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

Discovery of antimicrobial peptides clostrisin and cellulosin from Clostridium: insights into their structures, co-localized biosynthetic gene clusters, and antibiotic activity

• Moisés Alejandro Alejo Hernandez,
• Katia Pamela Villavicencio Sánchez,
• Rosendo Sánchez Morales,
• Karla Georgina Hernández-Magro Gil,
• David Silverio Moreno-Gutiérrez,
• Eddie Guillermo Sanchez-Rueda,
• Yanet Teresa-Cruz,
• Brian Choi,
• Armando Hernández Garcia,
• Alba Romero-Rodríguez,
• Oscar Juárez,
• Siseth Martínez-Caballero,
• Mario Figueroa and
• Corina-Diana Ceapă

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 1800–1816, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.159

• Acinetobacter baumannii [26], as supported by the current study. In addition, some lanthipeptides have been shown to have anticancer and immunomodulatory properties [11][27]. A low development of resistance to lanthipeptides has been observed, with nisin being the most well-known case in the food industry

Syntheses and medicinal chemistry of spiro heterocyclic steroids

• Laura L. Romero-Hernández,
• Ana Isabel Ahuja-Casarín,
• Penélope Merino-Montiel,
• Sara Montiel-Smith,
• José Luis Vega-Báez and
• Jesús Sandoval-Ramírez

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 1713–1745, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.152

• Smoothened protein (Smo protein) [7]. The HH pathway, implicated in the development and progression of various human cancers (including colorectal, brain, gastrointestinal, lung, and breast cancers), drives tumorigenesis [8]. Consequently, HH pathway inhibitors have demonstrated significant anticancer

Chemo-enzymatic total synthesis: current approaches toward the integration of chemical and enzymatic transformations

• Ryo Tanifuji and
• Hiroki Oguri

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 1693–1712, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.151

• hydroxy group of the aglycon. Cotylenin exhibits promising anticancer activity, and its diterpene aglycon, cotylenol (1), was isolated from the filamentous fungi such as Phomopsis amygdali and Cladosporium sp. 501-7W (Scheme 2A) [20][21][22]. Brassicicenes, differing in oxidation levels from 1, have been

Methyltransferases from RiPP pathways: shaping the landscape of natural product chemistry

• Maria-Paula Schröder,
• Isabel P.-M. Pfeiffer and
• Silja Mordhorst

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 1652–1670, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.147

• a class I SAM-dependent MT. The closest structural homologues with defined biosynthetic pathways are CcbJ and KedS8. These enzymes N-methylate the antibiotic lincosamide celesticetin and the anticancer protein kedaricidin, respectively. Crocagin A is a potent inhibitor of the RNA binding protein

Generation of multimillion chemical space based on the parallel Groebke–Blackburn–Bienaymé reaction

• Evgen V. Govor,
• Vasyl Naumchyk,
• Ihor Nestorak,
• Dmytro S. Radchenko,
• Dmytro Dudenko,
• Yurii S. Moroz,
• Olexiy D. Kachkovsky and
• Oleksandr O. Grygorenko

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 1604–1613, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.143

• can be considered as privileged chemotypes in drug discovery: their representatives include the sedative drug zolpidem, disease-modifying antirheumatic agent upadacitinib, anticancer drug capmatinib, or risdiplam, a medication for spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) treatment (Figure 1) [22][23]. Over the

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

• ), epothilone (anticancer), ivermectin (antiparasitic), and spinosyn (insecticide) [1][2]. Modular PKSs consist of multiple modules that catalyze one round of chain extension by domains with different functions and are divided into cis-acyltransferase (cis-AT) and trans-AT PKSs depending on whether AT domain is

Sustainable tandem acylation/Diels–Alder reaction toward versatile tricyclic epoxyisoindole-7-carboxylic acids in renewable green solvents

• Ayhan Yıldırım

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 1308–1319, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.114

• applications [15][16]. These oils are of increasing interest for the production of a wide range of polymeric materials [17][18][19][20][21][22][23], drug delivery systems [24][25][26][27][28][29], less toxic anticancer drugs [30][31][32][33] and intermediates suitable for various organic transformations [14

Competing electrophilic substitution and oxidative polymerization of arylamines with selenium dioxide

• Vishnu Selladurai and
• Selvakumar Karuthapandi

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 1221–1235, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.105

• as antioxidative [1][2], antimicrobial [3][4], and anticancer activity [5][6]. Several classes of organoselenium compounds are known to imitate the glutathione peroxidase [7][8][9][10][11]. Consequently, the development of new strategies for selenation of organic compounds has attracted considerable

The Ugi4CR as effective tool to access promising anticancer isatin-based α-acetamide carboxamide oxindole hybrids

• Carolina S. Marques,
• Aday González-Bakker and
• José M. Padrón

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 1213–1220, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.104

• , we highlight the reputation of this reaction approach to access number and scaffold diversity of a library of isatin-based α-acetamide carboxamide oxindole hybrids, promising anticancer agents, in a mild and fast sustainable reaction process. The library was tested against six human solid tumor cell

• [8][9]. In the last few years we have been active in isatin modification using new synthetic approaches, anticipating the creation of new libraries of small-molecule hybrids with potential as cholinesterase inhibitors [10][11][12][13], important to treat neurodegenerative diseases, and anticancer

• urgent need to find novel, effective and safe drugs for cancer therapy. Recently, focusing on the design of more potent anticancer drug candidates using more sustainable synthetic processes, we report a new Ugi four-component reaction approach for easy access to Ugi-derived isatin-peptoids in moderate to

Stability trends in carbocation intermediates stemming from germacrene A and hedycaryol

• Naziha Tarannam,
• Prashant Kumar Gupta,
• Shani Zev and
• Dan Thomas Major

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 1189–1197, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.101

• anticancer, antimalarial, antibacterial, and antiviral activity [8][9]. For instance, the well-known artemisinin family of drugs, which is currently the first line of treatment against malaria, is a sesquiterpene lactone [10]. Sesquiterpenes produced by plants [10] also have plant growth regulating and

Bismuth(III) triflate: an economical and environmentally friendly catalyst for the Nazarov reaction

• Manoel T. Rodrigues Jr.,
• Aline S. B. de Oliveira,
• Ralph C. Gomes,
• Amanda Soares Hirata,
• Lucas A. Zeoly,
• Hugo Santos,
• João Arantes,
• Catarina Sofia Mateus Reis-Silva,
• João Agostinho Machado-Neto,
• Leticia Veras Costa-Lotufo and
• Fernando Coelho

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 1167–1178, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.99

• reaction temperature. The initial biological profile of 20 indanones was assessed, revealing promising activity against certain human cancer cell lines in some cases. To enhance the anticancer potential of these compounds, it is imperative to carry out additional comprehensive studies. Examples of

Synthesis of 1,4-azaphosphinine nucleosides and evaluation as inhibitors of human cytidine deaminase and APOBEC3A

• Maksim V. Kvach,
• Stefan Harjes,
• Harikrishnan M. Kurup,
• Geoffrey B. Jameson,
• Elena Harjes and
• Vyacheslav V. Filichev

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 1088–1098, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.96

• function in an organism, but the activities can also be detrimental. CDA is highly active in the liver and spleen, which results in deamination and consequent deactivation of several chemotherapeutic agents, including the anticancer agents cytarabine, gemcitabine and 5-aza-2'-deoxycytidine (decitabine) [2

• . Recently, a combination of the CDA inhibitor (4R)-2′-deoxy-2′,2′-difluoro-3,4,5,6-tetrahydrouridine (cedazuridine, Ib, Figure 1B) with the anticancer drug decitabine was approved as an oral pill (i.e., C-DEC or ASTX727) for the treatment of patients with intermediate or high-risk myelodysplastic syndrome

• A3A and A3B offers a potent strategy to suppress cancer evolution and prolong efficacy of existing anticancer therapies [19][38][39]. Despite of the low sequence identity, CDA and A3 share a similar overall structural topology and a close structural homology for the Zn2+-containing active site. Since

Mild and efficient synthesis and base-promoted rearrangement of novel isoxazolo[4,5-b]pyridines

• Vladislav V. Nikol’skiy,
• Mikhail E. Minyaev,
• Maxim A. Bastrakov and
• Alexey M. Starosotnikov

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 1069–1075, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.94

• activity, such as antibacterial [8], anticancer [9] or antiproliferative [10]. In addition, isoxazolo[4,5-b]pyridines were found to inhibit cytochrome P450 CYP17 responsible for the biosynthesis of androgens and estrogen precursors [11]. Some biologically active isoxazolo[4,5-b]pyridines are shown on

• inhibitor of homeodomain-interacting protein kinases (HIPKs) [32], and combretastatin A-4 analogs evaluated for their anticancer properties against a panel of 60 human cancer cell lines [33] (Figure 2). The structures of all new compounds were confirmed by 1H and 13C NMR and HRMS. X-ray diffraction studies

• -oriented heterocyclic systems. Some examples of biologically active isoxazolo[4,5-b]pyridines with antibacterial [8], anticancer [12] and cytotoxic [10][13] acitivities. Biologically active analogs of compounds 13. X-ray crystal structures of compounds 12c (top left; the second crystallographically unique

A Diels–Alder probe for discovery of natural products containing furan moieties

• Alyssa S. Eggly,
• Namuunzul Otgontseren,
• Carson B. Roberts,
• Amir Y. Alwali,
• Haylie E. Hennigan and
• Elizabeth I. Parkinson

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 1001–1010, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.88

• , natural products containing furan moieties (Figure 1A) are of interest as they have shown promising biological activities. One well-studied example is the antifungal flufuran, which was isolated from Aspergillus flavus [2]. Another example is plakorsin D, an anticancer polyketide natural product which was

• isolated from a sea sponge, Plakortis simplex [3][4]. Wortmannin, which also has a furan, was isolated from Penicillium wortmannin and shows anticancer activity via potent inhibition of phosphoinositide 3-kinase [5]. These are just a handful of the bioactive natural products containing furans that exist

Carbonylative synthesis and functionalization of indoles

• Alex De Salvo,
• Raffaella Mancuso and
• Xiao-Feng Wu

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 973–1000, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.87

• ][4]. The indole core is particularly noteworthy for its role in various biologically active compounds and drugs, such as antihypertensives, anti-inflammatories, antimycotics, antimigrants, anticancer drugs, and many others [5][6][7]. The first synthesis of indole has been introduced by Fischer in

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

• as anticancer, antitubercular, antibacterial, antiviral, antimalarial, antiallergic, and antihypertensive (Figure 1a) [7][10]. In addition, tetrazoles constitute a diverse range of industrial applications and are extensively used in materials, agriculture, explosives and photography [11][12]. Due to

One-pot Ugi-azide and Heck reactions for the synthesis of heterocyclic systems containing tetrazole and 1,2,3,4-tetrahydroisoquinoline

• Jiawei Niu,
• Yuhui Wang,
• Shenghu Yan,
• Yue Zhang,
• Xiaoming Ma,
• Qiang Zhang and
• Wei Zhang

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 912–920, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.81

• ; Introduction Tetrazole is a privileged heterocycle existing in a range of biological and medicinally interesting compounds [1][2] with antifungal [3][4], antibacterial [5], anticancer [6][7], antiparasitic [8], and antihypertensive properties [9] including FDA approved drugs such as valsartan and cefmetazole

Synthesis and properties of 6-alkynyl-5-aryluracils

• Ruben Manuel Figueira de Abreu,
• Till Brockmann,
• Alexander Villinger,
• Peter Ehlers and
• Peter Langer

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 898–911, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.80

• anticarcinogenic studies followed in 1953 [7][8]. Since then, uracil has played an important role in the development of antiviral and anticarcinogenic agents against various targets [9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16]. 5-Fluorouracil is one of the best-known anticancer drugs and is used to treat a variety of cancers

(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

• -2 (both 189 and iso-189 were obtained and investigated as a mixture of four diastereomers). Comparative physicochemical data of the anticancer drug sonidegib and its 1,3-cuneane isostere 190 was reported by Lam and co-workers (Figure 27) [71]. Unfortunately, in this case, isosteric replacement of

Research progress on the pharmacological activity, biosynthetic pathways, and biosynthesis of crocins

• Zhongwei Hua,
• Nan Liu and
• Xiaohui Yan

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 741–752, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.68

• -inflammatory properties, hepatorenal protection, and anticancer activity. They are often used as coloring and seasoning agents. Due to the limited content of crocins in plants and the high cost of chemical synthesis, the supply of crocins is insufficient to meet current demand. The biosynthetic pathways for

• diseases, epilepsy, convulsion, and insomnia) and cardiovascular diseases (hypertension, hyperlipidemia, and atherosclerosis). In addition, they also have anticancer, anti-inflammatory, antioxidative, liver- and kidney-protective, antidepressant, and antidiabetic properties (Figure 2). Neuroprotection

• alleviate gestational hypertension. Therefore, crocins have the potential to prevent pregnancy-induced hypertension [45]. Anticancer Crocins exhibit potent anticancer activity against various cancer cell lines. Jiang et al. found that crocins reduce the survival and activity of cervical cancer cells [46

Regioselective quinazoline C2 modifications through the azide–tetrazole tautomeric equilibrium

• Dāgs Dāvis Līpiņš,
• Andris Jeminejs,
• Una Ušacka,
• Anatoly Mishnev,
• Māris Turks and
• Irina Novosjolova

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 675–683, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.61

• , finding use as anticancer, antimicrobial, antimalarial, and antiviral agents [1][2]. Furthermore, numerous 2-amino-6,7-dimethoxyquinazoline analogs are extensively employed as α1-adrenoceptor blockers [3][4]. In recent years quinazoline-based OLED materials have also gained attention showing great quantum

HPW-Catalyzed environmentally benign approach to imidazo[1,2-a]pyridines

• Luan A. Martinho and
• Carlos Kleber Z. Andrade

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 628–637, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.55

• activities, such as antiviral [1], anticonvulsant [2], antibacterial [3], antipyretic [4], antituberculosis [5], anticancer [6], anthelmintic [5], antifungal [7], analgesic [8], antiulcer [9], antiprotozoal [10], antitumor [11], and anti-inflammatory [12]. Examples of commercial drugs are depicted in Figure

Chemical and biosynthetic potential of Penicillium shentong XL-F41

• Ran Zou,
• Xin Li,
• Xiaochen Chen,
• Yue-Wei Guo and
• Baofu Xu

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 597–606, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.52

• . Researchers have identified numerous compounds with anticancer properties, including mycophenolic acid, brefeldin A, and wortmannin [3], as well as compounds with antibacterial properties like xestodecalactones A–C, penicifurans A, and anthraquinone-citrinin [4]. From 2010 to 2022, researchers have identified

• over 260 secondary metabolites from Penicillium [5], exhibiting not only antibacterial and anticancer activities but also potent antioxidant properties, inhibition of GSK-3β and α-glucosidase activities, and interaction with the pregnane X receptor (PXR). These compounds are categorized into

• , and anticancer properties [6][7]. Historically, most alkaloids were isolated from higher plants, with a significant number found in the Apocynaceae family. Notable examples such as vinblastine, vinorelbine, vincristine, and vindesine have gained prominence as effective anticancer drugs [6][7][8][9][10

A new analog of dihydroxybenzoic acid from Saccharopolyspora sp. KR21-0001

• Rattiya Janthanom,
• Yuta Kikuchi,
• Hiroki Kanto,
• Tomoyasu Hirose,
• Arisu Tahara,
• Takahiro Ishii,
• Arinthip Thamchaipenet and
• Yuki Inahashi

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 497–503, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.44

• , anticancer, antitumor, antiinflammatory, antihyperglycemic, antiapoptotic, immunosuppressant, and antioxidant compounds [1][2][3]. According to natural product screening since the 1920s, about 30,000 compounds derived from microbial sources have been reported [4]. Over 10,000 compounds are produced by