Vicinal ketoesters – key intermediates in the total synthesis of natural products

• Marc Paul Beller and
• Ulrich Koert

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2022, 18, 1236–1248, doi:10.3762/bjoc.18.129

• -substitution. Subsequent transesterification gave the α-ketoester 75, which was used in a Wittig reaction. The undesired Z-configured double bond was isomerized to the E-alkene and final hydrogenation delivered corynoxine (76). (+)-Gracilamine The Mannich reaction was also used by Nagasawa et al. as a key step

Thiophene/selenophene-based S-shaped double helicenes: regioselective synthesis and structures

• Mengjie Wang,
• Lanping Dang,
• Wan Xu,
• Zhiying Ma,
• Liuliu Shao,
• Guangxia Wang,
• Chunli Li and
• Hua Wang

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2022, 18, 809–817, doi:10.3762/bjoc.18.81

• (trimethylsilanyl)diseleno[2,3-b:3′,2′-d]thiophene ((TMS)2-bb-DST), and 2,5-di(trimethylsilanyl)diseleno[2,3-b:3′,2′-d] selenophene ((TMS)2-bb-DSS) were used as starting materials to synthesize three S-shaped double helicenes (i.e., DH-1, DH-2, and DH-3) through monobromination, formylation, the Wittig reaction

• sulfur atoms on the same side is defined as bb by us. The double Wittig reaction of 4a and 4b with 1,3-phenyldimethyltriphenylphosphonium bromide afforded compounds 5a and 5b with yields of 46% and 64%, respectively. After the double Wittig reaction of 4c we obtained a mixture of cis and trans isomers of

New efficient synthesis of polysubstituted 3,4-dihydroquinazolines and 4H-3,1-benzothiazines through a Passerini/Staudinger/aza-Wittig/addition/nucleophilic substitution sequence

• Long Zhao,
• Mao-Lin Yang,
• Min Liu and
• Ming-Wu Ding

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2022, 18, 286–292, doi:10.3762/bjoc.18.32

• Abstract A new efficient synthesis of polysubstituted 3,4-dihydroquinazolines and 4H-3,1-benzothiazines via sequential Passerini/Staudinger/aza-Wittig/addition/nucleophilic substitution reaction has been developed. The three-component Passerini reactions of 2-azidobenzaldehydes 1, benzoic acid (2), and

• isocyanides 3 produced the azide intermediates 4, which were treated sequentially with triphenylphosphine, isocyanates (or CS2), and secondary amines to give polysubstituted 3,4-dihydroquinazolines 8 and 4H-3,1-benzothiazines 11 in good overall yields through consecutive Passerini/Staudinger/aza-Wittig

• /addition/nucleophilic substitution reactions. Keywords: aza-Wittig reaction; 3,4-dihydroquinazoline; 4H-3,1-benzothiazine; nucleophilic substitution; Passerini reaction; Staudinger reaction; Introduction The chemistry of 3,4-dihydroquinazolines and 4H-3,1-benzothiazines is of constant interest owing to

Synthesis and late stage modifications of Cyl derivatives

• Phil Servatius and
• Uli Kazmaier

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2022, 18, 174–181, doi:10.3762/bjoc.18.19

• NMR spectra. The solubility issues forced us to investigate also other modification protocols. Thus, macrocycle 11 was subjected to an ozonolysis with subsequent Wittig reaction in a one-pot manner (Scheme 4). Performing the ozonolysis in presence of pyridine led to immediate reduction of the primary

• ozonide formed during the reaction [57]. Consequently, no PPh3 or Me2S was required to obtain the crude aldehyde. Subsequent addition of a Wittig ylide gave access to a cyclopeptide with an α,β-unsaturated ester side chain as a (E/Z) mixture. Unfortunately, this compound contained triphenylphosphine oxide

1,2-Naphthoquinone-4-sulfonic acid salts in organic synthesis

• Ruan Carlos B. Ribeiro,
• Patricia G. Ferreira,
• Amanda de A. Borges,
• Luana da S. M. Forezi,
• Fernando de Carvalho da Silva and
• Vitor F. Ferreira

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2022, 18, 53–69, doi:10.3762/bjoc.18.5

• transformations. Organometallics are the most commonly used catalysts to promote C–C bond formation. In addition, other so-called classical reactions are also widely used, such as Friedel–Crafts alkylation and acylation, Wittig and Horner–Emmons reactions, carbonyl addition/substitution, α-alkylation, aldol

The ethoxycarbonyl group as both activating and protective group in N-acyl-Pictet–Spengler reactions using methoxystyrenes. A short approach to racemic 1-benzyltetrahydroisoquinoline alkaloids

• Marco Keller,
• Karl Sauvageot-Witzku,
• Franz Geisslinger,
• Nicole Urban,
• Michael Schaefer,
• Karin Bartel and
• Franz Bracher

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2021, 17, 2716–2725, doi:10.3762/bjoc.17.183

• ethyl chloroformate/Et3N, followed by Wittig olefination with an ylide generated from (methoxymethyl)triphenylphosphonium chloride and LDA to give the enol ethers as E/Z mixtures. N-Phenethyl carbamates were obtained from benzaldehydes via Henry reaction with nitromethane, followed by zinc dust

Strategies for the synthesis of brevipolides

• Yudhi D. Kurniawan and
• A'liyatur Rosyidah

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2021, 17, 2399–2416, doi:10.3762/bjoc.17.157

• liberated using TBAF to give compound 27 in 97% yield over two steps. The alcohol group in 27 was then oxidized to the corresponding aldehyde under Swern conditions and subsequently subjected to a Wittig reaction with a two-carbon phosphonium ylide reagent. The desired α,β-unsaturated ester 28 was then

• primary alcohol 99 (90%). Oxidation of this moiety with IBX to its corresponding aldehyde served as a substrate for the two-carbon homologation via Wittig reaction giving ester 96 in 80% yield over the two steps. After reduction of the ester group to its primary alcohol counterpart, the Sharpless

Allylic alcohols and amines by carbenoid eliminative cross-coupling using epoxides or aziridines

• Matthew J. Fleming and
• David M. Hodgson

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2021, 17, 2385–2389, doi:10.3762/bjoc.17.155

• as only γ-amino ether 25 was observed in its absence. It was also important to carry out the reaction at −78 °C to avoid a 1,2-Wittig rearrangement of the lithiated benzyl ether [22]; this restricts the reaction to N-Bus-aziridines, as epoxides are not deprotonated by LTMP at such low temperatures

Transition-metal-free intramolecular Friedel–Crafts reaction by alkene activation: A method for the synthesis of some novel xanthene derivatives

• Tülay Yıldız,
• İrem Baştaş and
• Hatice Başpınar Küçük

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2021, 17, 2203–2208, doi:10.3762/bjoc.17.142

• under mild reaction conditions and have widened the substrate scope of alkenes to those containing varied electronic and steric properties. Results and Discussion Our starting alkenes 4a–l are original and were synthesized in four steps involving coupling, Grignard, oxidation, and Wittig reactions. We

• fourth and final step, phenoxydiphenylalkene derivative 4a was prepared by a Wittig reaction, which was carried out using methyltriphenylphosphonium bromide with ketone 3a, in basic medium, at room temperature, and dry THF. After the structures of the starting compounds were elucidated, the method

• synthesized by Grignard reaction of 1a–l and aryl(or alkyl)magnesium bromides. Then 3a–l were prepared by oxidation of 2a–l using PCC. The final alkene compounds 4a–l were obtained by Wittig reaction using Me(Ph)3PBr, t-BuOK, and NaH. All substrates were purified by crystallization or column chromatography

Recent advances in the syntheses of anthracene derivatives

• Giovanni S. Baviera and
• Paulo M. Donate

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2021, 17, 2028–2050, doi:10.3762/bjoc.17.131

• methodology, they synthesized 2,3,6,7-anthracenetetracarbonitrile (90) in a good yield (84%) by double intermolecular Wittig reaction of the protected benzenetetracarbaldehyde 87 with reagent 88, followed by deprotection and double ring-closing reaction of intermediate 89; they used a mixture of triflic acid

• /water in the first step and trimethylamine in the next reaction step [56]. Other procedures In 2008, Lin et al. reported a homo-elongation protocol to obtain acene diesters and dinitriles starting from dialdehydes (Scheme 23) [57]. This methodology was based on a Wittig reaction between substituted [n

• ]acene-2,3-dicarbaldehydes 91 and the Wittig reagents 92; DBU was employed to produce the corresponding substituted [n+1]acene-2,3-diethyl diesters 93. Then, in two steps (reduction and Swern oxidation), the authors converted the diesters 93 to the dialdehydes 94, which could be transformed into the

Cascade intramolecular Prins/Friedel–Crafts cyclization for the synthesis of 4-aryltetralin-2-ols and 5-aryltetrahydro-5H-benzo[7]annulen-7-ols

• Jie Zheng,
• Shuyu Meng and
• Quanrui Wang

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2021, 17, 1481–1489, doi:10.3762/bjoc.17.104

• Scheme 3 consisting of the following steps: (i) Wittig reaction of 2-bromobenzaldehyde with methyltriphenylphosphonium iodide ylide, (ii) lithiation of the resultant o-bromostyrene with n-BuLi and reaction of the aryl lithium species with ethylene oxide, and (iii) oxidation of the resultant primary

• -vinylphenyl)acetaldehyde (13a) using the route as outlined in Scheme 4. The synthesis started with the Wittig reaction of 2-bromobenzaldehyde (9a) with (methoxymethyl)triphenylphosphonium chloride (MTPPC) upon action with n-butyllithium in THF at 0 °C to give the vinyl ether 10a that was subjected to acidic

Double-headed nucleosides: Synthesis and applications

• Vineet Verma,
• Jyotirmoy Maity,
• Vipin K. Maikhuri,
• Ritika Sharma,
• Himal K. Ganguly and
• Ashok K. Prasad

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2021, 17, 1392–1439, doi:10.3762/bjoc.17.98

• Wittig reaction with methylenetriphenylphosphorane (Ph3P=CH2) produced the 5′-methylene derivative [62]. Finally, oxidation with meta-chloroperbenzoic acid (mCPBA) afforded the nucleoside 97. Treatment of the nucleoside 97 with Grignard reagent PhMgBr in THF produced nucleoside 98, whose secondary

Fritsch–Buttenberg–Wiechell rearrangement of magnesium alkylidene carbenoids leading to the formation of alkynes

• Tsutomu Kimura,
• Koto Sekiguchi,
• Akane Ando and
• Aki Imafuji

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2021, 17, 1352–1359, doi:10.3762/bjoc.17.94

• homologation [3]. Much effort has been devoted to developing a procedure for the synthesis of alkynes from carbonyl compounds, and the Corey–Fuchs method, the Seyferth–Gilbert method, and the Ohira–Bestmann modification have been developed (Scheme 1) [4][5][6][7]. These methods consist of the Wittig or Horner

Total synthesis of pyrrolo[2,3-c]quinoline alkaloid: trigonoine B

• Takashi Nishiyama,
• Erina Hamada,
• Daishi Ishii,
• Yuuto Kihara,
• Nanase Choshi,
• Natsumi Nakanishi,
• Mari Murakami,
• Kimiko Taninaka,
• Noriyuki Hatae and
• Tominari Choshi

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2021, 17, 730–736, doi:10.3762/bjoc.17.62

• . Consequently, we decided to develop a new synthetic strategy for the preparation of trigonoine B (1). Carbodiimides are valuable synthetic intermediates that can be obtained by an aza-Wittig reaction of isocyanates with iminophosphoranes or by dehydration of urea [26]. Molina et al. previously reported the

• synthesis of 2-aminopyridine derivatives through an electrocyclization of conjugated carbodiimides derived from an aza-Wittig reaction of iminophosphoranes and isocyanates [27]. Hibino and co-workers also achieved the preparation of mutagenic amino-α-carbolines (2-amino-9H-pyrido[2,3-b]indole, AαC) and

• MeAαC by the electrocyclization of 3-alkenyl-2-carbodiimidoindole derivatives obtained by an aza-Wittig reaction of indol-2-yl-iminophosphoranes and isocyanates [28]. In this work, we report the first total synthesis of trigonoine B (1) involving the construction of a pyrrolo[2,3-c]quinoline framework

The preparation and properties of 1,1-difluorocyclopropane derivatives

• Kymbat S. Adekenova,
• Peter B. Wyatt and
• Sergazy M. Adekenov

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2021, 17, 245–272, doi:10.3762/bjoc.17.25

• Ph3P+CF2−, which was used for the Wittig olefination of aldehydes and ketones. However, heating PDFA in nonpolar solvents (e.g., xylene at 90 °C) favors the dissociation of the ylide to release difluorocarbene which is able to effect the cyclopropanation of alkenes [34]. Trimethylsilyl

Progress in the total synthesis of inthomycins

• Bidyut Kumar Senapati

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2021, 17, 58–82, doi:10.3762/bjoc.17.7

• required vinylstannane and iii) Stille coupling between them (Scheme 3) [39]. The required divinyl halides 36 were prepared, starting from phenylacetaldehyde (33), by using the Takai [38] or Wittig procedures [40] as shown in Scheme 3 (68% of a 3.3:1 mixture of (E,E)/(Z,E)-36b and 69% yield of a 8:1

• followed by immediate TBS ether formation produced (+)-110a in 82% yield over 2 steps. Wittig olefination of (+)-110a with phosphonate 111 furnished the desired (E)-(+)-112a, which was then converted into Hatakeyama’s enynol (−)-82b using a four-step sequence to complete the formal synthesis of inthomycin

• , it was transformed into (E)-vinylboronate (+)-145b in perfect stereoselectivity by using the recently developed boron-Wittig reaction with bis[(pinacolato)boryl]methane (144) [79]. By applying the Corey–Fuchs dibromoolefination and followed by Pd-catalyzed hydrogenolysis under Uenishi's conditions

Synthesis, crystal structures and properties of carbazole-based [6]helicenes fused with an azine ring

• Daria I. Tonkoglazova,
• Anna V. Gulevskaya,
• Konstantin A. Chistyakov and
• Olga I. Askalepova

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2021, 17, 11–21, doi:10.3762/bjoc.17.2

• sp. and displaying inhibitory activities towards telomerases. The classical synthetic approach for carbohelicenes is the oxidative photocyclization of stilbene derivatives [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11]. The latter are generally available via the Wittig, Heck-type or McMurry couplings. It is

3-Acetoxy-fatty acid isoprenyl esters from androconia of the ithomiine butterfly Ithomia salapia

• Florian Mann,
• Daiane Szczerbowski,
• Lisa de Silva,
• Melanie McClure,
• Marianne Elias and
• Stefan Schulz

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 2776–2787, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.228

• ). A Wittig reaction with pentylphosphonium bromide resulted in bromoalkene 21 in a 9:1 Z/E-mixture. In the following step, the Grignard reagent of 21 was converted into the respective Gilman cuprate with Cu(I)I for the selective reaction with the epoxide function of (S)-22 [34]. The hydroxyester 23

Synthesis of purines and adenines containing the hexafluoroisopropyl group

• Viacheslav Petrov,
• Rebecca J. Dooley,
• Alexander A. Marchione,
• Elizabeth L. Diaz,
• Brittany S. Clem and
• William Marshall

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 2739–2748, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.224

• relatively short list: the reduction of the OH group of the C(CF3)2OH moiety (this protocol was employed in the synthesis of enantiomerically pure (S)-5,5,5,5',5',5'-hexafluoroleucine [1]); the Wittig reaction of Ph3P=C(O)C(O)OR with hexafluoroacetone, followed by the hydrogenation of the CH=C(CF3)2 unit

Synthetic approaches to bowl-shaped π-conjugated sumanene and its congeners

• Shakeel Alvi and
• Rashid Ali

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 2212–2259, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.186

• context, their journey started from syn-tris(oxonorborneno)benzene 23, obtained via palladium-catalyzed cyclotrimerization of iodonorbornene. The C3-symmetric compound 23 was then converted into the methylene groups containing compound 103 using Wittig reaction which on further treatment with

Syntheses of spliceostatins and thailanstatins: a review

• William A. Donaldson

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 1991–2006, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.166

• Kitahara’s synthesis [8][9], the Wittig olefination of 24, followed by a catalytic hydrogenation, removal of the dimethylaminal protecting group, and lactonization gave 25 as a mixture of diastereomers (Scheme 2). The further transformation of 25 afforded the dihydropyran 26, which upon catalytic

• hydrogenation over Pt2O and then low-temperature DIBAL reduction afforded the all-cis tetrasubstituted tetrahydropyran 27. In Koide et al.’s synthesis, the unsaturated lactone 29 was prepared via the Wittig methenylation of 24, followed by aminal hydrolysis, methallylation of the 2° alcohol 28, and ring-closing

• ] was followed by a 3-O-vinylation. A thermal 3,3-sigmatropic Claisen rearrangement of 62 gave the cis-2,6-disubstituted dihydropyran 63, which upon sequential Wittig olefination with 2-(triphenylphosporanylidene)propanal and then methylenetriphenylphosphorane yielded the diene 64. The removal of the di

Tuneable access to indole, indolone, and cinnoline derivatives from a common 1,4-diketone Michael acceptor

• Dalel El-Marrouki,
• Sabrina Touchet,
• Abderrahmen Abdelli,
• Hédi M’Rabet,
• Mohamed Lotfi Efrit and
• Philippe C. Gros

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 1722–1731, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.144

• the target compounds required the prior preparation of a panel of variously substituted 1,4-diketones 5. The 1,4-diketones 5 have been prepared either by a Nef reaction [56] from the corresponding nitroenone 3 or a Wittig reaction [57] from 1,2-cyclohexanedione and the corresponding ylide 4 (Scheme 2

• route remains limited in terms of chemical diversity as it depends on the availability of the corresponding nitro derivative. It was thus decided to move on to the Wittig reaction [57], offering a much more straightforward and efficient route to a panel of new diketones, 5e–k, from 1,2-cyclohexanedione

• and the corresponding Wittig ylides 4a–g (readily accessible from the corresponding halogenated derivatives, Scheme 2). Indeed, the Wittig reaction leads exclusively to the isomerized products 5. With the 1,4-diketones 5 in hand, we first investigated the synthesis of indole and indolone derivatives

Facile synthesis of 7-alkyl-1,2,3,4-tetrahydro-1,8-naphthyridines as arginine mimetics using a Horner–Wadsworth–Emmons-based approach

• Rhys A. Lippa,
• John A. Murphy and
• Tim N. Barrett

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 1617–1626, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.134

• , GlaxoSmithKline disclosed a route to a fluoropyrrolidine 6 using a Wittig reaction between phosphonium salt 4 and aldehyde 5 [2]. The synthesis of phosphonium salt 4 (itself requiring 6 steps including partial saturation of a 1,8-naphthyridine moiety) and the formation of the triphenylphosphine oxide byproduct in

• the Wittig step presented complications on both gram and kilogram scales. Herein, we report a novel synthetic sequence to tetrahydro-1,8-naphthyridines using a Horner–Wadsworth–Emmons reaction using diphosphorylated compound 7, proceeding in high yields and high purities without the need for

• defluorination, presumably via a Tsuji–Trost-like elimination of the allylic fluoride [18][19]. This sequence represents a marked improvement from the Wittig-including route, lowering the number of synthetic steps and increasing the overall yield [2]. Furthermore, no problematic byproducts are formed, and good

An overview on disulfide-catalyzed and -cocatalyzed photoreactions

• Yeersen Patehebieke

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 1418–1435, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.118

• unsuccessful to be prepared by the Schlosser modification of the Wittig olefination (Scheme 26) [33]. A similar isomerization method was also used by Holmes in the synthesis of (−)-gloeosporone. Under irradiation conditions, diphenyl disulfide helped to convert the Z-alkene 76 to the E-alkene 77 (Scheme 27) [34

A simple and easy to perform synthetic route to functionalized thienyl bicyclo[3.2.1]octadienes

• Dragana Vuk,
• Irena Škorić,
• Valentina Milašinović,
• Krešimir Molčanov and
• Željko Marinić

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 1092–1099, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.96

• were synthesized through Wittig reactions and subjected to photochemical cyclization, in terms of obtaining the new annulated structures. As part of this study, the aldol reaction of the starting 2-substituted carbaldehyde with acetone was also performed, which produced the thieno-fused benzobicyclo

• [3.2.1]octadiene compound with an extended conjugation. Keywords: bicyclo[3.2.1]octadiene; photocyclization; thiophene; Vilsmeier–Haack reaction; Wittig reaction; Introduction The bicyclo[3.2.1]octane skeleton has become the subject of intensive research in recent years [1][2][3]. Its presence in

• purification, the aldehydes 1 and 2 were obtained in very good yields (1: 79%; 2: 68%), and subsequently used as novel starting substrates for further addition/condensation reactions. The Wittig reaction of the prepared aldehydes with the corresponding triphenylphosphonium salts provided five new styryl