Z-Selective semihydrogenation of alkynes via Ni/Lewis acid synergistic catalyzed system using DMF as hydrogen source and solvent

• Lei Kang,
• Haifeng Gao and
• Luo Yang

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2026, 22, 1004–1012, doi:10.3762/bjoc.22.79

• promise in addressing some of these issues [11][12][13][14][15][16]. Nickel, in particular, has emerged as an attractive candidate for transfer semihydrogenation [17][18][19][20][21][22]. Common hydrogen donors employed in transfer hydrogenation include isopropanol, formic acid, methanol, and water; these

• hydrogenation systems. HCOOH then reacts with the Ni species to form a formate nickel hydride intermediate B (HCOONi(II)H), a key species documented in nickel-catalyzed hydrogen-transfer reactions. Subsequent selective insertion of the internal alkyne into the Ni–H bond of B affords the vinyl-nickel

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

• Geon Kang Minki Jeon Pooja Kumari Jat Cheoljae Kim Isaac Choi Department of Chemistry, Chungbuk National University, Chungcheongbuk-do, 28644, Republic of Korea 10.3762/bjoc.22.75 Abstract Electrochemical reduction has emerged as a powerful alternative to conventional hydrogenation for

• , controllable reaction manifolds that are inaccessible under thermochemical conditions. These developments position 3d metal electrocatalysis as a versatile and programmable platform for selective hydrogenation and isotopic labeling under mild, sustainable conditions. Keywords: electrochemical reduction

• among chemistry and chemical industry community [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9]. Given this longstanding significance, the development of controlled reduction strategies has diversified to accommodate the distinct reactivity and selectivity. Representatively, complete hydrogenation of alkynes or alkenes is

Synthesis of sterically shielded piperidine nitroxides via acid-catalyzed heterocyclization of β-aminoketone derivatives with ketones

• Mark M. Gulman,
• Yurii I. Glazachev and
• Sergey A. Dobrynin

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2026, 22, 948–954, doi:10.3762/bjoc.22.74

• hydrogenation to give saturated alkyl or functionalized alkyl groups. The study of reduction kinetics for alkyl and allyl-substituted piperidine nitroxides in ascorbate/glutathione media (30% EtOH, pH 7.5) yielded second-order rate constants of ≈10−2 M−1·s−1, which is close to that earlier reported for 2,2,6,6

• alkynyl- or allylmagnesium halides gave 2-alkynyl or 2-allyl-substituted nitroxides. Finally, carbon–carbon multiple bonds were removed via Pd-catalyzed hydrogenation and the nitroxide group was recovered by mild oxidation. This approach was used to prepare both symmetric 2,2,6,6-tetraethyl- and 2,2,6,6

• allyl derivative 7d, extensive signal overlap prevented rigorous simulation, but characteristic terminal vinyl protons at 5.83, 5.28, 5.27 ppm were clearly observed. Elemental analysis and HRMS data were in agreement with the proposed structures. Subsequent hydrogenation of the unsaturated carbon–carbon

Total synthesis of the capsular polysaccharide repeating unit towards the development of a glycoconjugate vaccine against Klebsiella pneumoniae ST512

• Shuo Zhang,
• Ondřej Daněk and
• Peter H. Seeberger

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2026, 22, 821–827, doi:10.3762/bjoc.22.64

• followed by catalytic hydrogenation over palladium on carbon, affording disaccharide 21 in 47% yield over two steps. Similarly, trisaccharide 22, tetrasaccharide 23, and pentasaccharide 24 were prepared from intermediates 14, 15, and 17, respectively. The analogues 21–24, together with the repeating unit

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

• enones, which trigger a 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition via copper–ruthenium catalysis [54] (Scheme 15). Further reductive hydrogenation of ketopyrrolidines proceeds to form hydroxypyrrolidines 31 in high yields and excellent diastereo-/enantioselectivity. The reaction can be used with aldimine esters with

Hydrogen production from formic acid catalyzed by NHC–Cu complexes

• Orlando Santoro and
• Catherine S. J. Cazin

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2026, 22, 620–627, doi:10.3762/bjoc.22.48

• from its dehydrogenation could be recycled by hydrogenation to methanol or formic acid [8][9][10]. The catalytic FA dehydrogenation has been mediated using several transition metals [11][12][13][14]. In this context, noble metals such as Ru [15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23], Ir [24][25][26][27][28

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

• , including ketones and aldehydes, to alcohols is a fundamental and important reaction in organic synthesis. One of the most ideal methods is catalytic hydrogenation, however, the hydrogenation of ketones generally requires harsh reaction conditions, such as high temperature and high pressure. We developed a

• ][10][11][12]. In this context, advanced technologies represented by the precise control of the bimetallic structure of a heterogeneous catalyst, mechanochemical hydrogenation, and continuous-flow methods using packed-bed reactors greatly contributed to advancing this transformation [9][11][12][13

• enhanced catalytic performance could be achieved in case of continuous-flow hydrogenation reactions using a gas–liquid–solid catalyst-packed column reactor, in which both a liquid substrate and hydrogen gas can directly interact with the catalytically active sites of the heterogeneous catalyst at an

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

• assemble 226 as an E/Z mixture. Hydrogenation of alkene 226 and treatment with allyltrimethylsilane were used to form 228. The ester moiety of 228 was reduced and the Bz-group was cleaved simultaneously to afford the respective diol (229), then TIPS-protection of the primary alcohol unit enabled the

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

• dibenzylated by-product. Compound 5 was then coupled to the CI-994 intermediate 3 via HATU-mediated amide bond formation to produce 6 in good yield. Removal of the benzyl protecting group was performed by catalytic hydrogenation and acid 7 was obtained in near quantitative yield. Intermediate 7 was converted

Recent advances in the stereoselective synthesis of distal biaxially chiral molecules

• Fanxing Zhou,
• Chen Zhang,
• Lingyu Sun,
• Yiyun Fang,
• Siming Zheng,
• Lina Hu,
• Mengyang Shen,
• Zhen Zhao,
• Wei Xu,
• Yunqiang Sun and
• Zi-Qiang Rong

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2026, 22, 461–479, doi:10.3762/bjoc.22.34

• ligands (Scheme 3) [44]. The resulting catalysts 18 demonstrated remarkable efficiency in the asymmetric transfer hydrogenation of quinoline derivatives. Along similar lines, Zhang and co-workers introduced an additional axial chirality element into a ligand framework, affording a pair of diastereomeric

• remote biaxial chiral ligands 21 (Scheme 4) [45]. These ligands were successfully applied in asymmetric hydrogenation, revealing dual asymmetric induction effects and enriching the design principles for chiral catalytic systems. In addition, Yan’s group developed an organocatalytic strategy for the

Cone p-aminocalix[4]arenes enriched with ‘clickable’ alkyne or azide functionalities

• Ilia Korniltsev,
• Vasily Bazhenov,
• Alexander Gorbunov,
• Dmitry Cheshkov,
• Stanislav Bezzubov,
• Vladimir Kovalev and
• Ivan Vatsouro

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2026, 22, 399–415, doi:10.3762/bjoc.22.28

• to be not bulky enough to protect the alkyne from a Raney-Ni-catalyzed reduction by gaseous hydrogen, as a trial hydrogenation of the nitrated/propargylated calix[4]arene 11 resulted in only trace amounts of the desired p-aminocalix[4]arene 18 among numerous other reaction products. Due to this, a

• hampering or preventing a catalytic hydrogenation of these compounds. On the other hand, in calixarenes 31 and 32, which are immediate products of the selective reduction of the nitro groups in compounds 29 and 30 under neutral or basic conditions, the free amino groups may be alkylated by a neighboring

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

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

• hydrogenation of the aromatic core of highly substituted benzocyclobutenes using simple Pd/C under ambient conditions [38]. The pronounced substituent effects on the hydrogenation rate highlight the key role of small-ring strain in this generally challenging transformation. Complementary to these strictly

• , increases π-bond localization, rendering phenylenes more susceptible to hydrogenation, metal complexation, ring opening, and cycloaddition reactions [39]. Building on these intriguing studies and the ongoing renaissance of strain-release-driven catalysis [40], harnessing small-ring strain to drive

• ; Figure 4B) [44][45][46]. Collectively, these changes alter the innate reactivity of the arene, steering η2-coordinated systems toward electrophilic addition, cycloaddition, and hydrogenation processes. While many transition metals can engage aromatic rings through η2-coordination, only a handful have

Total synthesis of natural products based on hydrogenation of aromatic rings

• Haoxiang Wu and
• Xiangbing Qi

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2026, 22, 88–122, doi:10.3762/bjoc.22.4

• saturation the aromatic ring facilitates synthetic chemists to efficiently synthesize natural products with complex three-dimensional structures. Recent advances in catalyst and ligand design have enabled unprecedented progress in the catalytic hydrogenation of (hetero)aromatic systems. Quinoline

• , isoquinoline, pyridine, and related substrates can now be reduced with high efficiency and stereoselectivity, providing efficient access to saturated and partially saturated architectures vital to synthetic chemistry. Furthermore, catalytic asymmetric aromatic hydrogenation has facilitated the asymmetric total

• synthesis of complex natural products and pharmaceutical agents. This review highlights recent advances in catalytic (hetero)arene hydrogenation, with a focus on its application in natural product synthesis. Keywords: aromatic rings; dearomatization; hydrogenation; natural products; total synthesis

Advances in Zr-mediated radical transformations and applications to total synthesis

• Hiroshige Ogawa and
• Hugh Nakamura

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2026, 22, 71–87, doi:10.3762/bjoc.22.3

• formation to give the cyclic acetal 33. This transformation was applicable to a range of oxetanes 30a–c bearing benzylic alcohol derivatives, each affording the corresponding cyclic acetals in good yields. In 2023, Ota and Yamaguchi et al. reported the hydrogenation of alkyl chlorides via halogen atom

• hydrogenation to give the corresponding alkanes in good yields. Secondary (34f–h) and tertiary alkyl chlorides (34i–k) also reacted smoothly. Moreover, the method was successfully applied to complex molecules, including valine (34l), caffeine (34m), and glucofuranoside (34n), giving the desired products in good

Recent advancements in the synthesis of Veratrum alkaloids

• Morwenna Mögel,
• David Berger and
• Philipp Heretsch

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 2657–2693, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.206

• installed another exo-methylene (in the future F-ring), which would later be reduced to the methyl group at C25. Staudinger reduction and two protecting group manipulations set the stage for the formation of the piperidine (F-ring) through a Mitsunobu reaction. Hydrogenation employing Wilkinson’s catalyst

• . Compound 44 could then be subjected to a Nazarov cyclization, which was performed in a photochemical fashion, to close ring C. Further reduction and hydrogenation in ring D and an acid-induced spirocyclization of Nazarov-product 45 concluded the synthesis of cyclopamine. Notably, this total synthesis of

• moiety was introduced as a precursor to an aldehyde, which was obtained by reduction of 46 to 47. For the right-hand fragment (ring D, E, and F), an asymmetric hydrogenation of α-substituted acrylic acid 48 was performed, followed by redox manipulations to give aldehyde 49 over 3 steps in 95% and an

Chemoenzymatic synthesis of the cardenolide rhodexin A and its aglycone sarmentogenin

• Fuzhen Song,
• Mengmeng Zheng,
• Dongkai Wang,
• Xudong Qu and
• Qianghui Zhou

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 2637–2644, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.204

• reactive C17 side chain including an α-hydroxycarbonyl group, a set of side reactions (e.g., reduction of the C20 carbonyl, hydrogenation of Δ4 and Δ14 double bonds, etc.) occurred under the Mukaiyama hydration conditions [30][31]. Therefore, it was necessary to alter the side chain before installing the

• C14 β-OH group. The revised synthetic route is described in Scheme 2. At first, 4 was subjected to a Pd/C-catalyzed hydrogenation to afford the desired A/B-cis fused intermediate 7 along with its C5 epimer as a 2:1 separable mixture in a quantitative yield. By treating 7 with the Bestmann ylide

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

• reaction of 87 was employed, generating both the kinetic product 88 and the desired thermodynamic product 89. Heating 88 promoted a retro-Diels–Alder/Diels–Alder equilibrium, favoring the more stable isomer 89. Palladium-catalyzed hydrogenation of the 1,2-disubstituted alkene in 89, followed by Mo(CO)6

• group installed the tertiary alcohol at C1, yielding intermediate 92. The α-hydroxy lactone was constructed through RuO4-mediated oxidation, forming the pentacyclic core. Finally, debenzylation of the resulting pentacyclic compound under palladium-catalyzed hydrogenation provided (±)-illisimonin A

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

• alkylation with aldehyde 102, producing 103, which was then protected as its OMOM ether to yield 104. One-pot hydrogenation of quinone 104 afforded the corresponding hydroquinone, which, upon subsequent methylation, furnished 105. Removal of the MOM group from 105 followed by oxidation of the resulting

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

• valuable chemical used in the feed and food industry, is produced by petrochemical processes. Its synthesis from biobased lactic acid (LA) offers an access from renewable resources. However, this conversion is difficult due to the high activation energy required for the hydrogenation reaction removing the

• catalysts including Ni/CeO2-γAl2O3, spinal NiAl2O4 and Ni/La2O3-αAl2O3, at 230 °C and 3.2 MPa. Using a chiral catalyst composed of [RuCl2(benzene)]2 and SunPhos, an effective asymmetric hydrogenation of α-hydroxy ketones was reported, yielding chiral terminal 1,2-diols in up to 99% ee. This Ru-catalyzed

• asymmetric hydrogenation process of α-hydroxy ketones opens up a new pathway for the production of chiral terminal 1,2-diols (Scheme 23) [98]. Kini and Mathews reported the synthesis of novel oxazole derivatives such as 6-(substituted benzylidene)-2-methylthiazolo[2,3-b]oxazol-5(6H)-one by reacting 1

The application of desymmetric enantioselective reduction of cyclic 1,3-dicarbonyl compounds in the total synthesis of terpenoid and alkaloid natural products

• Dong-Xing Tan and
• Fu-She Han

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 2085–2102, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.164

• of 57 to phenolic intermediate followed by the construction of the B ring generated tricyclic core 59. Subsequently, dihydroxylation of the doubled bond in the central six-membered ring using OsO4/NMO gave diol, which was then subjected to acetylation of the two hydroxy groups and hydrogenation of C5

• on the reported method for asymmetric transfer hydrogenation of commercially available cyclopentadione 62 [54], the authors adapted an efficient method for the desymmetric enantioselective reduction of 62 using commercially available (R,R)-Ts-DENEB (63) as the catalyst and formic acid as the hydrogen

• , protection of the resultant primary alcohol, and hydrogenation afforded ketone 65. The LaCl3·LiCl-promoted addition of 65 with Grignard reagent followed by TES protection of the resulting secondary alcohol, regioselective deprotection of the TES group and in situ oxidation provided aldehyde 66. Next, 66

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

• underwent dehydroxylation protocol involving base-promoted mesylate elimination and catalytic hydrogenation reactions, providing 31a. Reduction of lactam and ester in one pot with LiAlH4 and acid-promoted hydrolysis of ketal protection to ketone furnished 32a. Finally, oxidation of the primary alcohol to

Measuring the stereogenic remoteness in non-central chirality: a stereocontrol connectivity index for asymmetric reactions

• Ivan Keng Wee On,
• Yu Kun Choo,
• Sambhav Baid and
• Ye Zhu

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 1995–2006, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.155

• index (Scheme 2). A detailed process for assigning the index is shown in Scheme 2A for asymmetric hydrogenation of 2-butanone [1]. The atoms involved in bond cleavage and bond formation are highlighted in orange color. The atoms responsible for assignment of the stereochemical configuration of the

• products are highlighted in grey color. The shortest connecting bonds between them are colored red. Accordingly, the asymmetric hydrogenation of 2-butanone is designated as [20] process because there are two connecting bonds between the stereogenic carbon and the stereochemical differentiation atoms, and

Asymmetric total synthesis of tricyclic prostaglandin D2 metabolite methyl ester via oxidative radical cyclization

• Miao Xiao,
• Liuyang Pu,
• Qiaoli Shang,
• Lei Zhu and
• Jun Huang

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 1964–1972, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.152

• -metathesis reaction smoothly in the presence of the Hoveyda–Grubbs second-generation catalyst to afford the enone 13 in 63% yield with the desired trans-configuration. Enone 13 was then subjected to the Pd/C-catalyzed hydrogenation to give the thermodynamically favored bicyclic hemiketal 21 in 92% yield as

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

• sequence including oxidation and subsequent hydrogenation. The Huang group reported their synthesis of (+)-brazilin and its racemic form in 2022 (Scheme 5) [34]. They first evaluated the feasibility of the Prins/Friedel–Crafts tandem reaction in the construction of the 6/6/5/6 tetracyclic skeleton

• between 80 and 81 gave diester 82. Through a ten-step sequence including an aza-Michael reaction, diester 82 was converted into diketone 83, which was further transformed into (−)-petrosin (84) via RCM reaction and hydrogenation. For the synthesis of (+)-petrosin (86) (Scheme 13b), a similar strategy was

• -step sequence to give lactone 114. Finally, hydrogenation of 114 provided (+)-pilocarpine (115) and (+)-isopilocarpine (116) in a ratio of 72:28. Treatment of the mixture with HNO3 followed by recrystallization afforded the nitrate salt of 115 (115·HNO3) in 70% yield from 114. In 2008, the Ōmura group