Recent advances in total synthesis of illisimonin A

• Juan Huang and
• Ming Yang

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 2571–2583, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.199

• ). Chemoselective epoxidation of the enone double bond in 69 yielded epoxide 70. A Wittig reaction of 70 with (methoxymethyl)triphenylphosphonium chloride and t-BuOK generated a methyl enol ether, which was unstable in the presence of the epoxide. During aqueous workup, simultaneous hydrolysis of the enol ether and

Pentacyclic aromatic heterocycles from Pd-catalyzed annulation of 1,5-diaryl-1,2,3-triazoles

• Kaylen D. Lathrum,
• Emily M. Hanneken,
• Katelyn R. Grzelak and
• James T. Fletcher

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 2524–2534, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.194

• compounds. The utility of click chemistry [11][12] for achieving chemoselective conjugation in a diversity of chemical environments has established the 1,2,3-triazole ring as a ubiquitous heterocycle in many research areas such as therapeutics [13][14][15][16], chemosensors [17][18][19], bioconjugation [20

Recent advances in Norrish–Yang cyclization and dicarbonyl photoredox reactions for natural product synthesis

• Peng-Xi Luo,
• Jin-Xuan Yang,
• Shao-Min Fu and
• Bo Liu

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 2315–2333, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.177

• , followed by diastereoselective α-alkylation, produced 38. A Wittig reaction and subsequent deketalization converted the ketone in 38 to the terminal alkene 39, allowing for subsequent sequential chemoselective hydrogenations: first, hydrogenation of the exo-olefin using Wilkinson’s catalyst proceeded with

C2 to C6 biobased carbonyl platforms for fine chemistry

• Jingjing Jiang,
• Muhammad Noman Haider Tariq,
• Florence Popowycz,
• Yanlong Gu and
• Yves Queneau

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 2103–2172, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.165

• is a kind of tetrose with biological and industrial relevance (Scheme 29). Waymouth et al. [109] reported the regio- and chemoselective oxidation of vicinal polyols using [2,9-dimethyl-1,10-phenanthroline = neocuproine)Pd(OAc)]2(OTf)2] (1) as catalyst. The formation of α-hydroxyketones occurs very

• MPa NH3 and 2 MPa H2. The reaction could be carried for 10 catalytic cycles without deactivation. Zhang developed a transition-metal copper-catalyzed chemoselective asymmetric hydrogenation of the carbonyl group in exocyclic α,β-unsaturated cyclopentanones. Chiral exocyclic allylic pentanols (a

Bioinspired total syntheses of natural products: a personal adventure

• Zhengyi Qin,
• Yuting Yang,
• Nuran Yan,
• Xinyu Liang,
• Zhiyu Zhang,
• Yaxuan Duan,
• Huilin Li and
• Xuegong She

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 2048–2061, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.160

• reduction of ketone using SmI2 and propionaldehyde provided 15 diastereoselectively. Friedel–Crafts cyclization using trimethyl orthoformate and TMSOTf provided the cyclic acetal moiety to be oxidized with PDC, delivering the isocoumarin skeleton in 16. Chemoselective removal of the ester with the lactone

• compounds 51a and 51b, which became separable, gratifyingly. Finally, chemoselective reduction of lactam to amine with the more reactive ketone unreacted was successfully achieved. In this transformation, the iridium-catalyzed hydrosilylation of the lactam generated the corresponding O-silyl aminal, which

Enantioselective desymmetrization strategy of prochiral 1,3-diols in natural product synthesis

• Lihua Wei,
• Rui Yang,
• Zhifeng Shi and
• Zhiqiang Ma

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 1932–1963, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.151

• monobenzoate 142 in 94% yield along with 4% yield of its diastereomer (dr = 24:1). Following a four-step conversion of 142 to epoxide 143, reductive cleavage produced a diol intermediate, which was subjected to chemoselective glycosylation with compound 144 to provide compound 145. After a four-step

• removal of the benzyl group, chemoselective N-alkylation with fragment 196, and removal of the benzoyl group allowed the conversion of 195 into iodide 197. Sequential oxidation of the alcohol, HWE reaction, and reduction of the resulting ester then provided compound 198. In the presence of Pd(OAc)2, PPh3

Copper catalysis: a constantly evolving field

• Elena Fernández and
• Jaesook Yun

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 1477–1479, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.109

• , Burley, Watson, and co-workers present a new synthesis of germyl triazoles from germyl alkynes through a copper-catalyzed azide–alkyne cycloaddition (CuAAC) reaction [6]. The resulting Ge-substituted triazoles could be further diversified. For example, through chemoselective transition-metal-catalyzed

Oxetanes: formation, reactivity and total syntheses of natural products

• Peter Gabko,
• Martin Kalník and
• Maroš Bella

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 1324–1373, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.101

• traced back to 3-oxetanone. In 2018, Bull and co-workers disclosed the first lithium-catalysed thiol alkylation using electron-rich 3-aryloxetan-3-ols 142 (Scheme 35) [84]. This protocol is completely chemoselective as no ring-opening was observed and the resulting oxetane sulphides 143 were obtained in

Recent advances in oxidative radical difunctionalization of N-arylacrylamides enabled by carbon radical reagents

• Jiangfei Chen,
• Yi-Lin Qu,
• Ming Yuan,
• Xiang-Mei Wu,
• Heng-Pei Jiang,
• Ying Fu and
• Shengrong Guo

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 1207–1271, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.98

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

• , obtaining a separable mixture of the major cis and minor trans diastereomers of the sp3-enriched pyrazolodiazepine 17. The relative configuration of the stereocenters in the major cis isomer of 17 was established via scXRD analysis. Both diastereomers of 17 were found to be amenable to chemoselective amide

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

• enantiocontrol. Metal control Over the past decade, the relentless pursuit of precision in natural products and pharmaceutical synthesis has driven remarkable advances in catalytic methodologies, particularly in the realm of catalyst-controlled chemoselective transformations [11][25][26][27][28][29]. In 2023

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

• organoboron compound with CuOt-Bu and subsequent SN2’-selective allylic alkylation of 1. The densely functionalized structure of these dimerization products offers a versatile synthetic handle for further chemoselective functionalization. Considering the presence of two enolizable esters together with the

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

• and excellent yield of 94% (Scheme 1). A chemoselective deprotection of the mannosyl thioacetate 7 to yield the glycosyl thiol 8 was achieved using 0.95 equivalents of sodium carbonate. The crude product was in turn submitted to a Buchwald–Hartwig–Migita cross-coupling reaction [33] with the

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

• capacity, the use of antibodies applied to medicine is critically dependent on the ability to anchor them to operative payloads in a highly precise manner [8][9][10]. Many researchers are tackling the challenge of new strategies for chemoselective synthetic modifications of biomolecules, including

• expertise required to carry out these transformations is constrained to a very limited number of laboratories, particularly in the field of antibodies. Given the challenges of bioengineering antibodies with non-canonical amino acids, the direct and chemoselective modification of native antibodies is most

Binding of tryptophan and tryptophan-containing peptides in water by a glucose naphtho crown ether

• Gianpaolo Gallo and
• Bartosz Lewandowski

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 541–546, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.42

• binding of tryptophan is therefore important for diagnostic and medicinal applications. Recently, we reported a glucose naphtho crown ether which is a chemoselective receptor for the esters of aromatic amino acids, in particular tryptophan, in water. Herein, we demonstrate that the same compound also

• – a chemoselective receptor for aromatic amino acid esters in water. Fluorescence emission spectra of receptor 1 (25 μM in H2O) upon addition of increasing amounts of tripeptide 2. The concentration of the guest corresponding to each curve is indicated on the right. The arrow marks the quenching of

Recent advances in electrochemical copper catalysis for modern organic synthesis

• Yemin Kim and
• Won Jun Jang

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 155–178, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.9

• potential of copper-based electrochemical methodologies while also inspiring future research in this rapidly growing field. Review C–H Functionalization Site- and chemoselective C–H functionalization has emerged as a powerful platform for the formation of new C–C and C–heteroatom bonds, offering an

Germanyl triazoles as a platform for CuAAC diversification and chemoselective orthogonal cross-coupling

• John M. Halford-McGuff,
• Thomas M. Richardson,
• Aidan P. McKay,
• Frederik Peschke,
• Glenn A. Burley and
• Allan J. B. Watson

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 3198–3204, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.265

• further diversification of the triazole products, including chemoselective transition metal-catalysed cross-coupling reactions using bifunctional boryl/germyl species. Keywords: chemoselectivity; click chemistry; copper; germanium; triazole; Introduction Since its inception, click chemistry has been

• cross-couplings. Schoenebeck and co-workers have shown that Ge-based compounds are versatile reagents within chemoselective cross-coupling processes for the formation of a variety of C–C and C–X bonds [55][56][57][58][59][60][61][62][63]. Importantly, these transformations can take place in the presence

• to chemical biology (Scheme 3a). The utility of the germanyl triazole products was then assessed by subsequent derivatisation of exemplar compounds 15 and 21 (Scheme 3b). Chemoselective Suzuki–Miyaura cross-coupling of the BPin moiety in 21 was straightforward, giving 28 in excellent yield [73

Recent advances in transition-metal-free arylation reactions involving hypervalent iodine salts

• Ritu Mamgain,
• Kokila Sakthivel and
• Fateh V. Singh

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 2891–2920, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.243

• functional entities. In 2021, Byrne et al. published an impressive report detailing a novel protocol for the chemoselective late-stage variation of proteins and peptides at cysteine residues 91 and 94 in an aqueous buffer in the presence of suitably functionalized diaryliodonium salts 92 and 95 (Scheme 38

A review of recent advances in electrochemical and photoelectrochemical late-stage functionalization classified by anodic oxidation, cathodic reduction, and paired electrolysis

• Nian Li,
• Ruzal Sitdikov,
• Ajit Prabhakar Kale,
• Joost Steverlynck,
• Bo Li and
• Magnus Rueping

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 2500–2566, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.214

• achieved compared to many classical methods. In light of the general trend towards more chemoselective protocols with broader functional group compatibility, there has been a growing interest in exploring the potential of electrosynthesis for the late-stage functionalization of complex scaffolds

• oxyformylation with brominations/chlorinations/trifluoromethylations using DMF and NaBr/NaCl/NaSO2CF3 as readily available reagents. The reported yields for this regio- and chemoselective transformation are high. For each reaction type, one LSF example was demonstrated using an estrone derivative

• bonds (Scheme 25a) [34]. Besides, the same group published a comprehensive analysis on N-ammonium ylide mediators, which were found to be superior to quinuclidine scaffolds for a chemoselective C(sp3)–H oxidation (Scheme 25b) [35]. The electrochemical C(sp3)–H fluorination of unactivated C–H bonds is

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

• N-(2-hydroxy)phenylimines with allyltributyltin. Scope of the reaction [37]. The two-step N-(2-hydroxy)phenyl group deprotection procedure [37]. Low-temperature (−40 °C) NMR experiments evidencing the reversible formation of the active COBI–imine chiral complex [37]. Highly chemoselective and

Multicomponent syntheses of pyrazoles via (3 + 2)-cyclocondensation and (3 + 2)-cycloaddition key steps

• Ignaz Betcke,
• Alissa C. Götzinger,
• Maryna M. Kornet and
• Thomas J. J. Müller

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 2024–2077, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.178

• hydrazines 3 (Scheme 1) [44]. It is important for a chemoselective synthesis that the 1,3-diketones 2 formed are not further acylated, which is prevented by using LiHMDS as a base. The method provides good to excellent yields and tolerates diverse functional groups. However, one limitation of the synthesis

Solvent-dependent chemoselective synthesis of different isoquinolinones mediated by the hypervalent iodine(III) reagent PISA

• Ze-Nan Hu,
• Yan-Hui Wang,
• Jia-Bing Wu,
• Ze Chen,
• Dou Hong and
• Chi Zhang

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 1914–1921, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.167

• isoquinolinone derivatives. The method provides highly chemoselective access to 3- or 4-substituted isoquinolinone derivatives by reacting o-alkenylbenzamide derivatives with PISA in either acetonitrile or wet hexafluoro-2-isopropanol. Keywords: annulation; C–H amination; hypervalent iodine reagent; iodine(III

• ) diacetate (PIDA) [22][23]. And more recently, Du and our group have developed a method for the chemoselective cycloisomerization of o-alkenylbenzamides to 3-arylisoquinolinones, using PhIO as oxidant in combination with a catalytic amount of trimethylsilyl trifluoromethanesulfonate [24]. Although

• considerable progress has been made in the synthesis of isoquinolinone derivatives, there is still the need to develop chemoselective strategies based on easily adjustable factors, such as solvent selection to obtain 3- or 4-substituted isoquinolinone derivatives. In 2018, our group has reported the

Syntheses and medicinal chemistry of spiro heterocyclic steroids

• Laura L. Romero-Hernández,
• Ana Isabel Ahuja-Casarín,
• Penélope Merino-Montiel,
• Sara Montiel-Smith,
• José Luis Vega-Báez and
• Jesús Sandoval-Ramírez

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 1713–1745, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.152

• protecting group yielded the corresponding hydroxyalkynyl derivative 4. Subsequent Lindlar reduction resulted in the (Z)-alkene and a chemoselective tosylation of the primary alcohol led to the formation of tosylate 5. This intermediate underwent a stereospecific 4-exo cyclization upon exposure to iodine

Chemo-enzymatic total synthesis: current approaches toward the integration of chemical and enzymatic transformations

• Ryo Tanifuji and
• Hiroki Oguri

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 1693–1712, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.151

• the P450 RhF reductase domain (RhFRED) [88]. TylI-RhFRED facilitated the in vitro site-selective enzymatic hydroxylation of the C6 ethyl substituent in 80, yielding M-4365 G3 (juvenimicin B1, 81). Subsequent chemoselective oxidation of the resulting primary alcohol furnished M-4365 G2 (82) bearing an

Electrocatalytic hydrogenation of cyanoarenes, nitroarenes, quinolines, and pyridines under mild conditions with a proton-exchange membrane reactor

• Koichi Mitsudo,
• Atsushi Osaki,
• Haruka Inoue,
• Eisuke Sato,
• Naoki Shida,
• Mahito Atobe and
• Seiji Suga

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 1560–1571, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.139

• compounds with the PEM-type reactor. The chemoselective reduction of nitrogen-containing compounds under mild conditions is important for organic synthesis, and we believe that the PEM reaction system is a powerful tool that can be applied to a wide variety of nitrogen-containing compounds. Schematic of (a