Multicomponent syntheses of pyrazoles via (3 + 2)-cyclocondensation and (3 + 2)-cycloaddition key steps

• Ignaz Betcke,
• Alissa C. Götzinger,
• Maryna M. Kornet and
• Thomas J. J. Müller

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 2024–2077, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.178

• pyrazoles 61 are accessible in a consecutive three-component fashion (Scheme 18) [77]. The reaction exhibits regioselectivity in many cases, attributed to steric influences. Aldehydes and nitriles with an activated methylene group, such as malononitrile, are well-known for being potent precursors of α,β

Harnessing the versatility of hydrazones through electrosynthetic oxidative transformations

• Aurélie Claraz

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 1988–2004, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.175

• hydrazones [77]. Electrooxidative coupling of benzophenone hydrazones and alkenes [77]. Electrosynthesis of α-diazoketones [78]. Electrosynthesis of stable diazo compounds [80]. Photoelectrochemical synthesis of alkenes through in situ generation of diazo compounds [81]. Synthesis of nitriles [82

The Groebke–Blackburn–Bienaymé reaction in its maturity: innovation and improvements since its 21st birthday (2019–2023)

• Cristina Martini,
• Muhammad Idham Darussalam Mardjan and
• Andrea Basso

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 1839–1879, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.162

Electrophotochemical metal-catalyzed synthesis of alkylnitriles from simple aliphatic carboxylic acids

• Yukang Wang,
• Yan Yao and
• Niankai Fu

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 1497–1503, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.133

• synthesis; electrophotocatalysis; radical decarboxylation; Introduction Alkylnitriles and their derivatives are widely found in pharmaceuticals and biologically active compounds [1][2][3]. In addition, within the field of synthetic organic chemistry, nitriles are synthetically useful handles that can be

• readily converted into a myriad of functional groups including carbonyls, amines, imines, and a variety of heterocyclic scaffolds with well-established procedures [4][5][6][7][8][9]. In particular, tertiary nitriles are common structural motifs in many bioactive compounds and are widely used as

• functional handles for further elaboration. Notably, tertiary arylacetic acids can also be well tolerated to yield nitriles with quaternary carbon centers in good yields (17 and 18). Simple carboxylic acids without functional groups at the alpha position to stabilize the corresponding carbon centered

Manganese-catalyzed C–C and C–N bond formation with alcohols via borrowing hydrogen or hydrogen auto-transfer

• Mohd Farhan Ansari,
• Atul Kumar Maurya,
• Abhishek Kumar and
• Saravanakumar Elangovan

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 1111–1166, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.98

• , hydroaminomethylation, reduction of nitriles and nitro compounds or through reductive amination of carbonyl derivatives [26][27][28][29][30]. However, for example, cross-coupling reactions with alkyl or aryl halides generate considerable amounts of waste (Scheme 2A). Even though many different approaches exist for

• , which leads to the formation of a considerable amount of waste [52][53][54]. The BH approach allows a sustainable way for building C–C bonds by coupling abundant and cheap alcohols with ketones, nitriles, esters, and amides [4]. C–C Bond formation via alkylation of ketones with alcohols Several

• conditions provided the alkylated products with up to 72% yield at 80 °C (Scheme 52). C-C Bond formation via alkylation of nitriles with alcohols In 2018, an in situ-generated manganese catalytic system for the α-alkylation of nitriles using primary alcohols was studied [80]. Various substituted nitriles

Innovative synthesis of drug-like molecules using tetrazole as core building blocks

• Jingyao Li,
• Ajay L. Chandgude,
• Qiang Zheng and
• Alexander Dömling

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 950–958, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.85

• moiety is introduced in a late-stage-modification approach, mostly from nitriles or isocyanides (Figure 1b) [13]. On the other hand, accessing diverse tetrazole scaffolds from MCRs, typically involves first de novo construction of the tetrazole scaffold and subsequent post-modifications (Figure 1c) [14

Three-component N-alkenylation of azoles with alkynes and iodine(III) electrophile: synthesis of multisubstituted N-vinylazoles

• Jun Kikuchi,
• Roi Nakajima and
• Naohiko Yoshikai

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 891–897, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.79

• ], and sulfonic acids [31]. On the other hand, nitrogen-based nucleophiles amenable to this reaction manifold have thus far been limited to nitriles in the context of Ritter-type iodo(III)amidation [29]. In light of the significance of vinylated azoles, our attention was attracted to the feasibility of

(Bio)isosteres of ortho- and meta-substituted benzenes

• H. Erik Diepers and
• Johannes C. L. Walker

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 859–890, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.78

• 109 (Scheme 12A) [58]. The formed products all contained a pendant primary iodide group and the synthesis was additionally shown to be tolerant of functional groups including protected amines (in 110c), protected alcohols (in 110d) and nitriles (in 110e). Grygorenko and co-workers accessed fluorine

Advancements in hydrochlorination of alkenes

• Daniel S. Müller

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 787–814, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.72

• oxidation, whereas in Nicewicz's report, the alkene is oxidized. This modification allows for a significantly larger reaction scope (Scheme 29). Terminal alkenes and several functional groups such as ethers (163), esters (165), ketones (166), nitriles (167), and enones (170) are tolerated. The

Copper-catalyzed multicomponent reaction of β-trifluoromethyl β-diazo esters enabling the synthesis of β-trifluoromethyl N,N-diacyl-β-amino esters

• Youlong Du,
• Haibo Mei,
• Ata Makarem,
• Ramin Javahershenas,
• Vadim A. Soloshonok and
• Jianlin Han

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 212–219, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.21

• example, Wan and co-workers developed a cascade reaction of α-diazo esters, nitriles, and carboxylic acids via the generation of nitrile ylides and Mumm rearrangement affording unsymmetric diacyl α-amino acid esters as products (Scheme 1a) [39]. In 2017, Zhang, Hu, and co-workers developed a Cu-catalyzed

• [42][43][44][45][46][47][48][49], we sought to develop reactions of the unexplored β-trifluoromethyl β-diazo esters. We hypothesized that nitrile ylides, in situ generated from nitriles and β-trifluoromethyl β-amino esters, could also react with carboxylic acids to give nitriliums, which then could

• undergo a Mumm rearrangement to provide unsymmetrical β-trifluoromethyl diacyl-β-amino esters as products (Scheme 1c). Herein, we report our results on the design of β-trifluoromethyl β-diazo esters and their application in a three-component reaction with nitriles and carboxylic acids under mild

Synthesis of N-acyl carbazoles, phenoxazines and acridines from cyclic diaryliodonium salts

• Nils Clamor,
• Mattis Damrath,
• Thomas J. Kuczmera,
• Daniel Duvinage and
• Boris J. Nachtsheim

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 12–16, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.2

• diaryliodonium salts [29][31], as well as Pd-catalysed methods for synthesizing N-aryl carbazoles [32]. Similar procedures were published for the Cu-catalysed synthesis of aryl carbazoles from amines as well as other heterocycles such as N-acyl acridanes with nitriles using cyclic iodonium salts by Wen and Chen

• with a 47% yield. A method for the synthesis of similar annulated N-heterocycles from iodanes with nitriles is described by Chen et al. [34]. Next, we investigated O-bridged dibenzo[b,e][1,4]iodaoxin-5-ium salts as substrates, as was shown in a recent work [29]. Following the trend, we already observed

Construction of diazepine-containing spiroindolines via annulation reaction of α-halogenated N-acylhydrazones and isatin-derived MBH carbonates

• Xing Liu,
• Wenjing Shi,
• Jing Sun and
• Chao-Guo Yan

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 1923–1932, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.143

• -bromo-N-acetylhydrazones gave higher yields than the corresponding α-bromo-N-benzoylhydrazones. Also, substituents present in the MBH nitriles of isatins showed marginal effects on the yields. The obtained spiro[indoline-3,5'-[1,2]diazepines] 3a–m were fully characterized by various spectroscopic

• -toluenesulfonylhydrazones 6 have a much higher reactivity compared to that of α-halogenated benzoylsulfonylhydrazones 1 in this reaction. The desired spiro[indoline-3,5'-[1,2]diazepines] 7a–n were obtained in satisfactory yields of 58–83% and the substituents in MBH nitriles of isatins showed only marginal effects on the

Photoredox catalysis harvesting multiple photon or electrochemical energies

• Mattia Lepori,
• Simon Schmid and
• Joshua P. Barham

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 1055–1145, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.81

• conditions were later replaced by the use of unstable or toxic radical initiators/chain carriers such as peroxides, azo-nitriles, or very prominently Bu3SnH [88][89]. Only recently have PRC methods emerged, that mostly relied on the use of metal-based photocatalysts and high energy UV/near-UV light [90][91

Synthesis of aliphatic nitriles from cyclobutanone oxime mediated by sulfuryl fluoride (SO₂F₂)

• Xian-Lin Chen and
• Hua-Li Qin

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 901–908, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.68

• the construction of a range of δ-olefin-containing aliphatic nitriles with (E)-configuration selectivity. This new method features wide substrate scope, mild conditions, and direct N–O activation. Keywords: direct N–O activation; E-selectivity; nitrile synthesis; ring-opening cross-coupling; sulfuryl

• ][26][27][28][29], a synthesis method for δ-olefin-containing aliphatic nitriles by the radical C–C bond cleavage of cycloketone oxime ester derivatives was developed by Shi’s group (Scheme 2a) [30], which emerged as an efficient strategy to construct C(sp2)–C(sp3) bonds [31][32][33]. Later, Xiao [34

• activated intermediates for a variety of transformations [46][47][48][49][50][51][52][53][54][55][56][57][58]. Lately, we discovered the SO2F2-mediated transformation of primary alcohols to nitriles, involving an aldoxime sulfonyl ester intermediate (Scheme 2c) [59]. Drawing inspiration from these excellent

First synthesis of acylated nitrocyclopropanes

• Kento Iwai,
• Rikiya Kamidate,
• Khimiya Wada,
• Haruyasu Asahara and
• Nagatoshi Nishiwaki

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 892–900, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.67

• ). These structural features enable the construction of a five-membered ring upon treatment with alkenes [9], diazo compounds (reaction g) [10], and nitriles [11]. Several approaches are available for the synthesis of cyclopropanedicarboxylates 1a, which consist of three steps: 1) conjugate addition, 2

Eschenmoser coupling reactions starting from primary thioamides. When do they work and when not?

• Lukáš Marek,
• Jiří Váňa,
• Jan Svoboda and
• Jiří Hanusek

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 808–819, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.61

• thiazole synthesis and elimination to nitriles) were identified. The key factor that enables the successful Eschenmoser coupling reaction involves the optimum balance in acidity of nitrogen and carbon atoms of the intermediary α-thioiminium salts. Keywords: Eschenmoser coupling reaction; Hantzsch thiazole

• sources [7][8][9], primary thioamides were ineffective as reaction components in ECR as they can easily transform into nitriles under the reaction conditions typical for ECR. In fact, there are even three different reaction pathways (Scheme 2) that can compete with the ECR when primary thioamides I react

• ammonium salts [22]. All experiments with salts 6a,b derived from 2b and thiobenzamide or thioacetamide showed that three of four possible products (thiazoles 8a,b, ECR products 9a,b and nitriles; cf. Scheme 3) are formed depending on the reaction conditions specified in Table 1 and Supporting Information

Group 13 exchange and transborylation in catalysis

• Dominic R. Willcox and
• Stephen P. Thomas

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 325–348, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.28

• ). Thomas and Gunanathan independently reported the borane-catalysed double hydroboration of nitriles using either Me2S·BH3 or H-B-9-BBN, respectively, as the catalyst and HBpin as the turnover reagent (Scheme 9) [72][73]. Both reports proposed similar mechanisms for the Me2S·BH3- and H-B-9-BBN-catalysed

• hydroboration of imines [87][92][97], nitriles [92][98][99][100][101], carbodiimides [92][100][102], pyridine [92], and isocyanides [92] with HBpin (Scheme 23). These generally follow a similar proposed catalytic cycle; aluminium-mediated reduction, followed by Al‒N/B‒H exchange with HBpin (Scheme 23). The

• , acetals, aminals, and alkyl ethers (Scheme 26) [119][120][121]. The proposed mechanism was analogous to the GaI catalysis by Schneider, with an In‒O/B‒C exchange proposed to drive catalytic turnover. Nakazawa reported an iron–indium cooperative catalytic system for the hydroboration of nitriles with HBpin

Sequential hydrozirconation/Pd-catalyzed cross coupling of acyl chlorides towards conjugated (2E,4E)-dienones

• Benedikt Kolb,
• Daniela Silva dos Santos,
• Sanja Krause,
• Anna Zens and
• Sabine Laschat

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 176–185, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.17

• example, the sequential hydrozirconation/carbonylation of propargylic ethers 18 reported by Donato [58] yielded α,β-unsaturated lactones 19. Beside the hydrozirconation/acylation sequence of nitriles utilizing acid chlorides published by Majoral/Floreancig [59][60], Cox revealed that terminal alkynes 16

One-pot synthesis of 2-arylated and 2-alkylated benzoxazoles and benzimidazoles based on triphenylbismuth dichloride-promoted desulfurization of thioamides

• Arisu Koyanagi,
• Yuki Murata,
• Shiori Hayakawa,
• Mio Matsumura and
• Shuji Yasuike

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2022, 18, 1479–1487, doi:10.3762/bjoc.18.155

• . performed the dehydrosulfurization of thioamides and thioureas that provided nitriles and cyanamides [35]. Using bismuth compounds as desulfurization reagents for synthesizing heteroazoles, this paper presents the syntheses of 2-aryl- and 2-alkylbenzoxazoles through the ring-closure reaction of 2

B–N/B–H Transborylation: borane-catalysed nitrile hydroboration

• Filip Meger,
• Alexander C. W. Kwok,
• Franziska Gilch,
• Dominic R. Willcox,
• Alex J. Hendy,
• Kieran Nicholson,
• Andrew D. Bage,
• Thomas Langer,
• Thomas A. Hunt and
• Stephen P. Thomas

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2022, 18, 1332–1337, doi:10.3762/bjoc.18.138

• , Chemical Development U.K., AstraZeneca, Macclesfield, SK10 2NA, United Kingdom Medicinal Chemistry, Early Oncology, AstraZeneca, Cambridge, CB4 0WG, United Kingdom 10.3762/bjoc.18.138 Abstract The reduction of nitriles to primary amines is a useful transformation in organic synthesis, however, it often

• relies upon stoichiometric reagents or transition-metal catalysis. Herein, a borane-catalysed hydroboration of nitriles to give primary amines is reported. Good yields (48–95%) and chemoselectivity (e.g., ester, nitro, sulfone) were observed. DFT calculations and mechanistic studies support the proposal

• ]. Traditionally, the reduction of nitriles to primary amines relied on stoichiometric hydride reagents [4]. Current catalytic methods for nitrile reduction, hydrogenation [5][6] or hydroboration [7][8], generally rely on metal catalysts, designer ligands, forcing reaction conditions (such as elevated temperatures

Inductive heating and flow chemistry – a perfect synergy of emerging enabling technologies

• Conrad Kuhwald,
• Sibel Türkhan and
• Andreas Kirschning

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2022, 18, 688–706, doi:10.3762/bjoc.18.70

• applications. NiO2, on the other hand, was used to achieve the dehydrogenation of amines (to nitriles) and to perform the α,β dehydrogenation of ketones 61. 3.2.3 Using chemically active fixed beds (catalysts): Copper metal in the form of wires or turnings can also be inductively heated when placed inside flow

Unusual highly diastereoselective Rh(II)-catalyzed dimerization of 3-diazo-2-arylidenesuccinimides provides access to a new dibenzazulene scaffold

• Anastasia Vepreva,
• Alexander S. Bunev,
• Andrey Yu. Kudinov,
• Grigory Kantin,
• Mikhail Krasavin and
• Dmitry Dar’in

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2022, 18, 533–538, doi:10.3762/bjoc.18.55

• at the double bond underwent cyclization as the result of intramolecular interception of the rhodium carbene, which led to the formation of indolizine [6] or 2H-chromene [7] derivatives, respectively (Figure 1). At the same time, Rh2(esp)2-catalyzed reactions of DAS with nitriles and carbonyl

• with nitriles [8]. An unexpected and interesting result was the exclusive formation of indenes 3 during the catalytic decomposition of DAS containing an ortho-substituted phenyl group at the nitrogen atom (Table 1, entries 15–17). In all three cases, compounds 3 were obtained in moderate yields, while

Efficient synthesis of ethyl 2-(oxazolin-2-yl)alkanoates via ethoxycarbonylketene-induced electrophilic ring expansion of aziridines

• Yelong Lei and
• Jiaxi Xu

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2022, 18, 70–76, doi:10.3762/bjoc.18.6

• synthesis of oxazoline derivatives [11][12]. They mainly include (1) cyclization of 2-amidoethyl halides or sulfonates, which are prepared from carboxylic acid derivatives and vicinal amino alcohols [8][9][10] (Scheme 1a); (2) direct condensation of carboxylic acid derivatives or nitriles with vicinal amino

• alcohols [13][14][15] (Scheme 1a); (3) oxidative condensation of aldehydes with vicinal amino alcohols [16] (Scheme 1b); (4) cyclization of N-allylamides in the presence of electrophilic reagents or radical initiators or catalysts [17] (Scheme 1c); (5) direct synthesis from alkenes and amides or nitriles

Recent advances and perspectives in ruthenium-catalyzed cyanation reactions

• Thaipparambil Aneeja,
• Cheriya Mukkolakkal Abdulla Afsina,
• Padinjare Veetil Saranya and
• Gopinathan Anilkumar

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2022, 18, 37–52, doi:10.3762/bjoc.18.4

• 2021. Keywords: cyanation; nitriles; photocatalyst; ruthenium; tertiary amines; Introduction Nitriles are a major class of organic compounds having wide significance in materials science, agrochemical and pharmaceutical industry [1]. They are the privileged compounds finding broad applications in

• natural product synthesis, pigments and dyes. Different variety of α-amino carbonyls [2], α-amino acids [3] and 1,2-diamines were prepared from the nitriles using homogeneous and heterogeneous catalysis [4][5][6]. One of the astonishing aspects of nitriles is that it can be easily converted to amines

• acceptance. The conventional approaches towards the synthesis of nitriles include Rosenmund–von Braun reactions, Sandmeyer reactions and industrial ammoxidation reactions [13][14]. But these strategies involve harsh reaction conditions and generation of large amount of heavy metal waste. These drawbacks

Iron-catalyzed domino coupling reactions of π-systems

• Austin Pounder and
• William Tam

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2021, 17, 2848–2893, doi:10.3762/bjoc.17.196

• aliphatic nitriles explored, the reaction further demonstrated the synthetic potential of C(sp3)–H species within CDC methodology. In 2013, the Li group established a carbonyl-arylation of N-arylacrylamides 60 with alkyl and aryl aldehydes 65 (Scheme 11) [83]. Like Li’s report in 2013 (Scheme 10) [80], the

• rate-determining step of this transformation, as well as free radicals being involved in the reaction mechanism. In 2017, Luo and Li described a three-component Ag-mediated Fe-catalyzed 1,2-carboamination of alkenes 82 using alkyl nitriles 76 and amines 105 for the synthesis of γ-amino alkyl nitriles