Recent advances in synthetic approaches for bioactive cinnamic acid derivatives

• Betty A. Kustiana,
• Galuh Widiyarti and
• Teni Ernawati

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 1031–1086, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.85

• ) used activated amide 125 to access ester 126 via formation of the reactive carboxyl radical 128 mediated by DMAP and Cs2CO3 (Scheme 38) [73]. Dong and co-workers (2020) reported an atroposelective N-acylation of mixed anhydride 129 catalyzed by the isothiourea organocatalyst homobenzotetramisole (HBTM

New advances in asymmetric organocatalysis II

• Radovan Šebesta

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

• commonly defined as a form of catalysis where a small organic molecule, an organocatalyst, accelerates a chemical reaction. Unlike previously regarded traditional catalysts involving metals or enzymes, organocatalysts are composed of nonmetal elements, such as carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, phosphorus

• 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

Origami with small molecules: exploiting the C–F bond as a conformational tool

• Patrick Ryan,
• Ramsha Iftikhar and
• Luke Hunter

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 680–716, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.54

Vinylogous functionalization of 4-alkylidene-5-aminopyrazoles with methyl trifluoropyruvates

• Judit Hostalet-Romero,
• Laura Carceller-Ferrer,
• Gonzalo Blay,
• Amparo Sanz-Marco,
• José R. Pedro and
• Carlos Vila

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 533–540, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.41

• [32]. Then, we increased the reaction scale to 0.2 mmol and obtained similar results (Table 1, entry 13). At this point, we decided to explore the use of a bifunctional organocatalyst in order to improve the yield. When squaramide SQ-1 was used as a catalyst, we observed a similar yield and

Organocatalytic kinetic resolution of 1,5-dicarbonyl compounds through a retro-Michael reaction

• James Guevara-Pulido,
• Fernando González-Pérez,
• José M. Andrés and
• Rafael Pedrosa

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 473–482, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.34

• organocatalytic synthesis of 2-cyclohexen-1-ones via a Michael/Michael/retro-Michael cascade reaction [31]. Our research has shown that the Jørgensen–Hayashi catalyst [32][33] is a highly promising organocatalyst, facilitating enantioselective Michael addition reactions with high yields and excellent levels of

• to enamine E, which epimerizes at C-4 and, after hydrolysis, provides the adduct syn-(3R,4R)-1 with an initial er of 4:96. This diastereoselective epimerization phenomenon promoted by an organocatalyst has not been previously described. The study emphasizes the reversibility of some organocatalyzed

• reactions and their impact on the enantioselectivity and diastereoselectivity of the products. The results show that Michael adducts can evolve from enantioenriched mixtures to racemic ones in the crude reaction while in contact with the chiral organocatalyst. Conclusion The first example of the

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

• been prepared, which aims to provide an update on the last five years of this burgeoning area with some relevant links to key earlier works. The material in this article is divided according to the major activation mode of the organocatalyst, from covalent activation via enamine and iminium activation

• organocatalytic Michael addition to alkynals 2 (Scheme 1) [18]. The authors identified the Jørgensen–Hayashi-type catalyst C1 as the most efficient organocatalyst. In this way, a range of axially chiral styrenes were obtained in high yields and enantiomeric purities. The reaction was based on an iminium

• activation of propargylic aldehydes with catalyst Int-1. Another critical feature was the ability of the organocatalyst to promote the Z-selective isomerization of Int-2 to Int-3. In a related fashion, Wang and co-workers developed an atroposelective heterocycloaddition [19]. The iminium-activated alkynals 4

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

• their structure will be described. In 2012, Wang and co-workers reported a bifunctional thiourea-catalyzed aza-Diels–Alder reaction of cyclic keto/enolate salts 1 and N-tosyl-2-methylene-but-3-enoates 2 (Scheme 1). After a screening of the reaction conditions they found that organocatalyst I, acetic

• organocatalyst acts as a Lewis base forming an enamine which raises the HOMO energy of the dienophile, while the thiourea moiety acts as a Lewis acid, lowering the LUMO level of the diene (Scheme 1). A confined transition state is formed providing a high enantiocontrol of the reaction. In 2016, Shi and co

• ) 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

Advances in the use of metal-free tetrapyrrolic macrocycles as catalysts

• Mandeep K. Chahal

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 3085–3112, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.257

• state stabilizes the anionic species generated during the reaction pathway and facilitates a backside attack of I− on the epoxide thus resulting in the initial ring opening (Figure 4b). Apart from acting as an organocatalyst, calix[4]pyrrole 11 has been used for the promotion of cuprous chloride

• monomer. Since the aggregates were found catalytically inactive, while the monomers in the solution were active, the system acts as a pH-switchable ‘ON–OFF’ organocatalyst. In the case of the enamine-mediated addition of cyclohexanone (62) to 4-nitrobenzaldehyde (7), using 10 mol % of 58 provided up to 99

• % yield with a 93:7 ratio of the anti:syn aldol product (63a:63b) and no enantioselectivity at pH 6.7, whereas at pH 3.6 the catalyst was completely inactive (Table 4). Although the supramolecular system composed of a porphyrin macrocycle and a secondary amine organocatalyst operated through the

5th International Symposium on Synthesis and Catalysis (ISySyCat2023)

• Anthony J. Burke and
• Elisabete P. Carreiro

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 2704–2707, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.227

• organocatalyst for the gram-scale enantioselective synthesis of (S)-baclofen”, an interesting approach to recycling the very useful cinchona squaramide organocatalysts was described. This approach involved functionalization of the organocatalyst with a lipophilic linker (octadecyl side chains), resulting in a

• novel lipophilic cinchona squaramide organocatalyst. This organocatalyst was evaluated in a benchmark Michael addition of acetylacetone to trans-β-nitrostyrene, yielding the Michael adduct with high yield and enantioselectivity. The hydrophobic chain of the catalyst allowed the organocatalyst to be

• time-consuming, complex, and expensive. Consequently, it is of utmost interest to immobilize them for reuse but without affecting their catalytic activity. The main factors discussed were the type of support, immobilization, and interaction between the support and the organocatalyst. The particular

Asymmetric organocatalytic synthesis of chiral homoallylic amines

• Nikolay S. Kondratyev and
• Andrei V. Malkov

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 2349–2377, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.201

• the asymmetric addition of organoboron reagents to imines (Scheme 3). An intermolecular hydrogen bonding between a non-rigid organocatalyst and a non-rigid substrate was shown to play a key role in assembling a configurationally stable transition structure. As a result, this approach unveiled the

• highly enantioselective nucleophilic addition of primary (10), secondary, and even tertiary allylboronates, as well as allenylboronates to a broad set of imines, bearing the N-phosphinoyl group. The new approach allowed the activation of both the substrate and the reagent using aminophenol organocatalyst

• equiv of isatin with a 50% excess of the α-CF3-substituted imine in toluene at room temperature in the presence of 10 mol % of organocatalyst 138 for times between 1 and 80 h. The reaction exhibited a broad scope in the isatin carbonate derivatives with high to excellent enantioselectivities (89–99

Catalysing (organo-)catalysis: Trends in the application of machine learning to enantioselective organocatalysis

• Stefan P. Schmid,
• Leon Schlosser,
• Frank Glorius and
• Kjell Jorner

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 2280–2304, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.196

• , Corminboeuf and co-workers reported OSCAR, a computational repository of 4,000 organocatalyst structures mined from the literature and Cambridge Structural Database (CSD) [31]. In addition, the authors utilised the combinatorial nature of organocatalysts to create data bases comprising more than 8,000 NHC

• -type catalysts and more than one million double hydrogen bond donor catalysts. While this repository does not provide any reactivity data, it still comprises a valuable map of organocatalyst chemical space to aid in catalyst design. The creation of these larger datasets, both experimental and in silico

• including pyrimidines and pyrazines. The importance of mechanistic understanding for model building was underlined by Kuang et al. [126], where the authors considered multi-catalyst enantioselective reactions, where one catalyst was an organocatalyst, either CPA or an amine. The co-catalyst was included in

Factors influencing the performance of organocatalysts immobilised on solid supports: A review

• Zsuzsanna Fehér,
• Dóra Richter,
• Gyula Dargó and
• József Kupai

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 2129–2142, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.183

• supported organocatalyst whose catalytic efficiency can be reproduced over a sufficient number of reaction cycles. Despite the difficulty of the challenge, the design of heterogeneous, recyclable organocatalytic systems is of high interest [8]. The continued development of efficient catalytic recovery

• Amorphous (SBA-15) and small pore-sized Mobil Composition of Matter (MCM-41) were applied and compared as supports of an organocatalyst. These silicas were modified by incorporating an organosulfonic acid group (propylenesulfonic acid) through a post-synthesis grafting method. Their catalytic performance

• lead to a decrease in selectivity. Connon and co-workers have attached a cinchona thiourea organocatalyst to magnetic nanoparticles 13 for the Michael addition of dimethyl malonate (10) to trans-β-nitrostyrene (11) (Scheme 3) [31]. To explore the potential impact of nanoparticles on catalyst efficiency

Mechanistic investigations of polyaza[7]helicene in photoredox and energy transfer catalysis

• Johannes Rocker,
• Till J. B. Zähringer,
• Matthias Schmitz,
• Till Opatz and
• Christoph Kerzig

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 1236–1245, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.106

• increased when the triplet efficiently reacts in a catalytic cycle such that turnover numbers exceeding 4400 are achievable with this organocatalyst. Keywords: energy transfer; laser spectroscopy; organocatalyst; photoredox; time-resolved spectroscopy; Introduction The emergence of photoredox chemistry in

Methodology for awakening the potential secondary metabolic capacity in actinomycetes

• Shun Saito and
• Midori A. Arai

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 753–766, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.69

• in the genetically programmed death of the producing organism. In addition, Nishiyama et al. suggested that actinorhodin (8) produced by Streptomyces coelicolor A3(2) functions as an organocatalyst to kill bacteria by catalyzing the production of toxic levels of H2O2 [99]. They also suggested that

Evaluation of the enantioselectivity of new chiral ligands based on imidazolidin-4-one derivatives

• Jan Bartáček,
• Karel Chlumský,
• Jan Mrkvička,
• Lucie Paloušová,
• Miloš Sedlák and
• Pavel Drabina

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 684–691, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.62

• chiral metal complex catalyst but also as an enantioselective organocatalyst [17]. Accordingly, its application in enantioselective organocatalysis, particularly in asymmetric reactions through “enamine activation”, warrants further investigation. Results and Discussion The corresponding copper(II

• , the configuration of a ligand at position 2 determines the type of enantiomer of nitroaldol in excess and the environment around the stereogenic centre at position 5 affects the resulting value of ee. The structure of compound IV is similar to the well-known organocatalyst 5-(S)-pyrrolidin-2-yl-1H

• acids producing chiral isotetronic acids. However, the application of compound IV as the organocatalyst in these reactions proceeded sluggishly, and the corresponding products were obtained in only moderate ees [24]. Herein, the aldol reaction was chosen as a standard asymmetric reaction to explore the

Switchable molecular tweezers: design and applications

• Pablo Msellem,
• Maksym Dekthiarenko,
• Nihal Hadj Seyd and
• Guillaume Vives

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 504–539, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.45

Green and sustainable approaches for the Friedel–Crafts reaction between aldehydes and indoles

• Periklis X. Kolagkis,
• Eirini M. Galathri and
• Christoforos G. Kokotos

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 379–426, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.36

• organocatalyst (Scheme 13) [95]. Haloalkynes have the ability to form strong, directional and selective halogen bonds, which makes them a good choice for the synthesis of BIMs [95]. Several substituted carbonyl compounds, as well as indoles, were screened in the optimum reaction conditions as seen in Scheme 13

Photochromic derivatives of indigo: historical overview of development, challenges and applications

• Gökhan Kaplan,
• Zeynel Seferoğlu and
• Daria V. Berdnikova

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 228–242, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.23

• substituents in the isatin ring showed pronounced negative photochromism upon irradiation with red light (625−650 nm). Supramolecular complexation with Schreiner’s thiourea organocatalyst (STC) allowed to reach better conversion with the isomeric ratio in PSS increased from 46% to 84%. The backward switching

• organocatalyst (STC). Photoisomerization of the protonated isoindigo. Absorption maxima of indigo and its derivatives in C2Cl4 at 20 °C [23][24]. Photophysical and photochemical characteristics of N-aryl- N'-alkylindigos [42][66].

A novel recyclable organocatalyst for the gram-scale enantioselective synthesis of (S)-baclofen

• Gyula Dargó,
• Dóra Erdélyi,
• Balázs Molnár,
• Péter Kisszékelyi,
• Zsófia Garádi and
• József Kupai

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 1811–1824, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.133

• , application, and recycling of a new lipophilic cinchona squaramide organocatalyst. The synthesized lipophilic organocatalyst was applied in Michael additions. The catalyst was utilized to promote the Michael addition of cyclohexyl Meldrum’s acid to 4-chloro-trans-β-nitrostyrene (quantitative yield, up to 96

• homogeneous reaction. For example, by incorporating a lipophilic side chain [28] on the organocatalyst that does not interfere with its catalytic activity thanks to a linker between the catalyst and lipophilic units. In this way, a significant difference in polarity can be achieved between the catalyst and

• the other components of the reaction mixture. The lipophilic O-alkylated gallic acid unit increases the solubility of the organocatalyst in less polar solvents, such as DCM or toluene but leads to the precipitation of the organocatalyst in polar solvents, including MeOH or MeCN. As a result, the

Synthesis of 5-arylidenerhodanines in L-proline-based deep eutectic solvent

• Stéphanie Hesse

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 1537–1544, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.110

• Knoevenagel condensation of rhodanine with different aldehydes [3]. The reactions were performed in ChCl/urea (1:2) at 90 °C, without needing a catalyst and the products were obtained in low to good yields (10–78%). On another hand, ʟ-proline is well known as an organocatalyst and its use in aldol and

N-Sulfenylsuccinimide/phthalimide: an alternative sulfenylating reagent in organic transformations

• Fatemeh Doraghi,
• Seyedeh Pegah Aledavoud,
• Mehdi Ghanbarlou,
• Bagher Larijani and
• Mohammad Mahdavi

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 1471–1502, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.106

• catalytic amount of Et3N. Moreover, mono-sulfenylation of α-methyl-γ-phenyl-substituted butenolide at α-position was carried out in the presence of Et3N as well as quinine organocatalyst and products were obtained in high yields. In addition to the use of N-(alkyl/arylthio)succinimides in the sulfenylation

• ) by using an organocatalyst was reported by Wang and co-workers (Scheme 35) [67]. Several orgnocatalysts, such as piperidine, and pyrrolidine derivatives were evaluated for the coupling reaction, in which pyrrolidine trifluoromethanesulfonamide A was selected as the best catalyst for this purpose. It

• sulfur reagents resulted in thiolated products 92 up to 99% ee, in the presence of quinidine as the organocatalyst (Scheme 38) [72]. For the study of enantioselectivity of products, different N-substituted oxindoles with H, Me, phenyl, and benzyl groups were investigated. As the size of N-protecting

Acetaldehyde in the Enders triple cascade reaction via acetaldehyde dimethyl acetal

• Alessandro Brusa,
• Debora Iapadre,
• Maria Edith Casacchia,
• Alessio Carioscia,
• Giuliana Giorgianni,
• Giandomenico Magagnano,
• Fabio Pesciaioli and
• Armando Carlone

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 1243–1250, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.92

• proved to yield the desired product, indicating that the catalytic system may indeed be applicable. Lowering the amount of organocatalyst 1 to 10 mol % (Table 1, entry 2) resulted in a decrease of both yield and selectivity. Based on the results obtained (Table 1, entry 2) and the reaction conditions

Aromatic C–H bond functionalization through organocatalyzed asymmetric intermolecular aza-Friedel–Crafts reaction: a recent update

• Anup Biswas

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 956–981, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.72

• categorized into two major divisions: 1) covalent bonding and 2) noncovalent bonding catalysts. A covalent bonding organocatalyst reacts with a substrate to form an activated chiral intermediate which undergoes a stereoselective reaction with another reagent. A noncovalent bonding catalyst usually assembles

• -bonding interactions to facilitate a highly face-selective nucleophilic attack by π-nucleophile to the cyclic imine (see transition state 22’ in Scheme 7a). The BINOL-derived chiral phosphoric acid P8 was employed as the asymmetric organocatalyst for this transformation to construct the heterodimerized

Clauson–Kaas pyrrole synthesis using diverse catalysts: a transition from conventional to greener approach

• Dileep Kumar Singh and
• Rajesh Kumar

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 928–955, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.71

• conditions by lowering the temperature from 170 °C to 120 °C. Varma and co-workers [80][81] reported the synthesis of various N-substituted pyrrole derivatives 57 in good yields using a nano-ferric-supported glutathione organocatalyst (Scheme 27, Figure 6). This organoccatalyst was prepared by a post

• -functionalization method using a benign and naturally occurring glutathione and magnetic ferrite nanoparticles by sonication in water at room temperature. Furthermore, using this organocatalyst, various N-substituted pyrroles were prepared by reacting various amines 56 with 2,5-DMTHF (2) in water at 140 °C under

• -substituted pyrroles catalyzed by nano-sulfated TiO2 catalyst. Nano-ferric supported glutathione organocatalyst. Various synthestic protocols for the synthesis of pyrroles. A general reaction of Clauson–Kaas pyrrole synthesis and proposed mechanism. AcOH-catalyzed synthesis of pyrroles 5 and 7. Synthesis of N

Computational studies of Brønsted acid-catalyzed transannular cycloadditions of cycloalkenone hydrazones

• Manuel Pedrón,
• Jana Sendra,
• Irene Ginés,
• Tomás Tejero,
• Jose L. Vicario and
• Pedro Merino

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 477–486, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.37

• groups the global charge transfer is not so high to be considered a polar process. The reaction, as previously reported by the classical intermolecular reaction takes place smoothly by the action of the organocatalyst that renders a protonated hydrazone as the reacting functional group. However, in