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

• library of bis- and tetraamides was synthesized by the Ugi reaction with α-ketoglutaric acid, tert-butyl isocyanide, aromatic aldehydes, and aromatic amines. When o-azidoanilines were used, azidated peptidomimetics were obtained, the post-cyclization of which by the aza-Wittig reaction yielded a series of

• biochemical processes [47]. However, there are only a few studies in the literature on multicomponent reactions based on KGA. In 1992, Gein et al. [48] reported a multicomponent reaction involving KGA, aromatic aldehydes, and aromatic amines. This led to the formation of pyrrolone derivatives I, which showed

• anti-inflammatory activity [49][50] (Scheme 1, pathway A). In an earlier study by our research group, Sakhno et al. [51] described a three-component Doebner-type reaction involving KGA, aromatic aldehydes, and 3-amino-5-methylisoxazole, which led to the formation of [2-aryl-4-hydroxy-1-(5

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

• transformations of carbonyl substrates with umpolung processes of aldehydes such as the benzoin condensation and Stetter reaction being particularly well studied [4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11]. In these processes, addition of the NHC to the aldehyde followed by proton transfer generates the enamine-like Breslow

Stereoselective electrochemical intramolecular imino-pinacol reaction: a straightforward entry to enantiopure piperazines

• Margherita Gazzotti,
• Fabrizio Medici,
• Valerio Chiroli,
• Laura Raimondi,
• Sergio Rossi and
• Maurizio Benaglia

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 1897–1908, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.147

• diimines of aromatic aldehydes with trans-1,2-diaminocyclohexane for the synthesis of enantiopure tetrasubstituted piperazines has been investigated by an electrochemical approach. The methodology was successfully developed under both batch and continuous flow conditions, and afforded enantiomerically pure

• described a new electrochemical procedure to provide vicinal diamines involving the use of Sn electrodes as both anode and cathode in a divided cell, Mn(OAc)3·2H2O as additive and n-Bu4NOAc as electrolyte. Under these conditions, using aldehydes and amines as starting materials to form the imines in situ

• chiral diimines of aromatic aldehydes with trans-1,2-diaminocyclohexane was initially investigated under traditional batch conditions through a series of screening experiments designed to find the optimal reaction conditions. Diimine 1a was selected as model substrate for the intramolecular coupling

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

• aromatization process, in 2023 our group reported the asymmetric synthesis of various azahelicenes 8 from polycyclic arylamines 5, dienamides 6 and aldehydes 7 (Scheme 2) [13]. This methodology demonstrates a broad substrate scope, enabling the efficient asymmetric synthesis of diverse aza[5]helicenes 8a–d and

• aza[4]helicene 8e from various aldehydes with high enantioselectivity. In addition, dienamides were found to be compatible with this method, albeit requiring a switch to CPA 3 as the optimal catalyst, which generated the 1-enamide-substituted azahelicenes 8f,g, with significant potential for diverse

• reaction with polycyclic arylamines 9 and various aromatic aldehydes 11, resulting in a range of quinoline-containing azahelicenes 12 with moderate yield and excellent enantioselectivity after DDQ-mediated oxidative aromatization (Scheme 3). Notably, they not only expanded the substrate scope to encompass

Systematic pore lipophilization to enhance the efficiency of an amine-based MOF catalyst in the solvent-free Knoevenagel reaction

• Pricilla Matseketsa,
• Margret Kumbirayi Ruwimbo Pagare and
• Tendai Gadzikwa

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 1854–1863, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.144

• of carbonyl compounds, such as aldehydes or ketones, with active methylene compounds [37]. The resulting α,β-unsaturated carbonyl products can then be further elaborated to form natural products, therapeutic agents, polymers, pesticides, and insecticides [38], which have important applications in the

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

• condensed with a (hetero)aromatic aldehyde in the presence of a base to yield 86 (Scheme 26) [81]. Iminothioindoxyl can be synthesised in the same way, using nitrosoarenes instead of aldehydes [90]. For several other synthetic methods, we refer to the excellent reviews by Konieczny and Konieczny [92] and

Fe-catalyzed efficient synthesis of 2,4- and 4-substituted quinolines via C(sp²)–C(sp²) bond scission of styrenes

• Prafull A. Jagtap,
• Manish M. Petkar,
• Vaishnavi R. Sawant and
• Bhalchandra M. Bhanage

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 1799–1807, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.142

• -metal catalysts. One of the key transformations in organic synthesis is the selective oxidative cleavage of alkenes to yield ketones or aldehydes [43][44][45][46][47]. Traditionally, such transformations have been achieved using various oxidizing agents, transition-metal-based systems, organo- and

Influence of the cation in hypophosphite-mediated catalyst-free reductive amination

• Natalia Lebedeva,
• Fedor Kliuev,
• Olesya Zvereva,
• Klim Biriukov,
• Evgeniya Podyacheva,
• Maria Godovikova,
• Oleg I. Afanasyev and
• Denis Chusov

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 1661–1670, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.130

• experiments were carried out. During the substrate screening we noted that reaction between aldehydes and primary amines resulted in only traces of the product of reductive amination. In these reaction mixtures, exclusively Schiff bases were detected since they precipitated under neat conditions and left the

• efficiency falls down for some products, in particular, those containing electron-withdrawing groups. Wide range of amines was synthesized in moderate to good yields. Aliphatic ketones, aliphatic and aromatic aldehydes have successfully reacted with primary and secondary amines. Multiple bonds

Catalytic asymmetric reactions of isocyanides for constructing non-central chirality

• Jia-Yu Liao

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 1648–1660, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.129

• ] involving 6-aryl-2-aminopyridines 27, aldehydes, and isocyanides (Scheme 5a) [35]. By employing chiral phosphoric acid (CPA) C1 as the catalyst, this reaction worked well to afford axially chiral imidazo[1,2-a]pyridines 28 in high-to-excellent yields (up to 99%) and enantioselectivities (up to >99% ee). It

• distortion of isocyanoacetate–Ag coordination combing with better Ag–C σ-orbital overlap led to exo-cycloadducts (L10-TS). Except for constructing C–N and N–N axial chirality, we have developed a highly diastereo- and enantioselective method to access tri- and tetra-ortho-substituted biaryl aldehydes 63

General method for the synthesis of enaminones via photocatalysis

• Paula Pérez-Ramos,
• Raquel G. Soengas and
• Humberto Rodríguez-Solla

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 1535–1543, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.116

• enaminones has attracted much attention over the past decades. Kuwano’s group described the synthesis of enaminones from ethyl ketones via a nickel-catalyzed selective β-amination (Scheme 1A) [31]. The preparation of enaminones can also be achieved by the reaction of aldehydes and calcium carbide in the

High-pressure activation for the solvent- and catalyst-free syntheses of heterocycles, pharmaceuticals and esters

• Kelsey Plasse,
• Valerie Wright,
• Guoshu Xie,
• R. Bernadett Vlocskó,
• Alexander Lazarev and
• Béla Török

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 1374–1387, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.102

• on our earlier publications and the data presented here, it is reasonable to predict that the high-pressure activation strategy will gain broad application possibilities in the future. Experimental Materials and methods Materials: All substrates (aldehydes, hydrazones, alcohols, p-aminophenol

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

• base [5]. In fact, its hydrogen-bond-accepting ability is even stronger than that of the other 3-, 5- and 6-membered cyclic ethers, as well as the carbonyls of aldehydes, ketones, esters and carbonates [6][7][8]. The only better carbonyl-based hydrogen-bond acceptors are amides, carbamates and ureas [9

Recent advances and future challenges in the bottom-up synthesis of azulene-embedded nanographenes

• Bartłomiej Pigulski

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 1272–1305, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.99

• -like electronic structure. Liu and co-workers developed a modular approach to for synthesizing azulene-embedded isomers of linear acenes (Scheme 11) [59]. Precursors 67–70 were obtained from aldehydes and substituted cyclopentadienes using Knoevenagel-type condensation. Finally, intramolecular

Recent advances in oxidative radical difunctionalization of N-arylacrylamides enabled by carbon radical reagents

• Jiangfei Chen,
• Yi-Lin Qu,
• Ming Yuan,
• Xiang-Mei Wu,
• Heng-Pei Jiang,
• Ying Fu and
• Shengrong Guo

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 1207–1271, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.98

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

• moieties of biologically active compounds. A salen–scandium triflate complex-catalyzed asymmetric (3 + 2) annulation of dialkyl 1-sulfonylaziridine-2,2-dicarboxylates and aldehydes generated optically active functionalized oxazolidine derivatives in moderate to good yields and good to excellent

• alcohols and aldehydes [11] and through [2 + 3] cycloaddition of azomethine ylides and carbonyl dipolarophiles [12]. Recently, the [2 + 3] annulation of aldehydes and donor–acceptor dialkyl 2-aryl-1-sulfonylaziridine-2,2-dicarboxylates, which generate azomethine ylides, has been developed for the synthesis

• -dicarboxylates from aldehydes and dialkyl 2-aryl-1-sulfonylaziridine-2,2-dicarboxylates under the catalysis of the readily available salen–Sc(OTf)3 complex (Scheme 1d). The salen ligand can be prepared in one step from enantiopure cyclohexane-1,2-diamines and substituted salicylaldehydes. Results and Discussion

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

• advancements in this area have recently been demonstrated to access conjugated alkenes, particularly cinnamic acid derivatives, with high stereoselectivity. For instance, Reeves and co-workers (2023) performed a Horner–Wadsworth–Emmons reaction of triethyl 2-fluoro-2-phosphonoacetate (390) and aldehydes to

• , Maulide and co-workers (2022) utilized a novel thiouronium ylide 396 and 2-(tert-butyl)-1,1,3,3-tetramethylguanidine (395) for the olefination of aldehydes to generate the corresponding cinnamates 398 and 399 with excellent (Z)-selectivity (Scheme 85). Interestingly, exchanging aldehydes for tosylimines

• catalytic Wittig reaction using phosphetane oxide 412 as redox cycling catalyst using silanes as the reductant to convert aldehydes and α-bromoesters into the corresponding cinnamate esters 44, 154, and 413. The reaction proceeds via formation of nucleophilic phosphane 414 (Scheme 87A) [147]. Moreover

Regioselective formal hydrocyanation of allenes: synthesis of β,γ-unsaturated nitriles with α-all-carbon quaternary centers

• Seeun Lim,
• Teresa Kim and
• Yunmi Lee

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 800–806, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.63

• are important intermediates in organic syntheses because of the versatility of the cyano group, which can be readily transformed into a wide range of functional groups, including amides, carboxylic acids, amines, aldehydes, ketones, and N-heterocycles [6][7][8]. However, the synthesis of all-carbon

Recent advances in the electrochemical synthesis of organophosphorus compounds

• Babak Kaboudin,
• Milad Behroozi,
• Sepideh Sadighi and
• Fatemeh Asgharzadeh

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 770–797, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.61

• Cp₂Fe is lower than that of other substances, it is most likely oxidized first. In 2023, Ma et al. [60] reported an electrochemically oxidative/metal catalyst-free method for the synthesis of the α-hydroxyphosphine oxides through the reaction of diphenylphosphine as a phosphine source with aldehydes

• desired products were obtained with moderate yields for aldehydes containing strong electron-withdrawing groups, indicating that this method is suitable for forming P–C bonds. Products with nitro, chlorine, or bromine groups at the para position had higher yields compared to those with the groups at the

New advances in asymmetric organocatalysis II

• Radovan Šebesta

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

• ]. The enantioselective addition of propargyltrichlorosilane to aldehydes was studied by Prabhakar, Takenaka, and co-workers. This transformation was catalyzed by a biisoquinoline N,N’-dioxide catalyst, which acted as a chiral Lewis base [26]. Torres-Oya and Zurro reviewed the recent developments in

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

• remains a formidable challenge, primarily due to the inherent ring strain and the difficulties associated with achieving high diastereoselectivity during cyclization [4]. Recently, Chen and co-workers developed a chiral phosphoric acid (CPA)-catalyzed multicomponent reaction of anilines, aldehydes, and

Photochemically assisted synthesis of phenacenes fluorinated at the terminal benzene rings and their electronic spectra

• Yuuki Ishii,
• Minoru Yamaji,
• Fumito Tani,
• Kenta Goto,
• Yoshihiro Kubozono and
• Hideki Okamoto

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 670–679, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.53

• compounds, F8PIC and F8FUL, were obtained through the Wittig-reaction and Mallory-photoreaction sequence (Scheme 2). Thus, reactions between phosphonium salt 5 and specific aldehydes, 10 and 13, followed by photolysis in the presence of I2 and O2, respectively, afforded F8PIC (57%) and F8FUL (52%). F87PHEN

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

• –Alder reaction between an imine and an alkene (Scheme 6). Very successfully, the multicomponent version of the Povarov reaction using aldehydes, anilines, and alkenes has been explored in a three-component cascade reaction to quinolines [28][29][30][31] (Scheme 6). Furthermore, protocols have been

• available from the reaction between aldehydes and amines (primary or secondary), the reaction is called AAA coupling: amine–aldehyde–alkyne coupling (Scheme 19). In this context, the use of formaldehyde as a C1 building block is suitable despite the unstable aminol intermediate. There are several examples

• reaction has been reported to proceed with a wide variety of aliphatic aldehydes, in particular formaldehyde, under different reaction conditions with or without solvent or catalysis [72][74][75][76]. However, a significant problem with the Kabachnik–Fields reaction arises from the fact that dialkyl

Synthesis of electrophile-tethered preQ₁ analogs for covalent attachment to preQ₁ RNA

• Laurin Flemmich and
• Ronald Micura

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 483–489, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.35

• of the electrophile. We thus identified aldehydes 9 and 10 as suitable branching points, which were easily derivatized to their aminomethyl-modified preQ1 analogs by reductive amination (Scheme 3). Their syntheses by Raney-Ni reduction of nitriles 7 and 8, previously described by Gangjee and co

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

• -functionalized aldehydes with at least one stereocenter in the C3 position. The results, which are collected in Table 5, show that the kinetic resolution depends on the characteristics of the substituents. The best results were achieved for the Michael adduct 12, derived from acetylacetone, with R1 = Ph (entry

• conditions tested. Similarly, the resolution of nitro aldehydes 16 and 17, prepared by Michael addition of nitromethane to α,β-unsaturated aldehydes (entries 16 and 17, Table 5), was tested, and the same results were obtained as in the cases of the malonate derivatives. These results indicate that dicarbonyl

Beyond symmetric self-assembly and effective molarity: unlocking functional enzyme mimics with robust organic cages

• Keith G. Andrews

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 421–443, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.30

• -based porous organic cages have been a popular choice for study [377][379][406][407][408], as have MOCs [208][376][386]. Much focus remains on the prediction (and automation) [409] of the formation of cavities by probing combinations of, e.g., amines/aldehydes or metals/ligands to identify structures