Thiazolidinones: novel insights from microwave synthesis, computational studies, and potentially bioactive hybrids

• Luan A. Martinho,
• Victor H. J. G. Praciano,
• Guilherme D. R. Matos,
• Claudia C. Gatto and
• Carlos Kleber Z. Andrade

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 2618–2636, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.203

• aldehyde 1, activated by protonation of the oxygen atom through structure ii, forming the intermediate aldol iii. In the presence of EDDA, water elimination occurs in intermediate iv, yielding the Knoevenagel adducts 3 or 4. Synthesis of novel imidazo[1,2-a]pyridine–thiazolidinone hybrids To further

Visible-light-driven NHC and organophotoredox dual catalysis for the synthesis of carbonyl compounds

• Vasudevan Dhayalan

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 2584–2603, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.200

• /organophotocatalyzed oxidative Smiles rearrangement of O-aryl aldehydes 26 has been developed using oxygen as the terminal oxidant under visible-light dual catalysis. This approach afforded highly functionalized 2-hydroxyarylbenzoates 27, tolerating electron-deficient and electron-rich substituents. The C–O bond

• cleavage and the new C–O bond formation process were achieved using NHC (10 mol %), a photocatalyst (2 mol %), and DABCO (1.5 equiv), providing the corresponding aryl salicylates 27 in moderate to good yields. Mechanistic studies support the oxidation of the Breslow intermediate by oxygen in the presence

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

• embellished by additional bridging via a γ-lactone and a γ-lactol ring, resulting in a caged pentacyclic scaffold with a 5/5/5/5/5 ring arrangement. The compound demonstrates neuroprotective activity by mitigating oxygen-glucose deprivation-induced cell injury in SH-SY5Y cells. Since its isolation in 2017

• neuroprotective effects against oxygen-glucose deprivation-induced cell injury in SH-SY5Y cells, suggesting its potential as a lead compound for the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases. The possible biosynthetic pathway of illisimonin A was also proposed by Yu and co-workers, as illustrated in Scheme 1. The

• deprotection of the cyclization precursor was essential, as the TES-protected analogue of 35 failed to deliver the desired spirocycle 38 under the Nazarov cyclization conditions. α-Oxidation of 38 with molecular oxygen afforded 39, which was then converted to 40 via formation of a chloromethyl silyl ether

Total syntheses of highly oxidative Ryania diterpenoids facilitated by innovations in synthetic strategies

• Zhi-Qi Cao,
• Jin-Bao Qiao and
• Yu-Ming Zhao

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 2553–2570, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.198

• stereocenters characteristic of the target molecule, the authors strategically implemented this methodology. This approach efficiently established two carbon–carbon and four carbon–oxygen bonds while introducing four contiguous stereocenters, successfully assembling the highly functionalized AB ring system

Synthesis and characterization of a isothiouronium-calix[4]arene derivative: self-assembly and anticancer activity

• Giuseppe Granata,
• Loredana Ferreri,
• Claudia Giovanna Leotta,
• Giovanni Mario Pitari and
• Grazia Maria Letizia Consoli

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 2535–2541, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.195

• mechanisms including elevation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) or interference with redox homeostasis, and inhibition of kinase or topoisomerase activities essential for cancer cell proliferation. The selective activity of thiouronium salts against cancer cells compared to non-malignant cells can be related

Isoorotamide-based peptide nucleic acid nucleobases with extended linkers aimed at distal base recognition of adenosine in double helical RNA

• Grant D. Walby,
• Brandon R. Tessier,
• Tristan L. Mabee,
• Jennah M. Hoke,
• Hallie M. Bleam,
• Angelina Giglio-Tos,
• Emily E. Harding,
• Vladislavs Baskevics,
• Martins Katkevics,
• Eriks Rozners and
• James A. MacKay

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 2513–2523, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.193

• linker are highlighted in red. Sequences for RNA hairpins and PNA ligands used for binding studies. Major-groove view of hydrogen-bonding interactions in the (A) Db1*U–A triplet, (B) Db2*U–A triplet, (C) Db2*C–G triplet, and (D) Db3*U–A triplet. Carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen are labelled in

Effect of a photoswitchable rotaxane on membrane permeabilization across lipid compositions

• Udyogi N. K. Conthagamage,
• Lilia Lopez,
• Zuliah A. Abdulsalam and
• Víctor García-López

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 2498–2512, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.192

• include local membrane heating through non-radiative decay of axle 3, disruption of lipid packing via photolysis of axle 3, or the formation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) that may react with the unsaturated acyl chains of EYPC lipids; DPPC, by contrast, lacks double bonds. Further studies will be

Assembly strategy for thieno[3,2-b]thiophenes via a disulfide intermediate derived from 3-nitrothiophene-2,5-dicarboxylate

• Roman A. Irgashev

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 2489–2497, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.191

• notable DNA intercalation and antiproliferative effects [16][17], while TT–BODIPY derivatives were shown to efficiently generate singlet oxygen and demonstrate light-induced cytotoxicity, highlighting their promise as photodynamic therapeutic agents [18]. Near-infrared TT–DPP-based dyes have also been

The intramolecular stabilizing effects of O-benzoyl substituents as a driving force of the acid-promoted pyranoside-into-furanoside rearrangement

• Alexey G. Gerbst,
• Sofya P. Nikogosova,
• Darya A. Rastrepaeva,
• Dmitry A. Argunov,
• Vadim B. Krylov and
• Nikolay E. Nifantiev

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 2456–2464, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.187

• rings. The internal C–C–C angles in them differ leading to more freedom for the side substituents in furanosides. This, in our opinion, means that the π–π interactions between the phenyl rings must increase in this case. However, a repulsive interaction that occurs between O-1 and O-2 oxygen atoms in

Transformation of the cyclohexane ring to the cyclopentane fragment of biologically active compounds

• Natalya Akhmetdinova,
• Ilgiz Biktagirov and
• Liliya Kh. Faizullina

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 2416–2446, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.185

• promotes tandem transformations with the Lewis acid, resulting in oxygen-containing bicyclic compounds 198 and 199 through the formation of oxonium intermediates E and F. In the work of Kulciţki et al. [89], a very attractive acid-induced rearrangement of homodrimanic epoxide 200 was described. This

Rotaxanes with integrated photoswitches: design principles, functional behavior, and emerging applications

• Jullyane Emi Matsushima,
• Khushbu,
• Zuliah Abdulsalam,
• Udyogi Navodya Kulathilaka Conthagamage and
• Víctor García-López

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 2345–2366, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.179

• generate singlet oxygen (¹O2), which can be controlled through dithienylethene photoisomerization. Therefore, the authors investigated these nanoparticles for bioimaging and apoptosis of HeLa cells. When the dithienylethene is in the open form, the nanoparticles have relatively high cytotoxicity due to the

• form selective hydrogen bonds between the carbonyl oxygen of the fumaramide unit and the N–H groups of benzylic amide rings. Upon isomerization to the cis isomer, the hydrogen-bonding interactions are weakened, enabling the macrocycle to migrate to a second recognition station [61]. Despite their

• . Figure 7 was adapted with permission from [16], Copyright 2023 American Chemical Society. This content is not subject to CC BY 4.0. Dithienylethene-based [1]rotaxane shuttling motion triggered by pH changes (top). Dithienylethene photoswitch modulates singlet oxygen generation to kill HeLa cells (bottom

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

• [20]. This compound significantly elevates reactive oxygen species levels in murine peritoneal macrophages (73 ± 12%) and exhibits potential as a lead for developing immunomodulatory agents. In 2021, Yang’s group reported a concise enantioselective total synthesis of (+)-cyclobutastellettolide B

• 56a (Scheme 9) – formed via [4 + 2] cycloaddition of singlet oxygen with the southern furan moiety in gracilisoid F (54) and gracilisoid H (56), respectively – served as branching points in the downstream divergent synthesis. Kornblum–DeLaMare-type rearrangement of 54a and 56a assembled gracilisoids B

• bonds of 83 (Scheme 10). Building block 76 was first obtained in 18% overall yield from β-ketoester 74 through a sequence involving Michael addition, decarboxylation, nitrile hydration, and cyclization under vacuum. Aminoketal 81 – a direct precursor to the oxygen-sensitive α,β-unsaturated iminium 81a

Pathway economy in cyclization of 1,n-enynes

• Hezhen Han,
• Wenjie Mao,
• Bin Lin,
• Maosheng Cheng,
• Lu Yang and
• Yongxiang Liu

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 2260–2282, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.173

•  2, path b). In the following years, Liu and co-workers discovered that the protonation of intermediate 2 triggered its conversion to intermediate 3, which subsequently underwent oxidation with oxygen, resulting in the generation of an indenone skeleton 6 [9]. This tunability achieved efficient and

• intermediate 40 when using substrates with unsubstituted nitrogen. Concurrent oxygen-involved cyclization then furnished indeno[1,2-c]quinoline 41 (Scheme 9, path b). This work established a pathway-controlled strategy for efficient access to benzo[a]carbazole and indeno[1,2-c]quinoline derivatives. In 2019

Thiadiazino-indole, thiadiazino-carbazole and benzothiadiazino-carbazole dioxides: synthesis, physicochemical and early ADME characterization of representatives of new tri-, tetra- and pentacyclic ring systems and their intermediates

• Gyöngyvér Pusztai,
• László Poszávácz,
• Anna Vincze,
• András Marton,
• Ahmed Qasim Abdulhussein,
• Judit Halász,
• András Dancsó,
• Gyula Simig,
• György Tibor Balogh and
• Balázs Volk

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 2220–2233, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.169

• closed vial in which the reaction is carried out does not contain the necessary amount of oxygen. Structure determination of the products was also supported by single-crystal X-ray diffraction in the case of several representatives: 3b, 3d, 3e, 3g, 3h, (E)-7a, 7b, 7d, 7e, (E)-7f, (Z)-7h, 7i, and (E)-9a

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

• level of oxygen content in biomass, small molecules arising from biomass often possess a carbonyl group. This is why biobased platform molecules possessing a carbonyl group, either under the form of an aldehyde, a ketone, an acid or an ester, play a dominant role in biobased chemistry. This review aims

• co-workers developed an electrocatalytic strategy for the synthesis of HFO from furfural [111]. The very important and key bioactive compound HFO was formed by using water as an oxygen source and chalcogenides such as CuS, ZnS, or PbS as electrocatalysts. CuS nanosheets gave the best performance

• Griesbeck reported the tetraphenylporphin-photosensitized oxygenations of furan and derivatives in non-polar aprotic solvents, yielding the corresponding monomeric unsaturated secondary ozonides through a (4 + 2) cycloaddition of singlet oxygen onto the diene linkage of the furan ring. The attack of a

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

• =C6 double bond to afford triacetate 60 as a single diastereoisomer. Base-promoted hydrolysis and concomitant oxidation under oxygen atmosphere gave vicinal diketone 61. Finally, the introduction of mono-bromo and di-bromo atoms achieved the total synthesis of (−)-hamigeran B (11) and (−)-4

Discovery of cytotoxic indolo[1,2-c]quinazoline derivatives through scaffold-based design

• Daniil V. Khabarov,
• Valeria A. Litvinova,
• Lyubov G. Dezhenkova,
• Dmitry N. Kaluzhny,
• Alexander S. Tikhomirov and
• Andrey E. Shchekotikhin

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 2062–2071, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.161

• ]quinazoline (8) [26], was also used in which the carbonyl oxygen at position 6 is replaced by a methyl group. Substitution at position C6 will enable to investigate the influence of electronic and steric changes for target affinity, while retaining the key pharmacophoric features of the indoloquinazolinone

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

• form a cis-substituted tetrahydrofuran (THF) moiety fused to the lactone with higher oxidation states. Notably, the phenyl ring contains three oxygen substituents in the form of alcohol and methoxy groups at different positions. Biosynthetically, the THF ring was supposed to be formed through a

• [2.2.2] carbocycle fused to CD rings. For sarglamides D and E, another oxygen-bridged E ring shows up at different positions. Overall, sarglamides A–E exhibit unusual unprecedented skeletons as they contain both monoterpenoid and indolidinoid subunits. Such a hybrid structure is rarely found in natural

Switchable pathways of multicomponent heterocyclizations of 5-amino-1,2,4-triazoles with salicylaldehydes and pyruvic acid

• Yana I. Sakhno,
• Oleksander V. Buravov,
• Kostyantyn Yu. Yurkov,
• Anastasia Yu. Andryushchenko,
• Svitlana V. Shishkina and
• Valentyn A. Chebanov

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 2030–2035, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.158

• depending on the conditions, can either be limited to a Biginelli condensation with the formation of hydroxytetrahydropyrimidines or proceed with further post-cyclization to form oxygen-bridged triazolobenzoxadiazocine derivatives. Furthermore, a multicomponent synthesis of oxygen-bridged pyrimidine systems

• at reflux in acetic acid for 3 h for aminotriazole 1a or in n-BuOH for 7 h in case of aminotriazole 1b led to the formation of oxygen-bridged 2-(methylthio or methoxy)-11,12-dihydro-5H-5,11-methanobenzo[g][1,2,4]triazolo[1,5-c][1,3,5]oxadiazocine-5-carboxylic acids 4a–j (Scheme 2, Table 1). It should

• be noted that this MCR involving unsubstituted 5-amino-1H-1,2,4-triazole under various conditions never proceeds towards the formation of oxygen-bridged compounds [18]. Thus, there is indeed a significant influence of the substituent in position 3 of 5-amino-1H-1,2,4-triazoles on their chemical

α-Ketoglutaric acid in Ugi reactions and Ugi/aza-Wittig tandem reactions

• Vladyslav O. Honcharov,
• Yana I. Sakhno,
• Olena H. Shvets,
• Vyacheslav E. Saraev,
• Svitlana V. Shishkina,
• Tetyana V. Shcherbakova and
• Valentyn A. Chebanov

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 2021–2029, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.157

• precipitation from non-polar solvents such as hexane and toluene did not lead to a complete separation of quinoxalinones 9 and Ph3PO. We attribute this to the ability of Ph3PO to form a strong hydrogen bond between the phosphoryl oxygen and a proton from the donor group of the second molecule [56][57][58], in

Aryl iodane-induced cascade arylation–1,2-silyl shift–heterocyclization of propargylsilanes under copper catalysis

• Rasma Kroņkalne,
• Rūdolfs Beļaunieks,
• Armands Sebris,
• Anatoly Mishnev and
• Māris Turks

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 1984–1994, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.154

• acid, its sodium salt or the silylated carboxylic acid), the arylation reaction of aliphatic chain-containing propargylsilane 7b (standard conditions; see Scheme 3) only resulted in the arylation of the oxygen nucleophile itself. Next, we proceeded to expand the substrate scope by exploring other

Photochemical reduction of acylimidazolium salts

• Michael Jakob,
• Nick Bechler,
• Hassan Abdelwahab,
• Fabian Weber,
• Janos Wasternack,
• Leonardo Kleebauer,
• Jan P. Götze and
• Matthew N. Hopkinson

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 1973–1983, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.153

• transfer between these species affording zwitterionic radical E is thermodynamically feasible (for details, see Supporting Information File 1). In an alternative pathway, direct hydrogen atom transfer (HAT) from the silane to the oxygen atom of excited 1* could occur. A similar HAT-step from 1* was very

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

• with organic reactions, this chemo-enzymatic strategy has been successfully utilized in the synthesis of complex molecules [22][23]. Enzymatic reactions feature a convenient operation due to their relative insensitivity to water and oxygen, as well as a specificity to certain substrates, resulting in

• with the desired C6 chiral center was constructed via intermediate 229, where the sulfinyl group induced K+–oxygen chelation to form a six-membered transition state prior to protonation from the less hindered face. Acid-mediated epimerization at C9 of 230 yielded compound 231, which was transformed

Preparation of spirocyclic oxindoles by cyclisation of an oxime to a nitrone and dipolar cycloaddition

• Beth L. Ritchie,
• Alexandra Longcake and
• Iain Coldham

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 1890–1896, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.146

• , 52.7, 39.4, 26.8; HRESIMS (m/z): [M + H]+ calcd for C18H21N2O6, 361.1400, found: 361.1404. Representative oxindole alkaloids. Orientation for the cycloaddition (left) and the crystal structure of the major stereoisomer 5a (right) with the anisotropic displacement parameters drawn at 50% (oxygen – red

Photoswitches beyond azobenzene: a beginner’s guide

• Michela Marcon,
• Christoph Haag and
• Burkhard König

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 1808–1853, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.143

• , pyridine, and indole, alongside with less common oxygen and sulphur-based heterocycles such as thiophene, thiazole, oxazole. At the end of the section, we will also briefly discuss heteroarylimines which, although not being azo-switches, resemble the geometry of azo-compounds and possess similar

• much [55]. Several diazocines with heteroatoms in the bridge have been reported (Figure 10) [50][51][53]. Oxygen-containing heterodiazocine exhibits high PSS in both directions but has a short half-life, whereas the sulphur derivative has a significantly longer half-life but a slightly reduced E-PSS

• interesting results: in the case of derivative 63 containing pyrrole, capable of hydrogen bonding with the carbonyl oxygen (Scheme 20, left) [61][62], the E form is obtained almost quantitatively upon irradiation. In the case of pyridine-containing derivative 64 (Scheme 20, right) no photoswitching is