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

• in the final product 37 (Scheme 28) [46]. Analogously, benzo[g]chromene derivatives 38 were achieved starting from 2-hydroxynaphthalene-1,4-dione, aromatic aldehydes and malononitrile with copper triflate as catalyst and ultrasonic irradiation (Scheme 29) [47]. Naphthalene-annulated 2-aminothiazoles

Non-covalent organocatalyzed enantioselective cyclization reactions of α,β-unsaturated imines

• Sergio Torres-Oya and
• Mercedes Zurro

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 3221–3255, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.268

• ) and good to excellent enantioselectivities (60–97% ee) when using organocatalyst III. Later, in 2018, Zhou and co-workers developed a bifunctional squaramide-catalyzed enantioselective formal [4 + 2] cycloaddition of benzofuran-derived azadienes 11 with malononitrile (12) [26]. This work provides an

• efficient methodology for synthesizing chiral benzofuran-fused 1,4-dihydropyridines 13 in excellent yields (90–99%) and excellent enantioselectivities (92–99% ee) (Scheme 4). The authors also attempted to perform the reaction using 2-tosylacetonitrile instead of malononitrile. However, in this case, the

• Michael addition product was obtained with low diastereoselectivity. The mechanism is described in Scheme 4: the bifunctional squaramide activates the azadiene through hydrogen bonding while the malononitrile is deprotonated by the tertiary amine present in the backbone of the catalyst, establishing

The charge transport properties of dicyanomethylene-functionalised violanthrone derivatives

• Sondos A. J. Almahmoud,
• Joseph Cameron,
• Dylan Wilkinson,
• Michele Cariello,
• Claire Wilson,
• Alan A. Wiles,
• Peter J. Skabara and
• Graeme Cooke

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 2921–2930, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.244

• the Knoevenagel condensation with malononitrile was successfully reported [33]. Theoretical studies Density functional theory (DFT) calculations of two derivatives of compounds 2 and 3, having methoxy groups instead of the longer alkyl chains have been reported in the literature [32], providing

• , 127.5, 127.2, 123.7, 123.2, 122.8, 117.3, 113.6, 69.8, 63.2, 32.9, 32.0, 29.7, 29.6, 29.5, 29.4, 26.2, 25.8 , 22.8, 14.2; ASAP–HRMS (m/z): [M + H]+ calcd for C58H64O4, 825.4875; found, 825.4883. Compound 3a Compound 2a (200 mg, 0.280 mmol) and malononitrile (100 mg, 0.840 mmol) were dissolved in

• , 129.6, 128.6, 128.3, 127.9, 127.7, 127.3, 123.9, 123.3, 122.9, 117.6, 114.6, 65.5, 42.1, 40.1, 30.2, 29.2, 23.2 (C, 14.2, 11.2; ASAP–HRMS (m/z): [M + H]+ calcd for C56H49N4O2, 809.3841; found, 809.3856 . Compound 3b Compound 2b (200 mg, 0.28 mmol) and malononitrile (60.0 mg, 0.840 mmol) were dissolved

Synthesis of pyrrole-fused dibenzoxazepine/dibenzothiazepine/triazolobenzodiazepine derivatives via isocyanide-based multicomponent reactions

• Marzieh Norouzi,
• Mohammad Taghi Nazeri,
• Ahmad Shaabani and
• Behrouz Notash

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 2870–2882, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.241

• electrophilic sites simultaneously in their structure, these zwitterions are able to participate in various cyclization processes, especially for the synthesis of pyrroles [37][38][39][40]. For example, Li et al. developed a one-pot four-component reaction (4-CR) of malononitrile, aldehydes, and isocyanides

• with 1,10-phenanthroline as cyclic imine under solvent-free conditions for the synthesis of pyrrole-fused phenanthroline. This reaction proceeds via in situ formation of zwitterion I through reaction of the aldehyde and malononitrile followed by 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition (Scheme 1a) [41]. Chen and co

• benzoxazepine/triazolobenzodiazepine derivatives via a 3-CR prompted us to investigate the synthesis of these compounds as a 4-CR. Fortunately, the pyrrole-fused benzoxazepine/triazolobenzodiazepines 4a and 6a could also be obtianed through a one-pot 4-CR from benzaldehyde, malononitrile, cyclohexyl isocyanide

Copper-catalyzed yne-allylic substitutions: concept and recent developments

• Shuang Yang and
• Xinqiang Fang

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 2739–2775, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.232

• method to access structurally diverse chiral coumarin derivatives, which are of great interest in the fields of medicinal chemistry and synthetic organic chemistry (Scheme 22, 22a–y). Moreover, the utilization of 2-(1-ethoxyethylidene)malononitrile as a γ-nucleophile yielded the desired product 22z with

Facile preparation of fluorine-containing 2,3-epoxypropanoates and their epoxy ring-opening reactions with various nucleophiles

• Yutaro Miyashita,
• Sae Someya,
• Tomoko Kawasaki-Takasuka,
• Tomohiro Agou and
• Takashi Yamazaki

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 2421–2433, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.206

• , and stereochemistry of the major isomer was deduced from the above result as anti,syn. Although malononitrile also furnished the dihydrofuran syn-7d in good yield as a sole stereoisomer, a sharp contrast to these results was observed when 2b was subjected to the anionic species from cyanoacetate

• of the active hydrogen in DMSO: 13.3 [52]), nitromethane (17.2 [53]), ethyl (diethylphosphono)acetate (18.6 [52]), malononitrile (11.1 [53]), ethyl 2-nitroacetate (9.1 [54]), ethyl 2-cyanoacetate (13.1 [55]), and diethyl malonate (16.4 [56]) all failed to afford the desired addition products. From

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

• pyrazoles 61 are accessible in a consecutive three-component fashion (Scheme 18) [77]. The reaction exhibits regioselectivity in many cases, attributed to steric influences. Aldehydes and nitriles with an activated methylene group, such as malononitrile, are well-known for being potent precursors of α,β

• base in the Knoevenagel reaction and as a component for ring formation. Cyclization is completely regioselective when arylhydrazines are used; with methylhydrazine, the ratio is greater than 10:1. In addition to malononitrile, derivatives with reduced nucleophilicity (X = CO2R) are also tolerated in

• hydrolactite catalysts (C-Mg-Al HAT-3) [90]. With β-ketoesters, the method can be extended to a four-component synthesis. Initially, β-ketoesters react with hydrazine to form pyrazolones, while a Knoevenagel reaction between malononitrile and aldehyde simultaneously generates a Michael system. Both

Diastereoselective synthesis of highly substituted cyclohexanones and tetrahydrochromene-4-ones via conjugate addition of curcumins to arylidenemalonates

• Deepa Nair,
• Abhishek Tiwari,
• Banamali Laha and
• Irishi N. N. Namboothiri

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 2016–2023, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.177

• synthesize functionalized pyrimidobenzothiazoles [37]. An in situ generated conjugated α-cyanoester/malononitrile has been successfully employed as substrate in the double Michael reaction with curcumins by Lalitha et al. [38]. An organocatalytic cascade double Michael reaction between curcumins and 2

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

Unprecedented synthesis of a 14-membered hexaazamacrocycle

• Anastasia A. Fesenko and
• Anatoly D. Shutalev

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 1728–1740, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.126

• the starting material. This compound was prepared according to the described regioselective method [42] based on the reaction of malononitrile with triethyl orthoformate followed by subsequent treatment of the obtained dinitrile 2 with benzaldehyde methyl hydrazone in benzene, conc. aqueous HCl in

Eschenmoser coupling reactions starting from primary thioamides. When do they work and when not?

• Lukáš Marek,
• Jiří Váňa,
• Jan Svoboda and
• Jiří Hanusek

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 808–819, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.61

• Orbitrap XL equipped with nitrogen UV laser (337 nm, 60 Hz, 8–20 μJ) in positive ion mode. For the CID experiment using the linear trap quadrupole (LTQ) helium was used as the collision gas and 2,5-dihydroxybenzoic acid (DHB) or (2-methylprop-2-en-1-yliden)malononitrile (DCTB) as the MALDI matrix

Functionalization of imidazole N-oxide: a recent discovery in organic transformations

• Koustav Singha,
• Imran Habib and
• Mossaraf Hossain

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2022, 18, 1575–1588, doi:10.3762/bjoc.18.168

• to be a 1:1:1 ratio of 2-unsubstituted imidazole N-oxides as C-nucleophile, ethyl cyanoacetate as C–H acidic electrophile and 4-(methylsulfanyl)benzaldehyde as aldehyde catalyst, DMF as solvent at 100 °C for 5 h. Under the optimized conditions, malononitrile providing the products 4i,j (36–45%), 2

Molecular diversity of the base-promoted reaction of phenacylmalononitriles with dialkyl but-2-ynedioates

• Hui Zheng,
• Ying Han,
• Jing Sun and
• Chao-Guo Yan

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2022, 18, 991–998, doi:10.3762/bjoc.18.99

• , phenacylmalononitrile is also a readily available substrate, which can be easily prepared through a base-promoted substitution reaction of phenacyl bromide with malononitrile under mild conditions [11][12][13][14][15][16]. In many practical cases, phenacylmalononitriles could be conveniently generated in situ by

• directly using a mixture of phenacyl bromide and malononitrile in the reaction system [17][18][19][20][21][22]. As a consequence, the unique features of phenacylmalononitriles make them good candidates for the efficient construction of diverse carbocyclic and heterocyclic compounds [23][24][25][26][27][28

• reaction of phenacyl bromide, malononitrile, dialkyl but-2-ynedioate, and triphenylphosphine has been already reported, in which diethyl 3-phenyl-5,5-dicyanocyclopent-2-ene-1,2-dicarboxylates were produced by further elimination of a hydroxy group [30]. In the present reaction, the hydroxy group is still

Copper-catalyzed multicomponent reactions for the efficient synthesis of diverse spirotetrahydrocarbazoles

• Shao-Cong Zhan,
• Ren-Jie Fang,
• Jing Sun and
• Chao-Guo Yan

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2022, 18, 796–808, doi:10.3762/bjoc.18.80

• applied in such catalytic system. Under the same reaction conditions, the three-component reaction of 2-methylindole, benzaldehyde and 2-(1-benzyl-2-oxoindolin-3-ylidene)malononitrile reacted smoothly to give the expected spiro[carbazole-2,3'indolines] in 51% yield with a diastereometric ratio (dr) value

• cycloaddition between the indole-based ortho-quinodimethanes (o-QDMs, A) and dienophiles affords the final spiro compounds 1, 2, 4 and 5 as major isomers through an endo-transition state. Due to the different polarity, 3-phenacylideneoxindole and isatylidene malononitrile resulted in regioisomeric spiro

• procedure for the preparation of the spiro[carbazole-2,3'-indolines] 2a–g and 2a’–g’: A mixture of 2-methyl-1H-indole (0.5 mmol, 1.0 equiv), aldehyde (0.6 mmol, 1.2 equiv), 2-(1-benzyl-2-oxoindolin-3-ylidene)malononitrile (0.5 mmol, 1.0 equiv) and CuSO4 (0.1 mmol, 0.2 equiv) in dry toluene (6.0 mL) was

Tri(n-butyl)phosphine-promoted domino reaction for the efficient construction of spiro[cyclohexane-1,3'-indolines] and spiro[indoline-3,2'-furan-3',3''-indolines]

• Hui Zheng,
• Ying Han,
• Jing Sun and
• Chao-Guo Yan

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2022, 18, 669–679, doi:10.3762/bjoc.18.68

• functionalized various spiro[cyclohexane-1,3'-indolines] and related reactions. Results and Discussion Initially, the reaction conditions were optimized by using isatylidene malononitrile 1a and bis-chalcone 2a as standard reaction. Tertiary amines such as DMAP and DABCO did not catalyze this reaction (entries 1

• this work. Firstly, the nucleophilic addition of tributylphosphine to the bis-chalcone gives the active zwitterionic species (A). Secondly, the Michael addition of the zwitterionic species (A) to isatylidene malononitrile at the C3-position of the oxindole scaffold results in adduct (B). Thirdly, the

• of the zwitterion A to the isatylidene malononitrile 2 and 3-(ethoxycarbonylmethylene)oxindole 4 results in the different regioselectivity in the formation of the spiro compounds 3 and 5. For further demonstrate the synthetic value of this procedure, ethyl isatylidene cyanoacetates 6 were also

Synthesis of novel [1,2,4]triazolo[1,5-b][1,2,4,5]tetrazines and investigation of their fungistatic activity

• Anna V. Korotina,
• Svetlana G. Tolshchina,
• Rashida I. Ishmetova,
• Natalya P. Evstigneeva,
• Natalya A. Gerasimova,
• Natalya V. Zilberberg,
• Nikolay V. Kungurov,
• Gennady L. Rusinov,
• Oleg N. Chupakhin and
• Valery N. Charushin

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2022, 18, 243–250, doi:10.3762/bjoc.18.29

• modify the triazolo[1,5-b][1,2,4,5]tetrazine ring system with a variety of structural fragments, thus enabling to vary their biological activity. The reactions of new triazolo[1,5-b][1,2,4,5]tetrazines with some CH-active compounds, such as malononitrile, ethyl cyanoacetate and diethyl malonate, have

• triazolotetrazepines [36]. At the same time, a more active malononitrile reacts easily with compounds 3a,j to afford triazolopyrimidines 6a,b (Scheme 4). In the reaction of ethyl cyanoacetate with triazolotetrazine 3j, a mixture of products is formed, in which, along with the diamino compound 7 and triazolotetrazepine

Solvent-free synthesis of enantioenriched β-silyl nitroalkanes under organocatalytic conditions

• Akhil K. Dubey and
• Raghunath Chowdhury

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2021, 17, 2642–2649, doi:10.3762/bjoc.17.177

• % ee). The conjugate addition reaction between malononitrile and β-silylenone 1a was also investigated using 5 mol % of catalyst VII under the optimized reaction conditions. To our delight, the reaction completed within 4 h and the desired product 3m was isolated in excellent yield (97%) with moderate

Towards new NIR dyes for free radical photopolymerization processes

• Haifaa Mokbel,
• Guillaume Noirbent,
• Didier Gigmes,
• Frédéric Dumur and
• Jacques Lalevée

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2021, 17, 2067–2076, doi:10.3762/bjoc.17.133

• asymmetric substitution. Thus, in the first step, the Claisen–Schmidt condensation of 2-chloro-3-(hydroxymethylene)cyclohex-1-ene-1-carbaldehyde on 2-(3-cyano-4,5,5-trimethylfuran-2(5H)-ylidene)malononitrile (TCF) furnished the intermediate 2-(4-((E)-2-((E)-2-chloro-3-(ethoxymethylene)cyclohex-1-en-1-yl

• )vinyl)-3-cyano-5,5-dimethylfuran-2(5H)-ylidene)malononitrile in 65% yield. A second Claisen–Schmidt condensation of 2-(4-((E)-2-((E)-2-chloro-3-(ethoxymethylene)cyclohex-1-en-1-yl)vinyl)-3-cyano-5,5-dimethylfuran-2(5H)-ylidene)malononitrile with the appropriate 3-alkyl-1,1,2-trimethyl-1H-benzo[e]indol-3

A comprehensive review of flow chemistry techniques tailored to the flavours and fragrances industries

• Guido Gambacorta,
• James S. Sharley and
• Ian R. Baxendale

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2021, 17, 1181–1312, doi:10.3762/bjoc.17.90

• proved to be less active. In 2013, the Knoevenagel reaction between benzaldehyde (17) and malononitrile was performed using a similar flow apparatus, however, using a polystyrene-supported DABCO as catalyst. Wang’s group confirmed the stability of the latter, which provides excellent conversions (95–90

Structural effects of meso-halogenation on porphyrins

• Keith J. Flanagan,
• Maximilian Paradiz Dominguez,
• Zoi Melissari,
• Hans-Georg Eckhardt,
• René M. Williams,
• Dáire Gibbons,
• Caroline Prior,
• Gemma M. Locke,
• Alina Meindl,
• Aoife A. Ryan and
• Mathias O. Senge

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2021, 17, 1149–1170, doi:10.3762/bjoc.17.88

• quadrupole time-of-flight (Q-TOF) mass spectrometer equipped with Z-spray electrospray ionization (ESI) and matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization (MALDI) sources either in a positive or negative mode with DCTB (trans-2-[3-(4-tert-butylphenyl)-2-methyl-2-propenylidene]malononitrile) as the matrix. UV

Microwave-assisted multicomponent reactions in heterocyclic chemistry and mechanistic aspects

• Shivani Gulati,
• Stephy Elza John and
• Nagula Shankaraiah

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2021, 17, 819–865, doi:10.3762/bjoc.17.71

• ]. Therefore, researchers have quested upon generation of pyrans and benzopyrans employing MCR powered by microwave assistance. For instance, Tu and co-workers [55] reported a one-pot two-step tandem procedure subjecting phenylenediamine 23, 2-hydroxynaphthalene-1,4-diones (11), aldehyde 5 with malononitrile

• diamine 23 and 2-hydroxynaphthalene-1,4-dione (11). A simultaneous condensation between malononitrile and aldehyde afforded 2-benzylidenemalononitrile B which on Michael addition with condensed intermediate A yields intermediate C, to undergo cyclization and resulted in the desired products (52, Scheme 18

• ). The synthesis of indoline-spiro fused pyran derivatives 53 was reported by Jiang and co-workers [57] employing a multicomponent reaction between substituted isatins 35, cyclic 1,3-diketones 6 and malononitrile (51) in an aqueous medium without any catalyst. Reaction diversity was examined by using

[2 + 1] Cycloaddition reactions of fullerene C₆₀ based on diazo compounds

• Yuliya N. Biglova

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2021, 17, 630–670, doi:10.3762/bjoc.17.55

• heating, or photochemically in a nitrogen atmosphere (Scheme 23) [109]. The reaction of spiro[10-anthron-9,61'-methanofullerene] (79) [110] with bis(trimethylsilyl)carbodiimide and malononitrile in pyridine in the presence of TiCl4 resulted in spirocyclic blocks 80 and 81, respectively (Scheme 24) [111

Synthesis of (Z)-3-[amino(phenyl)methylidene]-1,3-dihydro-2H-indol-2-ones using an Eschenmoser coupling reaction

• Lukáš Marek,
• Lukáš Kolman,
• Jiří Váňa,
• Jan Svoboda and
• Jiří Hanusek

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2021, 17, 527–539, doi:10.3762/bjoc.17.47

• acid (DHB) or (2-methylprop-2-en-1-yliden)malononitrile (DCTB) as the MALDI matrix. Elemental analyses were performed on a Flash 2000 Organic Elemental Analyser (Thermofisher). For samples containing chlorine mercurimetric titration was used. IR spectra were recorded on a Nicolet iS50 equipped with an

1,2,3-Triazoles as leaving groups: S_NAr reactions of 2,6-bistriazolylpurines with O- and C-nucleophiles

• Dace Cīrule,
• Irina Novosjolova,
• Ērika Bizdēna and
• Māris Turks

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2021, 17, 410–419, doi:10.3762/bjoc.17.37

• 2205 cm−1 for product 5c. These results differ from the absorption in the range of 2260–2240 cm−1, which would be characteristic for a cyano group attached to sp3-hybridized carbon [82]. On the other hand, 13C NMR shifts of the C(2’’) position of purine–malononitrile conjugate 5a and ethyl cyanoacetate

• -1-yl)-1,9-dihydro-6H-purin-6-ylidene)malononitrile (5a): Under argon atmosphere to a suspension of 9-heptyl-2,6-bis(4-phenyl-1H-1,2,3-triazol-1-yl)-9H-purine (2c, 141 mg, 0.28 mmol, 1 equiv) in anhydrous DMF (2.5 mL) malononitrile (23 mg, 0.35 mmol, 1.3 equiv) and NaH (8 mg, 0.34 mmol, 1.2 equiv

Annulation of a 1,3-dithiole ring to a sterically hindered o-quinone core. Novel ditopic redox-active ligands

• Sergey V. Norkov,
• Anton V. Cherkasov,
• Andrey S. Shavyrin,
• Maxim V. Arsenyev,
• Viacheslav A. Kuropatov and
• Vladimir K. Cherkasov

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2021, 17, 273–282, doi:10.3762/bjoc.17.26

• was discussed previously [29]. The reaction of 4 with malononitrile-derived gem-dithiolate (5b, Scheme 1, route 2) also proceeded under mild conditions in DMF and bicyclic o-quinone 6b was obtained in a good yield. The brown crystals suitable for X-ray analysis were grown from an acetone/diethyl ether

• mixture. X-ray diffraction data revealed that the bond lengths distribution in the six-membered ring of 6b is typical of sterically hindered o-quinones. The annulated fragment including the 1,3-dithiole cycle and the malononitrile unit is almost flat. The six-membered o-quinone ring is distorted due to

• phase. In order to attach the 1,3-diketonate moiety to the periphery of the o-quinone molecule, we treated the o-quinone 4 with sodium gem-dithiolate obtained from acetylacetone (5d, Scheme 1, route 2). Unlike interactions with sodium trithiocarbonate or malononitrile gem-dithiolate, the o-quinone 6d