration. Activation mode of ethynyldithiolanes towards gold-coordinated 1,4-dithiane-fused allyl cation and vinyl carbenoid reagents. Desulfurization problems. oxidative decoration strategies for 1,4-dithiane scaffolds. Funding BR, ED and FD thank FWO-Vlaanderen for awarding them a predoctoral

Practical synthesis of isocoumarins via Rh(III)-catalyzed C–H activation/annulation cascade

• Qian-Ci Gao,
• Yi-Fei Li,
• Jun Xuan and
• Xiao-Qiang Hu

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 100–106, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.10

• activation/annulation cascade of readily available enaminones with iodonium ylides towards the convenient synthesis of isocoumarins. This coupling system proceeds in useful chemical yields (up to 93%) via a cascade C–H activation, Rh-carbenoid migratory insertion and acid-promoted intramolecular annulation

• active Rh catalyst. Subsequently, the oxygen atom of the enaminone is coordinated to the Rh catalyst, following by a Rh(III)-promoted ortho C–H activation to form a five-membered ruthenacycle 1-A. Then, the reaction of the iodonium ylide with intermediate 1-A generates a Rh-carbenoid intermediate 1-B

Synthesis of odorants in flow and their applications in perfumery

• Merlin Kleoff,
• Paul Kiler and
• Philipp Heretsch

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2022, 18, 754–768, doi:10.3762/bjoc.18.76

• achieved within milliseconds initializing bromine–lithium exchange of bromochloromethane to generate (chloromethyl)lithium. This carbenoid species readily reacts with terpenyl pinacol boronates 17, resulting in the formation of intermediate 18, which undergoes 1,2-anionotropic rearrangement to the

α-Ketol and α-iminol rearrangements in synthetic organic and biosynthetic reactions

• Scott Benz and
• Andrew S. Murkin

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2021, 17, 2570–2584, doi:10.3762/bjoc.17.172

• with diverse biological activities [17]. The key step first involved the rhodium carbenoid-mediated OH insertion/Claisen rearrangement following complexation of diazoester 56 and allylic alcohol 57 to produce intermediate 58 (Figure 13). Addition of BF3·OEt2 to the reaction mixture then catalyzed the α

Allylic alcohols and amines by carbenoid eliminative cross-coupling using epoxides or aziridines

• Matthew J. Fleming and
• David M. Hodgson

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2021, 17, 2385–2389, doi:10.3762/bjoc.17.155

• carbenoids may compete with a desired carbenoid transformation although its value has been demonstrated in, for example, our studies on lithium 2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidide (1, LTMP)-induced syntheses of 2-ene-1,4-diols and 2-ene-1,4-diamines from terminal epoxides [3] and aziridines [4][5], respectively

• with cross-coupling using the same carbenoid and epoxide 5 (Scheme 5), where the presence of LTMP also proved necessary. A cinnamylamine 23 could be obtained in a tin-free process (Scheme 10), which utilises the increased acidity of a benzylic ether 22. In this case, the presence of LTMP was necessary

• . Alongside the cinnamylamine 23, small amounts of the aziridine-derived carbenoid dimerisation product, 2-ene-1,4-diamine 24 [5], were observed. While the reaction profile was not altered on a solvent switch to hexane (23 (62%, E/Z = 61:39); 24 (16%)), the yield of cinnamylamine 23 was slightly improved in

Fritsch–Buttenberg–Wiechell rearrangement of magnesium alkylidene carbenoids leading to the formation of alkynes

• Tsutomu Kimura,
• Koto Sekiguchi,
• Akane Ando and
• Aki Imafuji

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2021, 17, 1352–1359, doi:10.3762/bjoc.17.94

• magnesium alkylidene carbenoids was studied by using 13C-labeled sulfoxides and by using DFT calculations. Keywords: alkyne; 1-chlorovinyl p-tolyl sulfoxide; DFT calculation; Fritsch–Buttenberg–Wiechell rearrangement; magnesium alkylidene carbenoid; Introduction Alkynes are important compounds in organic

• rearrangement of magnesium alkylidene carbenoids 3 by using 13C-labeled sulfoxides and by using DFT calculations is also described. Results and Discussion Synthesis of 1-heteroatom-substituted vinyl p-tolyl sulfoxides As magnesium alkylidene carbenoid precursors, a series of 1-heteroatom-substituted vinyl p

• chloride and 1-chlorovinyl p-tolyl sulfoxide 2a was the optimal combination of organometallic reagent and carbenoid precursor. The substrate scope was explored with a variety of sulfoxides 2b–g (Table 2). The 2,2-diphenyl-substituted sulfoxide 2b was converted into alkyne 4b by treatment with

Synthesis of β-triazolylenones via metal-free desulfonylative alkylation of N-tosyl-1,2,3-triazoles

• Soumyaranjan Pati,
• Renata G. Almeida,
• Eufrânio N. da Silva Júnior and
• Irishi N. N. Namboothiri

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2021, 17, 762–770, doi:10.3762/bjoc.17.66

• compounds as binucleophiles for the construction of various carbocycles, heterocycles as well as in asymmetric catalysis [44][45][46][47][48][49][50]. Our initial objective to trap the aza vinyl rhodium carbenoid using 1,3-dicarbonyl compounds to form pyrazolone was unsuccessful which instead led to the

Synthesis of N-perfluoroalkyl-3,4-disubstituted pyrroles by rhodium-catalyzed transannulation of N-fluoroalkyl-1,2,3-triazoles with terminal alkynes

• Olga Bakhanovich,
• Viktor Khutorianskyi,
• Vladimir Motornov and
• Petr Beier

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2021, 17, 504–510, doi:10.3762/bjoc.17.44

• of the rhodium-catalyzed transannulation to pyrroles has recently been investigated computationally with N-sulfonyltriazoles [31]. It seems that the formed rhodium carbenoid B reacts with the alkyne in a concerted process and even in the presence of Ag+ salts, a nucleophilic addition of silver

Recent advances in Cu-catalyzed C(sp³)–Si and C(sp³)–B bond formation

• Balaram S. Takale,
• Ruchita R. Thakore,
• Elham Etemadi-Davan and
• Bruce H. Lipshutz

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 691–737, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.67

• carbenoid insertions using spiro-bisimine ligand L25 at cryogenic temperatures (Scheme 39A). Ollevier, however, focused on making these reactions more general under ligand-free conditions at ambient temperature, and without the asymmetric component (Scheme 39B). The substrate scope was already broad

AgNTf₂-catalyzed formal [3 + 2] cycloaddition of ynamides with unprotected isoxazol-5-amines: efficient access to functionalized 5-amino-1H-pyrrole-3-carboxamide derivatives

• Ziping Cao,
• Jiekun Zhu,
• Li Liu,
• Yuanling Pang,
• Laijin Tian,
• Xuejun Sun and
• Xin Meng

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2019, 15, 2623–2630, doi:10.3762/bjoc.15.255

• tethered to cyclohexadienones that can be converted into complex polycycles by Ag-carbenoid-initiated cascades [16]. Recently, Zhu’s group developed a tandem 1,3‑dipolar cycloaddition/cyclopropanation silver-catalyzed reaction of enynals with alkenes [17]. In our previous studies, this silver carbene

A novel three-component reaction between isocyanides, alcohols or thiols and elemental sulfur: a mild, catalyst-free approach towards O-thiocarbamates and dithiocarbamates

• András György Németh,
• György Miklós Keserű and
• Péter Ábrányi-Balogh

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2019, 15, 1523–1533, doi:10.3762/bjoc.15.155

• elemental sulfur and NaH generates a polysulfide anion that is able to attack the carbenoid carbon atom of isocyanide 1a yielding the isothiocyanate intermediate 8. Then, the present nucleophile (NuH, alcohol or thiol) undergoes a nucleophilic addition on 8 providing thiocarbamate 3a. Conclusion In summary

Borylation and rearrangement of alkynyloxiranes: a stereospecific route to substituted α-enynes

• Ruben Pomar Fuentespina,
• José Angel Garcia de la Cruz,
• Gabriel Durin,
• Victor Mamane,
• Jean-Marc Weibel and
• Patrick Pale

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2019, 15, 1416–1424, doi:10.3762/bjoc.15.141

• corresponding carbenoid, especially with increasing temperature. Once the oxiranyllithium species is formed (A in Scheme 3), oxiranylborate complexes B are obtained by the addition of aryl-, benzyl-, allyl- or alkylboronic esters. This was clearly evidenced by the fast disappearance of the coloration linked to

Progress in copper-catalyzed trifluoromethylation

• Guan-bao Li,
• Chao Zhang,
• Chun Song and
• Yu-dao Ma

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2018, 14, 155–181, doi:10.3762/bjoc.14.11

• reagent, trifluoromethyl-substituted sulfonium ylide, which was prepared by a Rh-catalyzed carbenoid addition to trifluoromethyl thioether (Scheme 4). This process was conducted in dichloromethane at 40 °C for 4 h with a catalyst loading of 100 ppm. Moreover, this new reagent was easily scaled-up and

Rh(II)-mediated domino [4 + 1]-annulation of α-cyanothioacetamides using diazoesters: A new entry for the synthesis of multisubstituted thiophenes

• Jury J. Medvedev,
• Ilya V. Efimov,
• Yuri M. Shafran,
• Vitaliy V. Suslonov,
• Vasiliy A. Bakulev and
• Valerij A. Nikolaev

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2017, 13, 2569–2576, doi:10.3762/bjoc.13.253

• cannot exclude an alternative route when the carbenoid interacts with the cyano group to yield an oxazole heterocycle [39][40][41][42][43][44][45]. Herein we present the first detailed results of this study. Results and Discussion To determine the scope and limitations of these reactions, several

• conditions the same (as with Rh2L4) thiophenes 3e and 4e were formed. In this connection it is believed that at the elevated temperatures (80–110 °C) a partial dissociation of these complexes into original components 1 and Rh-catalyst takes place that directs the whole process into the ‘carbenoid channel

• ’, as illustrated in Scheme 4. Initially generated from diazoester 2 carbenoid A attacks the sulfur atom of thioamide 1 to give the key intermediate S-ylide B [36][37][38][59][60], which is stabilized by ‘thioamide resonance’ [36][37][38]. The anion center of S-ylide B then attacks the carbon atom of

Synthesis of benzannelated sultams by intramolecular Pd-catalyzed arylation of tertiary sulfonamides

• Valentin A. Rassadin,
• Mirko Scholz,
• Anastasiia A. Klochkova,
• Armin de Meijere and
• Victor V. Sokolov

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2017, 13, 1932–1939, doi:10.3762/bjoc.13.187

• latter transformation was a rhodium octanoate-catalyzed intramolecular carbenoid insertion into an ortho CAr–H bond (Scheme 1) [21][22], which proceeded with good yields in most cases. However, with non-equivalent aryl ortho-positions in the starting diazo compounds, mixtures of regioisomers – virtually

The chemistry and biology of mycolactones

• Matthias Gehringer and
• Karl-Heinz Altmann

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2017, 13, 1596–1660, doi:10.3762/bjoc.13.159

Unusual reactions of diazocarbonyl compounds with α,β-unsaturated δ-amino esters: Rh(II)-catalyzed Wolff rearrangement and oxidative cleavage of N–H-insertion products

• Valerij A. Nikolaev,
• Jury J. Medvedev,
• Olesia S. Galkina,
• Ksenia V. Azarova and
• Christoph Schneider

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2016, 12, 1904–1910, doi:10.3762/bjoc.12.180

• mixture to produce the corresponding amides [20]. In line with these literature considerations and our results, one can suggest the next pathway for the Rh-catalyzed Wolff rearrangement (Scheme 2). Decomposition of diazocarbonyl compounds 3a–c gives rise to generation of Rh-carbenoid С, ‘inside’ of which

• nucleophilic 1,2-migration of aryl (Ph) or alkyl (Me) group R2 occurs, producing α-oxoketene D. The latter interacts with N–H-group of the aminoester 1 to give acylamides 6a–c. Predominance of the Wolff rearrangement over typical carbenoid reactions (N–H-insertion, etc.) in the case of diazodicarbonyl

• compounds 3а–с can be apparently explained by some sterical reasons and, first of all, by the problems associated with the approach of the N–H-group of the bulky secondary amine 1 to the electrophilic carbon atom of H-Rh-carbenoid C (Scheme 2). Carbenoids from perfluorinated carboxylates F-Rh(II) are

On the cause of low thermal stability of ethyl halodiazoacetates

• Magnus Mortén,
• Martin Hennum and
• Tore Bonge-Hansen

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2016, 12, 1590–1597, doi:10.3762/bjoc.12.155

• halodiazoacetates 2a–c (Scheme 1) from 1 and studied their reactivity in Rh(II)-catalyzed reactions [11]. In the presence of Rh(II) catalysts the halodiazoacetates extrude N2 and form the corresponding Rh–carbenes which undergo typical carbenoid reactions such as cyclopropanation [11], cyclopropanation–ring

Chiral cyclopentadienylruthenium sulfoxide catalysts for asymmetric redox bicycloisomerization

• Barry M. Trost,
• Michael C. Ryan and
• Meera Rao

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2016, 12, 1136–1152, doi:10.3762/bjoc.12.110

• tertiary carbocation is trapped by a gold carbenoid intermediate to form the fused cyclopropane. While there had been reports of utilizing chiral ruthenium complexes for asymmetric catalysis prior to our studies [30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40], there had previously been no reported examples of