Synthetic study toward vibralactone

• Liang Shi,
• Jiayi Song,
• Yiqing Li,
• Jia-Chen Li,
• Shuqi Li,
• Li Ren,
• Zhi-Yun Liu and
• Hong-Dong Hao

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 2376–2382, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.182

• ; Introduction β-Lactones have attracted continuous interest and have been widely utilized as key intermediates in the synthesis of natural products and polymers due to their innate ring strain [1][2][3][4][5][6]. Moreover, several natural products and their derivatives containing β-lactone as key structural

Halogenated butyrolactones from the biomass-derived synthon levoglucosenone

• Johannes Puschnig,
• Martyn Jevric and
• Ben W. Greatrex

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 2297–2301, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.175

• of alkenyl halides 7a and 7b with the green oxidant H2O2 gave trace conversion after 3 days; however, the reaction using m-CPBA catalyzed with p-TSA was complete in 24 hours and afforded the halogenated lactones 8a and 8b in 33% and 34% yield, respectively (Scheme 1). We have recently reported the C3

• ready availability of enamine 9a; however, direct double halogenation of 6 may also be possible using an excess of halogenation agent in DMSO [31]. The Baeyer–Villiger oxidation using H2O2 in MeCN gave the desired chiral lactones 11a and 11b in moderate to good yield following an acidic workup to cleave

• chiral halogenated lactones, which could be useful in the enantioselective synthesis of valuable drug precursors. The syntheses feature the use of readily available and cheap starting materials, and we have also demonstrated some of these transformations on a gram scale. Halogen-containing butyrolactone

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

• rapidly under mild conditions. The catalyst 1 oxidizes the vicinal diols to the corresponding hydroxy ketones faster than other alcohols. Primary alcohols and 1,5-diols are oxidized to yield secondary alcohols and cyclic lactones, respectively (Scheme 30). A high chemo- and regioselectivity was observed

• high reactivity of HFO permitted that a limited loading of catalyst could be employed. The reduction of the Friedel–Crafts adduct gave the targeted indoyl lactones with good yield (Scheme 38) [123]. Bos and Riguet reported the one pot synthesis of α,γ-substituted chiral γ-lactones from HFO. The

• , amides, lactones, acrylic acid, etc. (Scheme 72) and is therefore a key intermediate in the synthesis of pharmaceuticals, agrochemicals, and other specialty chemicals. Levulinate esters, used as a solvent or as biofuels, are obtained by esterification under acid catalysis, e.g., with a sulfuric acid

Catalytic asymmetric reactions of isocyanides for constructing non-central chirality

• Jia-Yu Liao

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 1648–1660, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.129

• nucleophiles in the DKR of various bridged biaryls bearing different linkages to give diverse nitrogen heterocycle-substituted atropoisomeric biaryls. In 2021, our group achieved the catalytic enantioselective DKR of biaryl lactones 46 with α-acidic isocyanides (Scheme 8a) [48]. By using Ag2CO3 and cinchonine

• lactones with carbon nucleophiles. The success lies in the tandem enantioselective ring-opening of lactones with α-acidic isocyanides, followed by a rapid cyclization driven by aromatization, overcoming the long-standing stereochemical leakage problem caused by the undesired lactol formation [45

• eight-membered lactones 53 in 42–67% yield with excellent retention of enantiopurity via an overall lactonization process. In addition to C–C axial chirality, we have demonstrated that our Ag-catalyzed DKR protocol could be applied for the generation of C–N atropisomers by using N-arylindole lactams 54

Calcium waste as a catalyst in the transesterification for demanding esters: scalability perspective

• Anton N. Potorochenko and
• Konstantin S. Rodygin

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 1520–1527, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.114

• the alcohols’ nature and catalyst amount (1–10 wt %). The CS600 catalyst demonstrated efficiency in the transesterification of low-molecular-weight esters, medium-chain triglycerides (C9–C12), and lactones, resulting in the corresponding methyl esters in 66–99% yields in the presence of low catalyst

• -chain triglycerides (C9–C12), and lactones with yields ranging from 66% to 99% at catalyst loadings of 1–5 wt % (9 examples). For the first time, transesterification of various esters was carried out using a catalyst from carbide slag waste. The use of the catalyst demonstrated its compatibility with

• , lactones and triglycerides with medium hydrocarbon radical lengths (C5, C9–10 and C12) and the results are summarized in Scheme 2. All reactions were carried out at the boiling point of methanol (65 °C), with different CS600 loading and reaction times. The transesterification of ethyl esters to the

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

• : the first one comprises an alcoholysis of γ-lactones containing a leaving group (typically a triflate) at C-2 followed by spontaneous Williamson etherification. This method was extensively studied by Fleet and Jenkinson [76] and was applied for example for the synthesis of oxetane carboxylic esters

• less reactive mesyl almost completely shut down the ring contraction. In 2024, Twiddle et al. showed that this ring contraction can also be effected from lactones containing bromine as the leaving group and used this approach to develop a 2nd generation industrial synthesis of PF-06878031 (Scheme 30

New advances in asymmetric organocatalysis II

• Radovan Šebesta

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 766–769, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.60

• progressed from the original amine catalysts is the work of Shirakawa and co-workers. In this contribution, the authors employed a binaphthalene-derived sulfide organocatalyst for enantioselective bromolactonizations of α- and β-substituted 5-hexenoic acids to produce the corresponding chiral lactones [23

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

Hypervalent iodine-mediated intramolecular alkene halocyclisation

• Charu Bansal,
• Oliver Ruggles,
• Albert C. Rowett and
• Alastair J. J. Lennox

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 3113–3133, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.258

• tetrahydrofurans 25 and tetrahydropyrans 26. Unsaturated carboxylic acids 24 was also cyclised to form 5-membered fluorinated lactones 27. The mechanisms proposed for the cyclisation of unsaturated alcohols and carboxylic acids both proceed first through the activation of the alkene by the iodane (Scheme 11). The

• -dimethylbenziodoxole (12) as an oxidant with AgBF4 and 4 Å molecular sieves to prevent water competing with fluoride as the nucleophile, a range of unsaturated carboxylic acids were successfully cyclised to fluorinated lactones 27 in good yields. The authors proposed a mechanism for fluorolactonization (Scheme 14

• of unsaturated alcohols and carboxylic acids to make tetrahydrofurans, fluoromethyl-γ-lactones and tetrahydropyrans. The ratio of stereoisomers is shown in parentheses. Oxyfluorination of unsaturated alcohols. Synthesis and mechanism of fluoro-benzoxazepines. Intramolecular fluorocyclisation of

Transition-metal-free decarbonylation–oxidation of 3-arylbenzofuran-2(3H)-ones: access to 2-hydroxybenzophenones

• Bhaskar B. Dhotare,
• Seema V. Kanojia,
• Chahna K. Sakhiya,
• Amey Wadawale and
• Dibakar Goswami

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 2655–2667, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.223

• lactones are limited. Both photochemical decarboxylation methods reported for α,γ-butyrolactone [16] and γ-butyrolactones [17] yielded the products in very poor to moderate yields (Figure 2a and 2b). Recently, a transition-metal-free decarboxylation of α,β-unsaturated aromatic lactones was reported for the

• ) is the solar intensity spectrum; Abs(λ) is the experimental absorbance values at corresponding wavelength. The values of [EE(λ) × I(λ)] are constants as shown in Table 3 [9]. Some 2-hydroxybenzophenone derivatives with varied activities. Decarbonylation–oxidation of lactones. The ORTEP view of the

Natural resorcylic lactones derived from alternariol

• Joachim Podlech

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 2171–2207, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.187

• Joachim Podlech Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Institute of Organic Chemistry, Kaiserstraße 12, 76131 Karlsruhe, Germany 10.3762/bjoc.20.187 Abstract In this overview, naturally occurring resorcylic lactones biosynthetically derived from alternariol and almost exclusively produced by

• interesting biological activities. Keywords: biosynthesis; fungal metabolites; polyketides; resorcylic lactones; total synthesis; Introduction Alternariol and some of its derivatives are ubiquitous as fungal metabolites present in infested plants and in food and feed, but similarly in soil, in wallpapers

• . Derivatives formed through metabolization in the human body (or in animals) are only covered if the respective metabolites were similarly identified as natural products. A thorough survey of the literature revealed (at now) 127 natural products to be classified as natural resorcylic lactones derived from

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

• ; enantioselectivity; halogenation; lactones; organocatalysis; Introduction Catalytic asymmetric halolactonizations of alkenoic acids are powerful methods for the preparation of important chiral lactones in enantioenriched forms [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11]. A wide variety of chiral catalysts have been applied

• -hexenoic acids 2, β-substituted substrates 2j–n were submitted to the present catalytic system. As a result of these asymmetric reactions, β,β-dialkyl-δ-valerolactones 3j–k and β-spiro-δ-lactones 3l–n were obtained in good levels of enantioselectivity. The reaction of 2-allylbenzoic acid 2o as a related

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

• preparing spiro α-methylene-β-lactones from different steroidal propargylic alcohols [13]. The procedure involves a one-pot Pd-catalyzed cyclocarbonylation of alkynols using 5 mol % of Pd(CH3CN)2Cl2 as a catalyst precursor and 30 mol % of 2-(dibutyl)phosphine-1-(2,6-diisopropylphenyl)-1H-imidazole as

• C–H insertion to produce the spiro-β-lactone was accomplished by simply exposing the diazo derivative to 440 nm blue LEDs (Kessil lamp) at 50 °C, that favored the formation of a singlet carbene that reacted selectively by insertion into the C(3)–H bond. Spiro-lactones 14 were obtained in 80% yield

• assays demonstrated that the γ-spirolactone 20 inhibited the activity of 17β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type 2 (17β-HSD2) with an IC50 value of 0.35 µM. In 2004, the same research group reported the synthesis of similar spiro-γ-lactones from 17α- and 17β-allylestradiols (not substituted at C-7). The

Polymer degrading marine Microbulbifer bacteria: an un(der)utilized source of chemical and biocatalytic novelty

• Weimao Zhong and
• Vinayak Agarwal

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 1635–1651, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.146

• fundamentally signaling molecules and enzymatic modification of AQs by Microbulbifer could represent a mechanism of ecological cross-talk among marine microbiomes. Enzymatic halogenation of other signaling molecules, such as that of acyl homoserine lactones, has been postulated to modulate bacterial

Stability trends in carbocation intermediates stemming from germacrene A and hedycaryol

• Naziha Tarannam,
• Prashant Kumar Gupta,
• Shani Zev and
• Dan Thomas Major

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 1189–1197, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.101

• microbes, in the form of alcohols, ketones, lactones, and glycosides, and of these various forms, the oxo derivatives in particular have strong aroma and biological activity. Interestingly, in addition to being used routinely as flavorings and aromatic agents, sesquiterpene oxo derivatives also have

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

• , key five-membered olefins bearing heteroatoms can provide direct access to chiral sulfones, sulfoxides, phosphine oxides [8], phthalides, isochromanones, and lactones [9] in a very efficient and convenient manner. Despite our previous results in this area, the desymmetrization of 2,5-dihydro-1H

Non-noble metal-catalyzed cross-dehydrogenation coupling (CDC) involving ether α-C(sp³)–H to construct C–C bonds

• Hui Yu and
• Feng Xu

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 1259–1288, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.94

• , and TBHP acting as both an oxidant and a radical initiator. In 2015, Wang et al. reported the synthesis of quinoline lactones by the double oxidative dehydrogenation (DOD) reaction between glycine derivatives and tetrahydrofuran using the FeCl2/HCl/TBHP system (Scheme 19) [80]. This practical coupling

Synthesis of medium and large phostams, phostones, and phostines

• Jiaxi Xu

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 687–699, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.50

• /bjoc.19.50 Abstract Phostams, phostones, and phostines are a series of 1,2-azaphosphaheterocycle and 1,2-oxaphosphaheterocycle 2-oxide derivatives. They are phosphorus analogues of lactams and lactones and important biologically active compounds. The strategies for the synthesis of medium and large

• chemical synthesis of macrocyclic lactones which are the key structural motifs in some biologically active compounds, 14-methyl-2-phenoxy-1-oxa-2-phosphacyclotetradecane 2-oxide (74) was synthesized as the hapten from phenyl hydrogen (12-hydroxytridecyl)phosphonate (73) via Mitsunobu reaction. The

• Phostam, phostone, and phostine derivatives are important 1,2-aza/oxaphosphaheterocyclic compounds and phosphorus analogues of lactams and lactones. They show important biological activities. Medium and large phostam, phostone, and phostine derivatives are important biologically active compounds. Several

Enolates ambushed – asymmetric tandem conjugate addition and subsequent enolate trapping with conventional and less traditional electrophiles

• Péter Kisszékelyi and
• Radovan Šebesta

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 593–634, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.44

• ring, while flavylium triflate and 2,4,6-triphenylpyrylium tetrafluoroborate were not compatible with our reaction conditions. Heterodonor ferrocenyl phosphane–carbene ligands efficiently promote the conjugate addition of Grignard reagents to α,β-unsaturated lactones [58]. Building on this knowledge

Transition-metal-catalyzed domino reactions of strained bicyclic alkenes

• Austin Pounder,
• Eric Neufeld,
• Peter Myler and
• William Tam

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 487–540, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.38

• lab reported the Rh-catalyzed domino reaction of doubly bridgehead-substituted oxabicyclic alkenes 134 with secondary amine nucleophiles 135 for the synthesis of bicyclo[2.2.2]lactones 136 (Scheme 24) [70]. This reaction proceeded smoothly with a variety of secondary amine nucleophiles, including

Group 13 exchange and transborylation in catalysis

• Dominic R. Willcox and
• Stephen P. Thomas

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 325–348, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.28

• esters, lactones, and carbonates with HBpin under microwave irradiation (Scheme 13) [57]. When HBpin and boric acid were reacted together, BH3-coordinated HBpin and O(Bpin)2 were detected by 11B NMR spectroscopy. Supported by computational analysis and single-turnover experiments, the reaction was

• reaction of enones and esters or lactones (Scheme 14) [77]. Through a series of single-turnover reactions, a mechanism was proposed (Scheme 14): H-B-9-BBN underwent 1,4-hydroboration with the enone 29, followed by B‒O/B‒H transborylation with HBpin to give an O-Bpin enolate 52 and regenerate H-B-9-BBN

• -catalysed asymmetric reduction of propargylic ketones and the proposed mechanism. H-B-9-BBN-catalysed C–F esterification of alkyl fluorides and the proposed mechanism. H-B-9-BBN-catalysed 1,4-hydroboration of enones and the proposed mechanism. Boric acid-promoted reduction of esters, lactones, and

Sequential hydrozirconation/Pd-catalyzed cross coupling of acyl chlorides towards conjugated (2E,4E)-dienones

• Benedikt Kolb,
• Daniela Silva dos Santos,
• Sanja Krause,
• Anna Zens and
• Sabine Laschat

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 176–185, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.17

• example, the sequential hydrozirconation/carbonylation of propargylic ethers 18 reported by Donato [58] yielded α,β-unsaturated lactones 19. Beside the hydrozirconation/acylation sequence of nitriles utilizing acid chlorides published by Majoral/Floreancig [59][60], Cox revealed that terminal alkynes 16

Identification and determination of the absolute configuration of amorph-4-en-10β-ol, a cadinol-type sesquiterpene from the scent glands of the African reed frog Hyperolius cinnamomeoventris

• Angelique Ladwig,
• Markus Kroll and
• Stefan Schulz

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 167–175, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.16

• used in chemical communication. Hyperolius cinnamomeoventris, a model species, possesses a gular gland on its vocal sac that emits chemicals, and sends visual and auditory signals during calling. Previous investigations have shown that the glandular compounds are typically macrocyclic lactones. However

• -isopropyl-1,6-dimethyl-1,2,3,4,4a,7,8,8a-octahydronaphthalen-1-ol (R-14) as part of the semiochemical mixture released by gular glands of the African reed frog Hyperolius cinnamomeoventris. This establishes the importance of sesquiterpenes for reed frogs, alongside macrocyclic lactones [2]. The total

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

• occurring lactones isolated from bacterial strains, molds, and plants, exhibiting a wide range of pharmacological properties such as antibacterial, antitumor, and anti-HIV activities (Scheme 1a) [1][2][3][4][5]. Fascinated by their versatile properties, researchers were prompted to develop efficient methods

Redox-active molecules as organocatalysts for selective oxidative transformations – an unperceived organocatalysis field

• Elena R. Lopat’eva,
• Igor B. Krylov,
• Dmitry A. Lapshin and
• Alexander O. Terent’ev

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2022, 18, 1672–1695, doi:10.3762/bjoc.18.179

• kinetic resolution of racemic alcohols [99] and for the oxidation of benzylic cyclic ethers to lactones [100] was demonstrated. The CuI/9-azabicyclo[3.3.1]nonane N-oxyl (ABNO) catalytic system successfully promotes the oxidative coupling of alcohols with primary amines [101] (Scheme 13). The reaction