Rh(III)-catalyzed chelation-assisted C–H activation/annulation of 2-arylimidazolines with cyclic diazo-1,3-dicarbonyl compounds: a novel approach to tetracyclic annulated derivatives of 2,3-dihydroimidazo[2,1-a]isoquinoline

• Ivan Lyutin,
• Grigory Kantin,
• Olga Bakulina and
• Dmitry Dar'in

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2026, 22, 997–1003, doi:10.3762/bjoc.22.78

• derived from α,α-disubstituted 1,3-cyclohexanedione, benzoannulated five-membered diketone, acyclic diketone, acetophenone, and acyclic keto ester. In the case of compounds 4u and 4v, no desired reaction was observed, while for compounds 4r–t, despite some small amount of the product was detected in crude

Electrochemical reduction of unsaturated carbon–carbon bonds via 3d transition-metal catalysis

• Geon Kang,
• Minki Jeon,
• Pooja Kumari Jat,
• Cheoljae Kim and
• Isaac Choi

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2026, 22, 955–981, doi:10.3762/bjoc.22.75

• , the reaction starts with an initial CPET event to the fumarate ester, generating a radical intermediate that is rapidly converted into a succinyl anion via a fast electron-transfer step. This anionic species subsequently engages with the Co(III) mediator to form a bound intermediate, thereby

Recent advances in copper-catalyzed direct hydroamination of alkenes with (hetero)aromatic amines

• Hyejeong Lee and
• Yunmi Lee

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2026, 22, 925–947, doi:10.3762/bjoc.22.73

• , particularly for ester-substituted alkenes. Mechanistic insights obtained from the DFT calculations suggested that the reaction proceeded via a copper–amido catalytic cycle involving metal-assisted olefin activation and the aminocupration pathway. In the initial step, deprotonation of the amine by KOt-Bu

• reported by Kantam et al. (conditions A), Cu(acac)2 efficiently catalyzed the conjugate addition of imidazoles to α,β-unsaturated compounds 14 bearing an ester, ketone, or nitrile group [43]. In this transformation, copper functioned primarily as a Lewis acid by coordinating to the carbonyl group of the

• ester substituents. Notably, the reaction outcome was highly dependent on the reaction conditions. Although mild conditions favored C–N bond formation, high temperatures promoted alternative pathways, such as aromatic substitution, indicating that the C–N bond formation was reversible under Lewis acidic

Chiral cyclopropenimine-catalyzed enantioselective Michael reactions of phenol and benzofuran-derived α,β-unsaturated pyrazolamides with benzophenone-imine of glycine esters

• Ya Bai,
• Xue-Ying Wang,
• Si-Kai Zhu,
• Yan-Ting Shen,
• Sheng-Yong Zhang and
• Ping-An Wang

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2026, 22, 888–896, doi:10.3762/bjoc.22.69

• (Lambert catalyst, CSB-1) as an organocatalyst. In the presence of 20 mol % CSB-1, the Michael adducts were obtained in up to 85% yield and 98% ee under mild conditions. The configurations of these Michael products were deduced by X-ray single crystal diffraction of a pyroglutamic acid ester containing two

• series of 3-substitued glutamic acid esters in high yields and diastereoselectivities through DBU-catalyzed Michael additions of benzophenone-imine of glycine ester and α,β-unsaturated esters which derived from phenols and benzofurans under mild conditions [5][6]. The chiral 3-aryl-substituted glutamic

• and pyroglutamic acid esters were also produced by enantioselective Michael additions of β-aryl-substituted α,β-unsaturated pyrazolamides with benzophenone-imine of glycine ester in excellent ee and de values by using a chiral cyclopropenimine (Lambert catalyst, Figure 2b) as an organosuperbase

Diastereodivergent electrophilic trapping of α-boryl lithium derivatives

• Tereza Pavlíčková,
• Noam Orbach and
• Ilan Marek

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2026, 22, 882–887, doi:10.3762/bjoc.22.68

• task [25][26][27]. The electronic character of these intermediates, especially for boronic ester derivatives that allow coordination between oxygen atoms and the metal counterion, complicates predictable stereochemical outcome. Developing strategies to harness the exceptional nature of these carbanions

• diverse catalytic and stereoselective transformations [28][29][30][31][32][33]. In this context, we have recently demonstrated that a broad range of arylated (iodomethyl)cyclopropylboronic ester 2 [34] undergo ring-opening reactions, followed by electrophilic trapping of the resulting α-boryl carbanion

• electrophile PhMe2SiCl did not alter the selectivity of the transformation, yielding 6b as a single diastereomer (Scheme 3). The relative configuration of 6b was determined by X-ray analysis of the osmate ester 7b, derived from osmium-catalyzed dihydroxylation (Scheme 3) [38], and the other products were

Site-specific labelling of native peptides and proteins: chemical and enzymatic strategies

• Antonio Angelastro,
• Jonathan Bargh,
• Subhajit Guria,
• Victor Laserna and
• Louis Luk

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2026, 22, 857–881, doi:10.3762/bjoc.22.67

• has enabled pyridinium aldoxime 21 (PyOx) incorporation into protein scaffolds (Scheme 7e) [64]. Acting as a catalytic centre for acyl cation transfer, PyOx reacts with a selected N-acyl-N-alkyl sulfonamide 15’ to generate a reactive ester intermediate. This strategy has successfully modified lysine

• , such as an epoxide, sulfonate ester or ester, enables targeted covalent modification of amino acids [105][106][107]. In addition to the choice of electrophiles, selectivity can be refined by tuning the length and flexibility of the linker, which controls the spatial proximity of the reactive groups

Halogenated azobenzene acrylates: from efficient solution photoswitching to stable solid-state photochromic materials

• Martina Vachtlová,
• Michaela Fecková,
• Vítězslav Zima,
• Jan Podlesný,
• Milan Klikar,
• Oldřich Pytela,
• Patrik Pařík,
• Jakub Opršal,
• Eliška Juhaňáková,
• Veronika Chrtová and
• Filip Bureš

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2026, 22, 782–794, doi:10.3762/bjoc.22.60

• corresponding radical anion [27]. In contrast, possible reduction of an aliphatic ester substituent, such as our acrylate pendant, generally requires more negative potentials [28]. On the other hand, the first oxidation observed at ca. +1.47 V is most likely associated with the alkoxy donor fragment, in

Design, synthesis, and biological evaluation of FXR/ASK1 dual-target modulators

• Xi Zhang,
• Jingyan Wang,
• Ziqiang Zhao,
• Caiyi Wang,
• Zenghui Ye,
• Wei-Yuan Ma,
• Jian-Xing Xu and
• Fengzhi Zhang

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2026, 22, 771–781, doi:10.3762/bjoc.22.59

• afford triazoles IXa,c,d or, in case of product IXb with (R)-alanine methyl ester. The absolute stereochemistry of IXb is R. All compounds with defined absolute configuration described below were synthesized from IXb, thereby preserving the absolute stereochemistry and affording the corresponding R

• % yield. Synthesis of compounds IXa–d. Conditions: (a) N2H4·H2O, MeOH, rt, 12 h; (b) DMF–DMA, 80 °C, 12 h; (c) amines (for IXa,c,d) or (R)-alanine methyl ester (for IXb), AcOH, MeCN, 90 °C, 16 h, 66–80% yield; (d) absolute stereochemistry is R. Synthesis of compounds Z1–15. Conditions: (a) K2CO3, KI, MeCN

Preparation of 3-(alkylamino)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridine-2-carbaldehydes via Kornblum oxidation and unexpected ring-opening reactions of the corresponding alcohols under oxidative conditions

• Sandile J. Mkhize,
• Memory Zimuwandeyi,
• Manuel A. Fernandes,
• Amanda L. Rousseau and
• Moira L. Bode

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2026, 22, 763–770, doi:10.3762/bjoc.22.58

• ]pyridine-2-carbaldehydes is reported. A Groebke–Blackburn–Bienaymé reaction between 2-aminopyridine derivatives, cyclohexyl isocyanide and glyoxylic acid in the presence of methanol and an acid catalyst gave the 2-ester derivatives that were reduced to give the corresponding alcohols. Mild Kornblum

• ester. In this paper, we describe the synthesis of a library of derivatives of 8, whose imidazo[1,2-a]pyridine core could be accessed via the Groebke–Blackburn–Bienayme (GBB) multicomponent coupling reaction [20][21][22][23]. Results and Discussion In order to access our initial target compounds 7, the

• starting material was recovered from reaction of compound 9e. In order to prevent possible mixtures of the two products being formed with slight variation in reaction conditions, the reaction to prepare ester 13 was properly optimised to ensure that full in situ esterification of the glyoxylic acid had

Synthesis and biological evaluation of new brassinosteroid analogs with C-22 benzoate function

• María Núñez,
• Camila Escobar,
• Mario Párraga,
• Mauricio Soto,
• Luis Espinoza-Catalán,
• Katy Díaz and
• Andrés F. Olea

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2026, 22, 753–762, doi:10.3762/bjoc.22.57

• aromatic hydrogens H-2’ and H-3’, respectively. While the observed signal at δ = 2.38 ppm (3H, s) corresponds to CH3-Ar. Additionally, the signals observed downfield (by the electron-withdrawing effect of the ester function) at δ = 4.27 (1H, dd, J = 10.8 and 3.4 Hz, H-22a) and 4.01 (1H, dd, J = 10.8 and

Synthesis of heterocycles based on azomethine ylides from α-amino acids (or amines) and carbonyl compounds

• Ekaterina V. Berezhnaya,
• Alexander I. Ponyaev,
• Vitali M. Boitsov and
• Alexander V. Stepakov

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2026, 22, 705–741, doi:10.3762/bjoc.22.55

• acid or its ester (Scheme 1). In both cases, condensation of amino acids with carbonyl compounds occurs; however, in the first case, decarboxylation occurs with the in situ formation of azomethine ylides, which subsequently undergo cycloaddition to unsaturated substrates. The advantage of the first

• diastereoselectivity (>20:1) and enantioselectivity (89–96% ee) regardless of the electronic and steric properties of the aromatic ring in the α-(arylimino)ester (Scheme 4). However, when using other dipolarophiles, such as dimethyl maleate, tert-butyl crotonate, and tert-butyl cinnamate, a noticeable decrease in

• iminoester 1 with tert-butyl acrylic acid ester 4 occurs first. This is followed by condensation of pyrrolidine 9 with cinnamic aldehyde (10) to form azomethine ylide B, which enters into a second diastereoselective 1,3-DC with various electrophilic alkenes. The authors used acrylic acid esters, vinylphenyl

Anti-invasive and cytotoxic evaluation of a (+)-pinoresinol-based semisynthetic library against glioblastoma

• Chen Zhang,
• Kah Yean Lum,
• Jonathan M. White,
• Paul I. Forster,
• Nicholas Booth,
• Sunita A. Ramesh and
• Rohan A. Davis

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2026, 22, 691–704, doi:10.3762/bjoc.22.54

• two new pinoresinol ester derivatives 6 and 7 showed the biggest differences to the natural products owing to the addition of UV-active acyl moieties. Owing to our developing interest in identifying natural products and derivatives that are cytotoxic to human cancer cell lines and/or block invasion or

Synthesis of depressin, cryptomeridiol and 4-epi-cryptomeridiol enabled by a terpenoid chiral pool-producing platform

• Yao Kong,
• Tao Wang,
• Chen Wang,
• Pengcheng Zhang,
• Yuanning Liu,
• Kaibiao Wang,
• Fen Liu,
• Hongli Jia and
• Zhengren Xu

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2026, 22, 683–690, doi:10.3762/bjoc.22.53

• allylic position C13 being oxidized, a second allylic oxidation would possibly occur at the desired C5 position. However, when compound 8, as well as its acetyl ester (Ac) and tert-butyldimethylsilyl ether (TBS) derivatives, were subjected to several metal-mediated allylic oxidation conditions, either no

• the benzoate ester for reductive deoxygenation were not successful [63], and 13a/b decomposed in the esterification step. We have finally found that the 13-hydroxy group could be smoothly removed by the methyl oxalyl ester deoxygenation method [64][65]. Thus, 13a/b were esterified with methyl

• bond of 15 was confirmed to be Z based on the NOESY correlations between 13-H/20-H3. The formation of product 15 could be attributed to the isomerization of the C13 allylic radical, generated by methyl oxalyl ester deoxygenation step, to the C11 allylic radical, followed by hydrogen abstraction from n

Towards the targeted protein degradation of CK2: design and synthesis of CAM4066-based PROTACs

• Sophie Day-Riley,
• Sona Krajcovicova,
• Aryaman Raj Sokhal,
• Jan L. Venne,
• Paul Brear,
• Marko Hyvönen,
• Benjamin C. Whitehurst,
• Jason S. Carroll and
• David R. Spring

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2026, 22, 611–619, doi:10.3762/bjoc.22.47

• native framework while serving as a more accessible synthetic handle for downstream coupling chemistry. As 1 itself was known not to have any effect on cell viability while its uncharged methyl ester analogue did, the neutralised pro-drug analogue of the ATP-site binder was employed to prevent such

• PROTAC precursors 17–20 in moderate to good yields (35–49%; Scheme 1). Before progressing to full PROTACs, it was essential to confirm that the modified CAM4066 scaffold tolerated linker installation. For this, the methyl ester of the key ligand–linker precursor 17 was hydrolysed using aqueous LiOH to

Continuous-flow carbonyl hydrogenation under subatmospheric to atmospheric hydrogen pressure enabled by robust heterogeneous Pt–Fe catalysts

• Hiroyuki Miyamura,
• Ryosuke Kajiyama,
• Shun-ya Onozawa,
• Yoshihiro Kon and
• Shū Kobayashi

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2026, 22, 575–582, doi:10.3762/bjoc.22.43

• the ester moiety, and the product was isolated by simple evaporation of the solvent from the collected fraction eluted from the flow reactor (Table 2, entry 6). Cyclic ketones 1g, 1h, and 1i and an aliphatic ketone 1j were also hydrogenated in excellent yields at room temperature (Table 2, entries 7

Molecular tweezer–peptide conjugates disrupt the protein–protein interaction between survivin and histone H3 essential in mitosis

• Catherine Gsell,
• Philipp Rebmann,
• Karina Opara,
• Christine Beuck,
• Peter Bayer,
• David Bier,
• Ingrid R. Vetter and
• Thomas Schrader

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2026, 22, 557–567, doi:10.3762/bjoc.22.41

• complex. A) Lewis structure of the truncated tweezer peptide monophosphate 2b. B) Close-up of the binding motif formed by 2b (tweezer: green, butynyl ester: red) on the survivin surface encapsulating Lys-121 after MD simulation (Desmond, 100 ns, 300 K, 0.15 mM NaCl) using explicit water solvent. A

Experimental and DFT studies on the regioselective methanolysis of 5-azido-9-oxabicyclo[6.1.0]nonan-4-yl 4-nitrobenzoate isomers

• İlknur Polat,
• Selçuk Eşsiz and
• Emine Salamci

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2026, 22, 547–556, doi:10.3762/bjoc.22.40

• epoxide 9b, the more positively charged epoxide carbon is sterically shielded by the neighbouring ester carbonyl group. As a result, nucleophilic attack occurs at the sterically more accessible, albeit less positively charged, epoxide carbon. These observations indicate that the regioselectivity of

Modern synthetic pathways towards eribulin and its subunits

• Sebastian Dominik Graf

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2026, 22, 495–526, doi:10.3762/bjoc.22.37

• metathesis with ethyl acrylate, acidic cleavage of the diol protecting group and addition of NaH induced the oxy-Michael reaction towards 18 in 4:1 dr. Reduction of the ester moiety, subsequent protection with TBDPSCl and methylation of the secondary alcohol furnished 19. After Bn-deprotection, iodination

• aldehyde motif (equilibrium of lactol to aldehyde and alcohol) was trapped by HWE reaction to obtain 95. The secondary alcohol unit of 95 was protected and the ester reduced to the respective alcohol, before Sharpless epoxidation, oxidation of the alcohol and subsequent Wittig reaction yielded allylic

• )/Cr(II)-mediated coupling of 1-bromo-2-trimethylsilylethene, acidic cleavage of the remaining cyclohexylidene ring, TBDMS-protection of the three alcohol units and electrophilic substitution of the silyl moiety to afford vinyl iodide 103 was applied. Eventually, ester 103 was reduced to target

Synthesis and uranyl(VI) extraction performance of a calix[4]pyrrole–tetrahydroxamic acid receptor

• Sara Karnib,
• Rana Baydoun,
• Wissam Zaidan,
• Nancy AlHaddad,
• Omar El Samad,
• Bilal Nsouli,
• Francine Cazier-Dennin and
• Pierre-Edouard Danjou

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2026, 22, 486–494, doi:10.3762/bjoc.22.36

• extractants. Here, we report the design and synthesis of PCP HA, a phenoxycalix[4]pyrrole scaffold functionalized with four hydroxamic acid (HA) groups, and evaluate its uranium(VI) extraction potential. PCP HA was synthesized from its ester precursor (PCP E) via hydroxyaminolysis using KOH, achieving a 95

• aldehydes [45], alcohols [46], and amides [47] have also been reported. However, the literature states that there is no particular reagent or reaction condition that can serve as a general rule for the synthesis of hydroxamic acids [48]. In this study, the direct reaction of hydroxylamine with the PCP ester

• was first examined, since the ester functions as the synthetic precursor to the corresponding acid used in the preparation of PCP derivatives from PCP [21]. For that, PCP was initially synthesized through the molecular cyclisation of pyrrole with 4-hydroxyacetophenone in methanol in the presence of

Synthesis of a HDAC inhibitor–nanogold probe for cryo-EM visualization in class I HDAC co-repressor complexes

• Wiktoria A. Pytel,
• John W. R. Schwabe and
• James T. Hodgkinson

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2026, 22, 480–485, doi:10.3762/bjoc.22.35

• to its corresponding NHS ester 8 and residual starting material was removed by column chromatography. The Boc-protecting group was removed under anhydrous conditions in good yield and the structure of 9 was confirmed by NMR spectroscopy. Compound 9 was maintained as the TFA salt for the final step

Dialkylaminoalkylation of β-ketosulfones via ring-opening of 3-sulfonylpyrrolidines

• Evgeny M. Buev,
• Alexander V. Pavlushin,
• Vladimir S. Moshkin and
• Vyacheslav Y. Sosnovskikh

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2026, 22, 383–389, doi:10.3762/bjoc.22.26

• possible to use an ester group for the cleavage of 3-sulfonylpyrrolidines, it required a longer reaction time and provided a slightly lower overall product yield (77%) compared to the use of the benzoyl group. With an optimized synthetic route in hand – comprising a multicomponent reaction of ketosulfone

Recent advances in the cleavage of non-activated amides

• Eun-Sol Choi and
• Hyo-Jun Lee

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2026, 22, 352–369, doi:10.3762/bjoc.22.23

• of CeO2 to attack the carbonyl carbon, leading to cleavage of the C–N bond (B). Subsequent nucleophilic attack of the octoxide anion on the activated carbonyl center (C) then furnishes the ester product. Later, the same group found that niobium could also serve as a heterogeneous Lewis acid catalyst

• undergoes hydrolysis to afford the benzyl ester 30. Under the optimized conditions, primary, secondary, and tertiary amides 12, 31–33 were successfully converted to benzyl esters in high yields. Notably, loss of enantiopurity of chiral amide 33 was not observed during esterification. Sulfuryl fluoride

• 1), addition of water affords adduct M, which subsequently converts to the ester via deprotonation. In dry solvents (path 2), nucleophilic attack by the departing OSO₂F− anion on L produces intermediate N, containing an S–O bond that is ultimately cleaved under basic conditions to yield the ester

Ring contraction and ring expansion reactions in terpenoid biosynthesis and their application to total synthesis

• Nicolas Kratena,
• Nicolas Heinzig and
• Peter Gärtner

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2026, 22, 289–343, doi:10.3762/bjoc.22.21

• ) starting from (−)-carene (155), already containing the dimethyl cyclopropane motif [243][244]. Intermediate 156 was reached after 29 linear steps and suggested to be the crucial biosynthetic precursor (protected as its acetate, see Scheme 37A). Treatment with strong alkali cleaved the ester in 156

Spirobarbiturates with a pyrrolizidine moiety: synthesis, structure and biological evaluation

• Arthur A. Puzyrkov,
• Andrew S. Drachuk,
• Ekaterina A. Popova,
• Alexander V. Stepakov and
• Vitali M. Boitsov

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2026, 22, 274–288, doi:10.3762/bjoc.22.20

• animals [31][32][33]. However, some representatives of these compounds (Scheme 2) find applications in pharmacology [34] due to their antimicrobial (megalanthonine; subulacine N-oxide) [35][36], anti-inflammatory (lindelofidine, benzoic acid ester; paludosine) [37][38], anticancer (ligulachyroine) [39

Arene activation via π-bond localization: concepts and opportunities

• Paul Meiners,
• Julian J. Melder and
• Tobias Morack

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2026, 22, 257–273, doi:10.3762/bjoc.22.19

• cyclohexene derivatives beyond sulfone and sulfonamide motifs. By combining ester enolate and amine addition sequences, this methodology was subsequently extended to the synthesis of architecturally complex polyheterocyclic frameworks (Scheme 3B) [62]. Such scaffolds are scarcely represented in contemporary