Formaldehyde surrogates in multicomponent reactions

• Cecilia I. Attorresi,
• Javier A. Ramírez and
• Bernhard Westermann

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 564–595, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.45

• /bjoc.21.45 Abstract Formaldehyde emerges as a cornerstone in multicomponent reactions, mainly prized for its robust reactivity. Yet, alongside these beneficial traits, this highly reactive C1-building block raises concerns, primarily regarding its toxicity. One notable issue is the challenge of

• controlling the formation of undesired byproducts during its reactions. This review explores alternative C1-building blocks that serve as surrogates for formaldehyde, aiming to mitigate some of the challenges associated with its use in multicomponent reactions. By identifying these alternatives, toxicity

• concerns and improved reaction control can be addressed, paving the way for more efficient and sustainable synthetic methodologies. Keywords: cascade reactions; formaldehyde surrogates; green chemistry; heterocycles; multicomponent reactions; Introduction Organic chemistry is a mature discipline that has

New tandem Ugi/intramolecular Diels–Alder reaction based on vinylfuran and 1,3-butadienylfuran derivatives

• Yuriy I. Horak,
• Roman Z. Lytvyn,
• Andrii R. Vakhula,
• Yuriy V. Homza,
• Nazariy T. Pokhodylo and
• Mykola D. Obushak

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 444–450, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.31

• environmentally friendly synthetic strategies, especially one-pot multicomponent and tandem reactions, are key to modern organic and medicinal chemistry [1][2][3][4][5][6][7] and have proven to be successful in generating diverse heterocyclic scaffolds, as highlighted in a recent book [8]. Multicomponent

• reactions, for instance, have contributed to high-throughput screening for drug discovery, facilitating the identification of new therapeutic compounds. [9][10]. A notable example is ivosidenib, approved in 2018, which was synthesized using the Ugi reaction to target mutated IDH1 in acute myeloid leukemia

Three-component reactions of conjugated dienes, CH acids and formaldehyde under diffusion mixing conditions

• Dmitry E. Shybanov,
• Maxim E. Kukushkin,
• Eugene V. Babaev,
• Nikolai V. Zyk and
• Elena K. Beloglazkina

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 262–269, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.18

• main reaction products. Keywords: aldol condensation; [4 + 2]-cycloaddition; diffusion mixing; formaldehyde; Knoevenagel condensation; three-component reactions; Introduction Formaldehyde is a reactive electrophilic reagent widely used as a C1 building block in multicomponent reactions [1][2][3]. Its

• reactions that proceed through the formation of formaldehyde condensation products (Scheme 1). Previously, we have proposed a convenient diffusion mixing technique for multicomponent reactions based on the absorption of volatile reagent vapors by a mixture containing the remaining reaction components. This

• [4][5][6] and polymerization processes of unstable methylidene adducts [7][8][9], instead of the desired formation of a monocrotonic product. Therefore, heating [6][10][11][12][13][14] or Lewis acid activation [15][16][17][18] have often been used in the literature for successful multicomponent

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

• Venezian 21, 20133, Milano, Italy 10.3762/bjoc.21.7 Abstract This review reports the achievements in copper(II) triflate-catalyzed processes concerning the multicomponent reactions, applied to the synthesis of acyclic and cyclic compounds. In particular, for the heteropolycyclic systems mechanistic

• ; heteropolycycles; multicomponent reactions; one-pot reaction; Introduction Copper has gained a relevant role in organic synthesis as an alternative to precious metals due to its low toxicity, ease of handling, high catalytic activity, and cost-effectiveness [1][2]. In recent years, Cu(OTf)2 has significantly

• toxicity [3][4][5][6][7]. Multicomponent reactions are one of the most effective methods to assemble multiple reagents, thus facilitating access to the target molecules more quickly, due to atom/step economy, short reaction times, and eco-friendly benefits. Combining multicomponent reactions with

Multicomponent reactions driving the discovery and optimization of agents targeting central nervous system pathologies

• Lucía Campos-Prieto,
• Aitor García-Rey,
• Eddy Sotelo and
• Ana Mallo-Abreu

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 3151–3173, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.261

• . Diagonal 643, E-08028 Barcelona, Spain 10.3762/bjoc.20.261 Abstract The ongoing quest to discover effective treatments for diseases remains a significant challenge for the scientific community. Multicomponent reactions (MCRs) have emerged as powerful tools in accelerating drug discovery, enabling the

• to the authors whose important contributions may not be included. By concentrating on these pivotal studies, we strive to offer a clear and concise perspective on current research trends and breakthroughs in this field. Keywords: Alzheimer; depression; epilepsy; multicomponent reactions; Parkinson

• ; schizophrenia; Introduction Multicomponent reactions Due to efforts to develop new drug arsenals faster to overcome the difficulties of medicinal chemistry (multistage and highly wasteful processes), multicomponent reactions (MCRs) have emerged as a plausible solution. MCRs are convergent reactions in which

Synthesis of the 1,5-disubstituted tetrazole-methanesulfonylindole hybrid system via high-order multicomponent reaction

• Cesia M. Aguilar-Morales,
• América A. Frías-López,
• Nadia V. Emilio-Velázquez,
• Alejandro Islas-Jácome,
• Angelica Judith Granados-López,
• Jorge Gustavo Araujo-Huitrado,
• Yamilé López-Hernández,
• Hiram Hernández-López,
• Luis Chacón-García,
• Jesús Adrián López and
• Carlos J. Cortés-García

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 3077–3084, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.256

• affinity compared to their drug parents and by using powerful synthetic tools such as multicomponent reactions (MCRs) [11][12][13]. Among these, isocyanide-based multicomponent reactions (I-MCRs), such as the Ugi-azide reaction, have demonstrated the highest biological-synthetic relevance [1][14][15][16

• ]. In this regard, a relatively unexplored field within MCRs comprises high-order multicomponent reactions, which involve reacting at least five or even more components in a single operational step. These reactions are highly convergent, efficient, and have superior atom economy, producing high

• previously described strategies involved the use of higher-order multicomponent reactions (HO-MCRs). As part of our ongoing research program towards the synthesis of novel hybrid compounds based on the 1,5-disubstituted tetrazole moiety [23][24][25][26][27], we developed a synthetic strategy for the

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

• great attention in biomedical applications, clinical diagnostics, and conjugate materials. Keywords: cyclic imines; dibenzothiazepine; dibenzoxazepine; isocyanides; multicomponent reactions; pyrrole; triazolobenzodiazepine; Introduction Pyrroles and their derivatives are important N-heterocyclic

• /benzoxazepine/benzothiazepine is very important. Due to the wide applications of pyrrole-fused heterocycles, very diverse approaches have been developed for their synthesis [28][29][30][31][32]. In recent years, multicomponent reactions (MCRs) have emerged as one of the most efficient and powerful methods to

• achieve this goal [7][33]. Among them, isocyanide-based multicomponent reactions (I-MCRs) are one of the well-known strategies in this field due to their operational simplicity, one-pot, convergent properties and atom economy, high efficiency, and high levels of chemical selectivity [34][35][36]. In

Multicomponent synthesis of α-branched amines using organozinc reagents generated from alkyl bromides

• Baptiste Leroux,
• Alexis Beaufils,
• Federico Banchini,
• Olivier Jackowski,
• Alejandro Perez-Luna,
• Fabrice Chemla,
• Marc Presset and
• Erwan Le Gall

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 2834–2839, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.239

• bromides in order to explore their consecutive use in multicomponent Mannich reactions (Table 1). While our experience in the development of multicomponent reactions involving organozinc compounds prompted us to initially consider acetonitrile as probably the most adapted solvent for the whole process [26

Synthesis of spiroindolenines through a one-pot multistep process mediated by visible light

• Francesco Gambuti,
• Jacopo Pizzorno,
• Chiara Lambruschini,
• Renata Riva and
• Lisa Moni

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 2722–2731, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.230

• : isocyanide; multicomponent reactions; one-pot reaction; oxidation; spiroindolenine; Ugi reaction; visible light; Introduction Diversity-oriented synthesis (DOS) is a successful approach to biologically active scaffolds directed to create an enormous exploratory space in pharmaceutical hit discovery [1][2

• spiro-heterocyclic indolenines from readily available starting materials under mild conditions and in a diversity-oriented fashion remains desirable. In this contest, oxidative isocyanide-based multicomponent reactions (oxidative IMCRs) can be considered as a convenient tool [15]. Actually, the use of

Deuterated reagents in multicomponent reactions to afford deuterium-labeled products

• Kevin Schofield,
• Shayna Maddern,
• Yueteng Zhang,
• Grace E. Mastin,
• Rachel Knight,
• Wei Wang,
• James Galligan and
• Christopher Hulme

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 2270–2279, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.195

• [D2]-isonitriles across 8 multicomponent reactions (MCRs) to give diverse arrays of deuterated products. A highlight is the synthesis of several FDA-approved calcium channel blockers, selectively deuterated at a t1/2 limiting metabolic soft-spot via use of [D1]-aldehydes. Surrogate pharmacokinetic

• significantly enhanced metabolic stability, a key parameter for property-based design efforts. Keywords: deuterated aldehydes; deuterated formamides; deuterated isocyanides; DHPs; kinetic isotope effect; Leuckart–Wallach; microsomal stability; multicomponent reactions; Introduction Multicomponent reactions

O,S,Se-containing Biginelli products based on cyclic β-ketosulfone and their postfunctionalization

• Kateryna V. Dil and
• Vitalii A. Palchykov

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 2143–2151, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.184

• gossypii, Tripomastigote Chagas, Tcruzi amastigota, Tcruzi epimastigota, Leishmania amazonensis, and Dengue larvicida. Keywords: dihydropyrimidinone/thione/selenone; green chemistry; in silico biological profile; multicomponent reaction (MCR); thiopyrandioxide; Introduction Multicomponent reactions (MCRs

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

• numerous other applications. The search for new and efficient syntheses of these heterocycles is therefore highly relevant. The modular concept of multicomponent reactions (MCR) has paved a broad alley to heteroaromatics. The advantages over traditional methods are the broader scope and increased

• the ecological and economic requirements. This “ideal” synthesis would commence with simple starting materials, progress through safe, catalytic, and quantitative conversions, and culminate in streamlined processes, all conducted within a single reaction vessel. Multicomponent reactions (MCR) closely

• 47, can be accessed from polyfunctional hydrazine derivatives via multicomponent reactions. For the preparation of pyrazoles 47, 4-amino-5-hydrazinyl-4H-1,2,4-triazole-3-thiol (44), phenylacyl bromides 45, and benzoylacetonitriles 46 were chosen as starting materials (Scheme 13) [67]. Thereby

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

• , curcumin showcases its Michael donor–acceptor ability in different ways, such as simple Michael addition, [4 + 2] annulation, Michael addition followed by cyclization or one-pot multicomponent reactions (MCR), etc. (Scheme 1) [25]. In 2011, our group reported the reactivity of curcumin as a Michael donor

The Groebke–Blackburn–Bienaymé reaction in its maturity: innovation and improvements since its 21st birthday (2019–2023)

• Cristina Martini,
• Muhammad Idham Darussalam Mardjan and
• Andrea Basso

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 1839–1879, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.162

• achieved during the last five years, and classifies them into five categories: synthetic methods, building blocks, scaffolds, biological activities and physical properties. Keywords: Groebke–Blackburn–Bienaymé reaction; multicomponent reactions; heterocycles; imidazo[1,2-a]pyridines; isocyanides

• encountered by the reaction until 2019 was far from being at its peak, in fact during the last 5 years about 70 new original works have been published, and it is therefore worth analyzing what are the new features of this, now, mature reaction. Among isocyanide [2] based multicomponent reactions, the GBB

• work described below, KTGS was applied to multicomponent reactions in limited cases [25]. Van der Veken et al. selected as template the protein urokinase plasminogen activator, a serine protease targeted in oncology and inhibited by imidazopyridines [26]. The main challenges of this project were the

A facile three-component route to powerful 5-aryldeazaalloxazine photocatalysts

• Ivana Weisheitelová,
• Radek Cibulka,
• Marek Sikorski and
• Tetiana Pavlovska

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 1831–1838, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.161

• 2, as demonstrated in our previous studies with 5-aryldeazaflavins 1 [14][15][16][17][18]. Multicomponent reactions (MCRs) remain a powerful strategy in synthetic organic chemistry due to their widespread applications in drug discovery. By offering significant advantages over conventional, linear

Harnessing unprotected deactivated amines and arylglyoxals in the Ugi reaction for the synthesis of fused complex nitrogen heterocycles

• Javier Gómez-Ayuso,
• Pablo Pertejo,
• Tomás Hermosilla,
• Israel Carreira-Barral,
• Roberto Quesada and
• María García-Valverde

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 1758–1766, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.154

• drugs highlighting their importance in the discovery of novel bioactive compounds. However, their synthesis often faces challenges, including complex functionalization and lengthy reaction sequences. Multicomponent reactions, notably the Ugi reaction, have emerged as powerful tools to address these

• kinase inhibitor tinengotinib [8] (Figure 1). Despite the interest of these structures, several drawbacks are typically found during their syntheses, for instance the difficulty in obtaining certain functionalizations or the need of long, elaborated reaction sequences. In recent years, multicomponent

• reactions have become a useful tool for the synthesis of complex structures which overcome many of these problems, with the Ugi reaction leading these strategies. The scope of the Ugi reaction further increases when coupled with post-condensation reactions, which usually require the use of starting reagents

Generation of multimillion chemical space based on the parallel Groebke–Blackburn–Bienaymé reaction

• Evgen V. Govor,
• Vasyl Naumchyk,
• Ihor Nestorak,
• Dmytro S. Radchenko,
• Dmytro Dudenko,
• Yurii S. Moroz,
• Olexiy D. Kachkovsky and
• Oleksandr O. Grygorenko

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 1604–1613, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.143

• showed biological activity according to the ChEMBL database. Keywords: fused rings; heterocycles; imidazoles; isonitrile; multicomponent reactions; Introduction Multicomponent reactions are widely recognized as a powerful source of biologically active compounds, in particular, for drug discovery

• purposes [1][2][3][4][5][6]. Isonitrile-based multicomponent reactions, such as the Groebke–Blackburn–Bienaymé (GBB) reaction, is an important tool in chemical synthesis providing easy access to a huge compound diversity and complexity [7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17]. Essentially, the GBB

Rapid construction of tricyclic tetrahydrocyclopenta[4,5]pyrrolo[2,3-b]pyridine via isocyanide-based multicomponent reaction

• Xiu-Yu Chen,
• Ying Han,
• Jing Sun and
• Chao-Guo Yan

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 1436–1443, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.126

• been known as indispensable building blocks in modern organic chemistry. Many isocyanide-based carbon–carbon and carbon–heteroatom bond forming reactions have been developed in fascinating ways over the past decades [4][5][6]. The famous multicomponent reactions such as Passerini reaction, Ugi reaction

• generated by addition reaction of isocyanides to electron-deficient alkynes, which were sequentially trapped by various electrophiles and nucleophiles to give versatile acyclic and heterocyclic compounds [15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26]. In recent years, many multicomponent reactions based

• synthetic protocols and in continuation of our aim to develop isocyanide-based multicomponent reactions for construction of diverse nitrogen-containing heterocyclic compounds [47][48][49][50][51][52][53][54][55][56][57][58], herein we wish to report the mutlicomponent reaction of alkyl isocyanides, dialkyl

Challenge N- versus O-six-membered annulation: FeCl₃-catalyzed synthesis of heterocyclic N,O-aminals

• Giacomo Mari,
• Lucia De Crescentini,
• Gianfranco Favi,
• Fabio Mantellini,
• Diego Olivieri and
• Stefania Santeusanio

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 1412–1420, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.123

• intermediates through selective FeCl3-catalyzed intramolecular N-annulation. Keywords: α-aminoacetals; fused-ring systems; heterocyclic hemiaminals; heterocyclic N,O-aminals; multicomponent reactions; Introduction N-Fused heterocycles are ubiquitous within crucial molecules, including biologically active

The Ugi4CR as effective tool to access promising anticancer isatin-based α-acetamide carboxamide oxindole hybrids

• Carolina S. Marques,
• Aday González-Bakker and
• José M. Padrón

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 1213–1220, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.104

• aspects. Multicomponent reactions (MCRs) are remarkable tools which demonstrated great potential for more sustainable production of active pharmaceutical ingredients (API’s). These flexible and versatile one-pot transformations in which three or more reagents are combined to access a new complex scaffold

Manganese-catalyzed C–C and C–N bond formation with alcohols via borrowing hydrogen or hydrogen auto-transfer

• Mohd Farhan Ansari,
• Atul Kumar Maurya,
• Abhishek Kumar and
• Saravanakumar Elangovan

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 1111–1166, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.98

Innovative synthesis of drug-like molecules using tetrazole as core building blocks

• Jingyao Li,
• Ajay L. Chandgude,
• Qiang Zheng and
• Alexander Dömling

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 950–958, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.85

• showcase the versatility of these new tetrazole building blocks by integrating the tetrazole moiety into various multicomponent reactions (MCRs), which are already significantly employed in drug discovery. This technique represents a unique and complementary method to existing tetrazole synthesis processes

• the high synthetic value, significant efforts have been devoted to developing methods for the preparation of the tetrazole scaffolds, in particular recently through multicomponent reactions (MCRs) and mostly Ugi and Passerini reactions [7][8][9]. Traditionally, due to its charged nature the tetrazole

• envisioned the use of multicomponent reactions in both steps. The use of MCRs provides the benefits of simplicity, speed, complexity, and diversity with the minimum number of steps and with an environmentally friendly nature. First, we focused on the use of the Passerini-tetrazole reaction for the synthesis

Palladium-catalyzed three-component radical-polar crossover carboamination of 1,3-dienes or allenes with diazo esters and amines

• Geng-Xin Liu,
• Xiao-Ting Jie,
• Ge-Jun Niu,
• Li-Sheng Yang,
• Xing-Lin Li,
• Jian Luo and
• Wen-Hao Hu

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 661–671, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.59

• . Multicomponent reactions (MCRs) by virtue of high efficiency for the construction of complex chemicals, have shown the superiority in high step and atom economy in organic synthesis [25][26][27]. Over the past two decades, our group and others have developed a transition-metal-catalyzed MCR strategy involving

HPW-Catalyzed environmentally benign approach to imidazo[1,2-a]pyridines

• Luan A. Martinho and
• Carlos Kleber Z. Andrade

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 628–637, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.55

• ][21][22]. Multicomponent reactions (MCRs) provide one-pot reactions, simple synthetic procedures, less waste being produced, fewer purification steps, and a high atom economy [23]. The GBB three-component reaction is carried out in the presence of Lewis or Brønsted acid catalysis to increase the

Catalytic multi-step domino and one-pot reactions

• Svetlana B. Tsogoeva

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 254–256, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.25

• ; multi-step reactions; multicomponent reactions; one-pot synthesis; organocatalysis; tandem reactions; transition-metal-catalysis; The synthesis of pharmaceutical ingredients, natural products, agrochemicals, ligand systems, and building blocks for materials science has reached a high level of