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

• stereochemical inversion of the Norrish–Yang reaction. This achieved efficient construction of benzofuranone-based 4,5-spirocycles with contiguous all-carbon quaternary centers, offering a conformational regulation protocol for stereocontrol in complex polycyclic systems. 1.3 Avarane-type meroterpenoids In 2024

• epimers. This strategy merges photochemical selectivity with cross-coupling efficiency, avoiding reactive metal incompatibility and enabling precise stereocontrol for chiral nitrogen heterocycles. 3 Antibiotics 3.1 Synthetic study toward γ-rubromycin Since 2017, Suzuki's group has developed a

Enantioselective radical chemistry: a bright future ahead

• Anna C. Renner,
• Sagar S. Thorat,
• Hariharaputhiran Subramanian and
• Mukund P. Sibi

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 2283–2296, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.174

• lactone 26. The Zhang group has extended the chiral metalloradical catalysis to cyclopropanation by the intermolecular reaction between styrenes and ketodiazoacetates [59]. Cyclopropanes were obtained in good yields with high relative and absolute stereocontrol. Properties, such as relatively high earth

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

• divergent coupling approaches, and the stereocontrol with Evans oxazolidinone was always reliable to obtain an sole diastereomer (Scheme 6d). Bioinspired concise and scalable total synthesis sarglamides In 2023, Yue and co-workers investigated the ingredients of the Chinese folk medicine Sarcandra glabra

Measuring the stereogenic remoteness in non-central chirality: a stereocontrol connectivity index for asymmetric reactions

• Ivan Keng Wee On,
• Yu Kun Choo,
• Sambhav Baid and
• Ye Zhu

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 1995–2006, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.155

• Ivan Keng Wee On Yu Kun Choo Sambhav Baid Ye Zhu Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, National University of Singapore, 3 Science Drive 2, Singapore 117543 10.3762/bjoc.21.155 Abstract Despite the rapid development of asymmetric synthesis, judging the remoteness of stereocontrol has

• remained an intuitive and empirical practice, particularly for reactions that create non-central chirality. We put forward a stereocontrol connectivity index to parameterize asymmetric reactions according to the bond connectivity relationships between the prochiral stereogenic elements, the reactive sites

• , planar chirality, and “inherent chirality” are illustrated using the stereocontrol connectivity index produced following a unified 3-step process. Application of such stereochemical classification could facilitate the development of new synthetic methodologies and catalyst systems to construct diverse

Chiral phosphoric acid-catalyzed asymmetric synthesis of helically chiral, planarly chiral and inherently chiral molecules

• Wei Liu and
• Xiaoyu Yang

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 1864–1889, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.145

• interactions with the enehydrazine intermediate, which is essential for achieving high levels of stereocontrol. Using the optimal catalyst CPA 1, a series of aza[6]helicenes 3a,b was synthesized with excellent enantioselectivity and high yield. However, this method demonstrated notably reduced efficiency and

Synthesis of chiral cyclohexane-linked bisimidazolines

• Changmeng Xi,
• Qingshan Sun and
• Jiaxi Xu

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 1786–1790, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.140

• (1S,2S)-cyclohexane-1,2-dicarboxylic acid (3) and (1R,2R)-1,2-diphenylethane-1,2-diamine (1), hoping that the phenyl groups in the designed bisimidazoline ligands stemming from the vicinal diamine play an important role in the stereocontrol of catalytic asymmetric organic reactions [23][24][25][26

• bisimidazoline ligands 5 on the stereocontrol in catalytic asymmetric reactions (Table 1). To improve the synthetic efficiency, a different strategy for the synthesis of a nonsulfonylated cyclohexane-linked bisimidazoline with subsequent sulfonylation with different sulfonyl chlorides was also considered and

Copper catalysis: a constantly evolving field

• Elena Fernández and
• Jaesook Yun

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 1477–1479, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.109

• hydride catalysis, and enantiotopic group-selective allylations of 1,1-diborylalkanes as core strategies. At the same time, the authors provide detailed mechanistic insights into the stereocontrol and provide a perspective on currently unresolved challenges in the field. Concerning Full Research Papers

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

• towards tetrasubstituted oxetanes 53 via hydrosilylation of homopropargylic alcohols 51 followed by iodocyclisation (Scheme 13) [47], generating the 4-membered rings with excellent stereocontrol and in high yields. Optimisation studies of the second step revealed that the cyclisation must be carried out

Synthetic approach to borrelidin fragments: focus on key intermediates

• Yudhi Dwi Kurniawan,
• Zetryana Puteri Tachrim,
• Teni Ernawati,
• Faris Hermawan,
• Ima Nurasiyah and
• Muhammad Alfin Sulmantara

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 1135–1160, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.91

• and deprotection steps, functional group transformations, stereocontrolled allylation, cross-metathesis, and Horner–Wadsworth–Emmons (HWE) olefination. This method highlights the power of catalytic stereocontrol, achieving the complex architecture of borrelidin fragments with efficiency and precision

• 70% overall yield across three steps, with a dr exceeding 98:2. The reaction continued with the reduction of thioester 98 to aldehyde 99, followed by HWE olefination with (EtO)2P(O)CH2COMe, yielding compound 100 in 92% yield (Scheme 16). The stereocontrol achieved by the catalysts was again

Salen–scandium(III) complex-catalyzed asymmetric (3 + 2) annulation of aziridines and aldehydes

• Linqiang Wang and
• Jiaxi Xu

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 1087–1094, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.86

• functionalized oxazolidine derivatives in moderate to good yields and good to excellent enantioselectivities and high diastereoselectivities. The stereocontrol was rationalized in the proposed reaction mechanism. Experimental Unless otherwise noted, all materials were purchased from commercial suppliers. Toluene

Recent total synthesis of natural products leveraging a strategy of enamide cyclization

• Chun-Yu Mi,
• Jia-Yuan Zhai and
• Xiao-Ming Zhang

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 999–1009, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.81

• , the terminal alkene remains intact during this process, and the initial protonation proceeds with full stereocontrol, rendering this transformation both highly chemo- and diastereoselective. From the cyclization result, it is presumed that the higher nucleophilicity of the alkyne functionality over

• elegant [2 + 3] cycloaddition of secondary enecarbamates [28], the extension of this reaction to enamides lacking an N–H group is a notable advancement. After extensive optimization, the chiral dirhodium catalyst cat. 1 was found to be most capable in terms of both stereocontrol and efficiency. The use of

• cases, the use of a chiral Cr(III)(salen)Cl complex in combination with InCl3 was necessary to maintain a high level of stereocontrol. Total synthesis of (−)-cephalocyclidin A The bicyclic and tricyclic N-heterocycles without a fused arene are essential core structures in a wide array of alkaloids. A

Harnessing tethered nitreniums for diastereoselective amino-sulfonoxylation of alkenes

• Shyam Sathyamoorthi,
• Appasaheb K. Nirpal,
• Dnyaneshwar A. Gorve and
• Steven P. Kelley

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 947–954, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.78

• examples of amino-sulfonoxylations using tethered nitreniums. Putative reaction mechanism. (A) Scale-up and (B) applications. Optimization results. Structure–reactivity relationship with nitrenium tethers. Examination of sulfonic acid scope. Substrate scope exploration with an emphasis on stereocontrol and

Recent advances in controllable/divergent synthesis

• Jilei Cao,
• Leiyang Bai and
• Xuefeng Jiang

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 890–914, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.73

• C(sp3)–C(sp3) coupling via distal stereocontrol, efficiently producing C3-alkylated pyrrolidines, while the nickel catalytic system afforded C2-alkylated pyrrolidines through a tandem alkene isomerization/hydroalkylation process. This method utilized readily accessible catalysts, chiral BOX ligands

Copper-catalyzed domino cyclization of anilines and cyclobutanone oxime: a scalable and versatile route to spirotetrahydroquinoline derivatives

• Qingqing Jiang,
• Xinyi Lei,
• Pan Gao and
• Yu Yuan

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 749–754, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.58

• stereocontrol (Scheme 1b) [24]. In 2023, Zeng et al. reported the first example of a chromium-catalyzed spirocyclization between anilines and cyclobutanones, providing direct access to medicinally relevant cyclobutane-annulated and structurally constrained spirotetrahydroquinoline (STHQ) scaffolds [25]. Given

Recent advances in allylation of chiral secondary alkylcopper species

• Minjae Kim,
• Gwanggyun Kim,
• Doyoon Kim,
• Jun Hee Lee and
• Seung Hwan Cho

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 639–658, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.51

• complete stereocontrol. For example, the reaction of syn-alkylcopper species 14 with 3-methylbut-2-en-1-yl bromide (15) provided the corresponding SN2 product 16 in excellent yield and stereoselectivity (SN2/SN2' = >99:1, dr = 97:3). Remarkably, the regioselectivity of these reactions could be completely

• [58]. This methodology has emerged as a powerful strategy for constructing stereogenic centers with high levels of stereocontrol, offering important complementarity to established CuH-catalyzed processes. While CuH-catalyzed processes have proven highly effective for numerous substrates, they exhibit

The effect of neighbouring group participation and possible long range remote group participation in O-glycosylation

• Rituparna Das and
• Balaram Mukhopadhyay

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 369–406, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.27

• achieve better stereocontrol and to facilitate the formation of synthetically challenging glycosidic linkages. Keywords: chemical O-glycosylation; neighbouring group participation; remote group participation; solvent effect; stereocontrol; Introduction Cell surface glycans in living cells have

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

• organocatalyst C21. A considerable drop in yield and enantioselectivity was also observed in the reaction with dibenzylaniline. Interactions with and steric effects of the CPA C21 guiding the orientation of the substrates dictate the stereocontrol of the reaction. The utilization of CPA (R)-C23 in a dynamic

• , bearing both axial and central chirality, were prepared by organocatalytic asymmetric addition of bisindoles 145 and isatin-derived imines 146 catalyzed by CPA C26 (Scheme 43) [71]. The scope of the reaction showed efficient stereocontrol by consistently high diastereo- and enantioselectivity with

• . Experiments determining the configurational stability were done in both toluene at 120 °C and o-xylene at 150 °C for up to 36 h with retained stereoselectivity but decreasing yields at higher temperatures for prolonged periods of time. The possible activation mode explains the stereocontrol of the reaction

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

• , followed by a Conia-ene cyclization. The absolute configuration of the products is controlled by the ligand, which further confirms the remote stereocontrol of the copper catalyst. They obtained a single crystal of dinuclear copper and confirmed that the catalytic efficiency of the single crystal is

• of ortho-aryl steric hindrance. Recently, Xu et al. [81] presents a copper-catalyzed asymmetric [4 + 1] annulation strategy, utilizing remote stereocontrol substitution/annulation/aromatization to forge arylpyrroles with various C–C (Scheme 49, 48a–h), C–N (Scheme 50, 49a–h) or 1,2-di- (Scheme 51

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

• more precise stereocontrol of the reaction [128][129][130][131][132]. Therefore, the difference in enantioselectivity values may be attributed to these electronic effects. Ultimately, the most favourable outcomes were achieved with catalyst C30 at 0 °C, with yields reaching up to 84% and enantiomeric

Bioinformatic prediction of the stereoselectivity of modular polyketide synthase: an update of the sequence motifs in ketoreductase domain

• Changjun Xiang,
• Shunyu Yao,
• Ruoyu Wang and
• Lihan Zhang

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 1476–1485, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.131

• stereochemical outcomes of KRs. These updated fingerprint motifs for stereochemical prediction not only enhance our understanding of the enzymatic mechanisms governing stereocontrol but also facilitate accurate stereochemical prediction and genome mining of polyketides derived from modular cis-AT PKSs. Keywords

• : bioinformatics; conserved motifs; ketoreductase; polyketide synthase; stereocontrol; Introduction Type I modular polyketide synthases (PKSs) are large enzyme complexes that play a crucial role in the biosynthesis of bacterial polyketides, including many important clinical drugs such as erythromycin (antibiotic

• substrate contains an α-substition. Subtype 1 (A1, B1, and C1) KRs retain the original α-ᴅ-configuration, while subtype 2 (A2, B2, and C2) KRs epimerize the α-carbon to yield α-ʟ-configured products (Figure 1b). The stereocontrol of KR has been found to correlate with several conserved sequence motifs

Recent developments in the engineered biosynthesis of fungal meroterpenoids

• Zhiyang Quan and
• Takayoshi Awakawa

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 578–588, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.50

• chair–chair stereocontrol, the structure basis of InsA7 should be unique. A structural comparison of InsB2 and InsA7 will help to clarify the differences in their structural bases. Recent advances in artifical intelligence (AI) have even made the structural modeling of membrane-bound proteins possible

α-(Aminomethyl)acrylates as acceptors in radical–polar crossover 1,4-additions of dialkylzincs: insights into enolate formation and trapping

• Angel Palillero-Cisneros,
• Paola G. Gordillo-Guerra,
• Fernando García-Alvarez,
• Olivier Jackowski,
• Franck Ferreira,
• Fabrice Chemla,
• Joel L. Terán and
• Alejandro Perez-Luna

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 1443–1451, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.103

• 5 and 8a in 77–88% yields, albeit as poorly selective mixtures of diastereoisomers. This lack of stereocontrol is not surprising, given the well-known difficulty to control the relative configuration between the two adjacent stereocenters created during aldol condensations with zinc enolates

Synthesis of ether lipids: natural compounds and analogues

• Marco Antônio G. B. Gomes,
• Alicia Bauduin,
• Chloé Le Roux,
• Romain Fouinneteau,
• Wilfried Berthe,
• Mathieu Berchel,
• Hélène Couthon and
• Paul-Alain Jaffrès

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 1299–1369, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.96

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

• stereocenter in cyclic sulfamidate derivatives. N-Alkyl and N-benzyl-substituted pyrroles responded to the process with appreciable enantioefficiency. However, pyrrole was not proved to be the efficient substrate in terms of stereocontrol [27] (Scheme 4a). In the very next year, pyrrole was successfully

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

• Indonesian sponge Haliclona sp. [108]. Their synthesis takes advantage of the same tandem procedure that gives β-ketoester 219. The asymmetric conjugate 1,4-addition and subsequent acylation provided good stereocontrol and the authors could revise the thus far incorrectly assigned configuration of the target