5th International Symposium on Synthesis and Catalysis (ISySyCat2023)

• Anthony J. Burke and
• Elisabete P. Carreiro

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 2704–2707, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.227

• a new family of isatin-based α-acetamide carboxamide oxindole hybrids using the versatile Ugi four-component reaction [18]. Sixteen hybrids were prepared by reacting 5-amino-1-benzyl-3,3-dimethoxyindolin-2-one, benzyl isocyanide, carboxylic acids, and aldehyde/ketone derivatives, catalyzed by ZnF2

A review of recent advances in electrochemical and photoelectrochemical late-stage functionalization classified by anodic oxidation, cathodic reduction, and paired electrolysis

• Nian Li,
• Ruzal Sitdikov,
• Ajit Prabhakar Kale,
• Joost Steverlynck,
• Bo Li and
• Magnus Rueping

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 2500–2566, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.214

• . Mechanistically, this transformation can be understood as follows: first, a Br/Cl/CF3 radical is formed via anodic oxidation, which subsequently attacks the olefin. The newly formed benzyl radical is oxidized to a carbocation, which undergoes nucleophilic attack by DMF. Hydrolysis of the imine delivers the final

• aliphatic alcohols, benzyl alcohols are also suitable reagents. Numerous LSF examples and upscaling were demonstrated. The mechanism involves two anodic oxidations: first, the thiophenol is oxidized at the anode, forming a sulfur radical that attacks the isocyanide. The newly formed carbon radical is then

• have been developed, the combination of electrochemistry with organocatalysis is generally less explored. In this context, Wang et al. combined organocatalysis and electrochemistry for the benzyl amination via C–H/N–H dehydrogenative cross-coupling of alkyl arenes with azoles [39]. According to the

HFIP as a versatile solvent in resorcin[n]arene synthesis

• Hormoz Khosravi,
• Valeria Stevens and
• Raúl Hernández Sánchez

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 2469–2475, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.211

• ]. In contrast, the protocol reported herein provides 94–98% yield when employing longer chain-containing aldehydes (1c–e). In addition to resorcinol, 2-methylresorcinol is commonly used in resorcin[n]arene synthesis as radical oxidation of the methyl unit in the ArCH3 fragments provides a benzyl

Hypervalent iodine-mediated cyclization of bishomoallylamides to prolinols

• Smaher E. Butt,
• Konrad Kepski,
• Jean-Marc Sotiropoulos and
• Wesley J. Moran

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 2455–2460, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.209

• and pivalamide 7j were formed in trace quantities whereas the benzyl derivative 7k was isolable. The enamide 7l was not observed. Intriguingly, cyclopropyl and cyclohexyl derivatives 7m and 7n, respectively, were formed and isolated in moderate yields. Furyl derivative 7o was isolated in 63% yield

Facile preparation of fluorine-containing 2,3-epoxypropanoates and their epoxy ring-opening reactions with various nucleophiles

• Yutaro Miyashita,
• Sae Someya,
• Tomoko Kawasaki-Takasuka,
• Tomohiro Agou and
• Takashi Yamazaki

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 2421–2433, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.206

• detection of benzaldehyde which was considered to be formed by the NaClO-mediated oxidation of benzyl alcohol generated by hydrolysis. Changing the oxidizing reagent to crystalline NaClO·5H2O nicely solved the problem with the realization of 86% isolated yield of 2b by the utilization of this oxidant (2

• the facile procedure presented here opens novel routes to the application of these intriguing products in a variety of fields. Experimental General procedure for the formation of the epoxyesters (GP-1): Benzyl (E)-2,3-epoxy-4,4,4-trifluorobutanoate (2b) GP-1A (by use of aqueous NaClO): To a solution

• C11H9F3O3: C, 53.67; H, 3.68; found: C, 53.54; H, 3.89. General procedure for the ring opening of epoxides (GP-2). Benzyl 2,3-anti-4,4,4-trifluoro-3-hydroxy-2-(p-methoxyphenyl)amino-butanoate (3ba) p-Anisidine (0.07 g, 0.60 mmol) was added to an EtOH (3 mL) solution of compound 2b (0.12 g, 0.50 mmol), and

Evaluating the halogen bonding strength of a iodoloisoxazolium(III) salt

• Dominik L. Reinhard,
• Anna Schmidt,
• Marc Sons,
• Julian Wolf,
• Elric Engelage and
• Stefan M. Huber

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 2401–2407, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.204

• it with our known iodonium species in the activation of Au(I)–Cl bonds. Results and Discussion As immediate precursor to the target structure 7Z, the literature-known isoxazole 10 was synthesized via a Cu(I)-catalyzed cycloaddition between (2-iodophenyl)acetylene (8) and benzyl nitrile oxide, which

Efficient one-step synthesis of diarylacetic acids by electrochemical direct carboxylation of diarylmethanol compounds in DMSO

• Hisanori Senboku and
• Mizuki Hayama

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 2392–2400, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.203

• dioxide; Introduction Electrochemical reduction of benzyl alcohol derivatives can induce reductive cleavage of a C(sp3)–O bond [1] at the benzylic position to generate the corresponding benzylic anion species. This protocol has been frequently applied to electrochemical carboxylation [2][3][4][5][6][7][8

• ][9][10][11], yielding phenylacetic acids. For example, Troupel et al. successfully performed electrochemical reduction of benzyl ethers and several esters such as acetate, trifluoroacetate, benzoate, and dibenzyl carbonate derived from benzyl alcohols, including 1-phenylethanol compounds, in the

• presence of carbon dioxide to give the corresponding phenylacetic acids [12]. We found that alkyl benzyl carbonates and benzal diacetates (benzylidene diacetates) were also applicable to electrochemical carboxylation with C(sp3)–O bond cleavage at the benzylic position, yielding phenylacetic acids [13] and

Asymmetric organocatalytic synthesis of chiral homoallylic amines

• Nikolay S. Kondratyev and
• Andrei V. Malkov

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 2349–2377, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.201

• new methodology used bench-stable allyl-1,3,2-dioxaborinane (27) in the reaction with preformed crude N-aryl-, N-benzyl- and N-allylimines in the presence of 2–8 mol % of the relatively simple 3,3’-Ph2-BINOL catalyst 3 at 50 °C in a microwave reactor at 10 W irradiation for 1 hour to afford amines 26

• . Therefore, it was conducted under an inert atmosphere in anhydrous dichloromethane with 3 Å molecular sieves. Benzyl carbamates 48 showed excellent enantioselectivities (90–97%) and moderate to high yields (58–94%) across a wide range of allylation reagents 49 on a submillimolar scale, including 2

• , creating the desired syn-(2R,3S)-homoallylic amine 120 in high diastereo- and enantioselectivity. The reaction was tested with various aryl, benzyl, allyl, and alkyl-functionalised β-formyl N-morpholinyl amides 119; the amide function was also varied. Yields were scattered across the 31–90% range, with the

Stereoselective mechanochemical synthesis of thiomalonate Michael adducts via iminium catalysis by chiral primary amines

• Michał Błauciak,
• Dominika Andrzejczyk,
• Błażej Dziuk and
• Rafał Kowalczyk

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 2313–2322, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.198

• time of two days under a pressure of 0.8 GPa [23]. Less reactive benzyl malonates, which allow for the cleavage of a free carboxylic group without the need for harsh base- or acid-mediated conditions [24], undergo additions catalyzed by primary amines [19]. However, these transformations are hampered

• low conversions and stereoselectivities when applied to benzylidene acetones or cyclic enones (vide infra). In our latest research in establishing a mild organocatalytic protocol for incorporating benzyl malonates and bisthiomalonates into cyclic enones and benzylidene acetones, we have developed a

Catalysing (organo-)catalysis: Trends in the application of machine learning to enantioselective organocatalysis

• Stefan P. Schmid,
• Leon Schlosser,
• Frank Glorius and
• Kjell Jorner

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 2280–2304, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.196

• enantioselectivities of a kinetic resolution of benzyl alcohols and an enantiodivergent fluorination of allylic alcohols, observing good correlations for both reactions. Since then, the proposed NCI descriptors have been successfully applied to multiple different reactions, such as an allenoate Claisen rearrangement

• , Chen and Pollice proposed Pint as a descriptor of the London dispersion potential that is universal and can be calculated without a probe system [94]. Although Pint has not been utilised for organocatalysis, the authors applied it to a Pd-metal-catalysed enantioselective 1,1-diarylation of benzyl

Deuterated reagents in multicomponent reactions to afford deuterium-labeled products

• Kevin Schofield,
• Shayna Maddern,
• Yueteng Zhang,
• Grace E. Mastin,
• Rachel Knight,
• Wei Wang,
• James Galligan and
• Christopher Hulme

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 2270–2279, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.195

• [D3]-formamide. The ability to deuterate at benzylic positions is particularly relevant as benzylic C–H bonds are common in biologically relevant chemotypes and moreover appear in approximately 25% of the top selling 200 pharmaceuticals [23]. Benzyl cation stability is a driver of metabolism at these

Metal-free double azide addition to strained alkynes of an octadehydrodibenzo[12]annulene derivative with electron-withdrawing substituents

• Naoki Takeda,
• Shuichi Akasaka,
• Susumu Kawauchi and
• Tsuyoshi Michinobu

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 2234–2241, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.191

• was outside the scope of this study. Next, DBA 5 was subjected to the SpAAC with benzyl azide. When two equivalents of benzyl azide were added to a solution of 5 in CDCl3 at a controlled temperature of 30 °C, the reaction slowly proceeded (Figure 2). After 22 h, the original peak ascribed to starting

• followed a second-order reaction. Since no monoadducts were formed, the rate-determining step is the first azide addition. Based on this fact, the activation energy (Ea) of the reaction between 5 and benzyl azide in CDCl3, determined by the Arrhenius plots, was 60.9 kJ mol−1 (Figure 3). This value was

• apparently smaller than those previously reported for the reaction between DBA-OHex and benzyl azide (Table S1 in Supporting Information File 1). However, the Ea values were previously measured in DMSO-d6 and C6D6, and it is known that there is a solvent polarity effect on the reactivity of SpAACs. In order

Selective hydrolysis of α-oxo ketene N,S-acetals in water: switchable aqueous synthesis of β-keto thioesters and β-keto amides

• Haifeng Yu,
• Wanting Zhang,
• Xuejing Cui,
• Zida Liu,
• Xifu Zhang and
• Xiaobo Zhao

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 2225–2233, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.190

• well as electron-withdrawing substituents on the two phenyl rings in compounds 1, such as methyl, methoxy, halogen atoms (F, Cl, Br, I), CF3 and SO2CH3, were well tolerated, and their electronic effects insignificantly impacted the formation of 3. Similarly, N-benzyl-3-oxo-3-phenylpropanamide (3w

Electrochemical allylations in a deep eutectic solvent

• Sophia Taylor and
• Scott T. Handy

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 2217–2224, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.189

• more substituted end (gamma addition) was the major product in both cases, although alpha addition was also observed. In the case of crotyl bromide, no diastereoselectivity was noted for the gamma product. Non-allylic halides such as benzyl bromide, propargyl bromide, and ethyl bromoacetate (Table 3

• , entries 5–7) did not result in carbonyl addition. The benzyl bromide was recovered intact, while for the other two, they are both sufficiently volatile that they would have been lost during the work-up. For all three, the aldehyde was recovered unreacted. While the use of DES as solvent and electrolyte

Efficacy of radical reactions of isocyanides with heteroatom radicals in organic synthesis

• Akiya Ogawa and
• Yuki Yamamoto

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 2114–2128, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.182

• yields. In the case of tert-butyl and benzyl isocyanides, the substituents on the nitrogen of imidoyl radical 2 (R = t-Bu or PhCH2, E = Et2P or Ph2P) were eliminated to give cyanophosphines (R’2P–CN, Scheme 7) [38]. On the other hand, we attempted a photoinduced addition of phosphorus–phosphorus

From perfluoroalkyl aryl sulfoxides to ortho thioethers

• Yang Li,
• Guillaume Dagousset,
• Emmanuel Magnier and
• Bruce Pégot

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 2108–2113, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.181

• using a series of nitriles with the sulfoxide 1a (Scheme 3). We noticed that the length of the alkyl chain has no impact on the yield (3a,b). However, the use of benzyl cyanide is completely deleterious for the reaction as no product was observed (3c). The presence of a chlorine atom at the alpha

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

Electrochemical radical cation aza-Wacker cyclizations

• Sota Adachi and
• Yohei Okada

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 1900–1905, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.165

• compatible to give the respective five-membered pyrrolidines, except for that possessing a 2-nitro group 7. As discussed later with cyclic voltammetric studies, the electron density in the aryl rings does not seem to have a significant impact on the reaction. While benzyl sulfonamide 8 was productive under

Access to 2-oxoazetidine-3-carboxylic acid derivatives via thermal microwave-assisted Wolff rearrangement of 3-diazotetramic acids in the presence of nucleophiles

• Ivan Lyutin,
• Vasilisa Krivovicheva,
• Grigory Kantin and
• Dmitry Dar’in

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 1894–1899, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.164

• -generated ketene, previously described using carbocyclic diazodiketones [35] were also unsuccessful. Of the diazotetramic acids, only the spiro adamantane derivative 1m was not able to form the desired β-lactam. These reactions gave complex mixtures of unidentified products. The benzyl esters 3k and 3n were

• -diastereomeric β-lactam products. The use of variously substituted diazotetramic acids, including their spirocyclic derivatives, provides access to a new structural diversity of medically relevant β-lactam derivatives. The possibility of transforming the obtained benzyl esters into 2-oxoazetidine-3-carboxylic

• ; reaction scale – 0.25 mmol; ascaled-up (1.5 mmol) yield. Negative results with several N-, O-, and C-nucleophiles and with diazo reagent 1m. Preparation of acids 4 by hydrogenolysis of benzyl esters and examples of acid 4a amidation. Supporting Information Deposition Number CCDC 2323689 (for 3t) contains

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

• aldehydic component has been generated in situ through Fe3O4-mediated aerobic oxidation of benzyl alcohols. Magnetic nanoparticles were supported by Shaabani and Farhid on spent coffee ground and served also as catalyst for the GBB reaction, although the role of coffee ground was not clearly explained [33

• diversification points. The scope of the reaction was limited: alkyl aldehydes and aryl/benzyl isocyanides could not be used, and 4 distinct compounds were obtained in yields of 23–40%. Nevertheless, these results represent an improvement compared to previous studies where substitution on C4 of the 2

Ugi bisamides based on pyrrolyl-β-chlorovinylaldehyde and their unusual transformations

• Alexander V. Tsygankov,
• Vladyslav O. Vereshchak,
• Tetiana O. Savluk,
• Serhiy M. Desenko,
• Valeriia V. Ananieva,
• Oleksandr V. Buravov,
• Yana I. Sakhno,
• Svitlana V. Shishkina and
• Valentyn A. Chebanov

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 1773–1784, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.156

• chlorine atom in the chlorovinyl fragment to the hydroxy group, probably under the influence of water (Figure 4). It is worth noting that the synthesis of Ugi bisamides 5–8 (Table 1) yielded compounds 10 and ketobisamide 12 in some cases. For example, in the Ugi reaction involving benzyl isocyanide (4b

• Ugi bisamide 5d in the presence of HCl. Conditions: (A) 5 equiv HCl, MeOH, 80 °C, 3 h; (B) 5 equiv HCl, EtOH, MW 120 °C, 15 min; (C) 5 equiv HCl, MeCN, MW 100 °C, 20 min. The Ugi-4CR with the participation of p-anisidine and benzyl isocyanide. Successful attempt at tandem one-pot coupling of the Ugi

Oxidation of benzylic alcohols to carbonyls using N-heterocyclic stabilized λ³-iodanes

• Thomas J. Kuczmera,
• Pim Puylaert and
• Boris J. Nachtsheim

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 1677–1683, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.149

• tetrazine salt 1c. Based on these results, the reaction conditions were further optimized using NHI 1a with the benzyl alcohols 3a (electron-rich) and 3b (electron-poor) as the model substrates. First, the reaction temperature was increased, finding 60 °C to be the optimal value in EtOAc (Table 1, entry 1

Ring opening of photogenerated azetidinols as a strategy for the synthesis of aminodioxolanes

• Henning Maag,
• Daniel J. Lemcke and
• Johannes M. Wahl

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 1671–1676, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.148

• extending the reaction time to reach full conversion, significant amounts of Norrish type II cleavage were obtained and product 3b was isolated in only 16% yield. This substrate was therefore abandoned. Interestingly, ethyl (1c) and benzyl (1d) substitution was detrimental to the cyclization, indicated by

• (Table 1, entry 9). The notable influence of steric and electronic parameters of the PG prompted us to investigate a range of sterically diverse alkyl substituents. Interestingly, while only fragmentation products were obtained for methyl and benzyl groups (Table 1, entries 10 and 11), the sterically

• of substrates 1a and 1e. On the other hand, increasing steric demand at the α-aminocarbon has a detrimental effect on the cyclization, as indicated by the poor performances of ethyl and benzyl substitution (1c and 1d). In contrast, sterically demanding groups at the nitrogen can have a positive

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

• ]. Furthermore, alternative alkyl groups such as ethyl, propargyl, allyl, benzyl, and nitrobenzyl groups can be transferred [31][138][139][140][141][142]. Such alkylation strategies have been successfully applied to small molecules such as coumarin [141], anthranilate [21], and pyrazole [24], as well as larger

• used for biocatalytic methylation reactions. If RiPP MTs, like many other MTs, also accept SAM-derivatives with larger alkyl groups as substrates, they can transfer various groups such as ethyl, allyl, propyl, and benzyl moieties. In vitro systems can be used to install specific modifications in

Benzylic C(sp³)–H fluorination

• Alexander P. Atkins,
• Alice C. Dean and
• Alastair J. J. Lennox

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 1527–1547, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.137

• predominately considered to be stable to isolation conditions, secondary and tertiary suffer from the elimination of HF, especially in the presence of silica gel or glass vessels. Therefore, benzyl fluorides have been derivatised, for example in C–O, C–N and C–C bond-forming reactions [18][19][20], thereby also

• subsequently attack electrophilic Selectfluor to afford the benzyl fluoride (Figure 2) [34]. The methodology was demonstrated on eight para-substituted benzylic substrates. The authors noted that resubjecting the monofluorinated compound 1 to the same reaction conditions afforded the difluorinated compound 2

• authors displayed the stability of the secondary benzyl fluoride 9 to various SNAr conditions. While these methods demonstrate excellent application of palladium catalysts to perform benzylic fluorinations, the need to install a directing group can limit substrate scope. Therefore, methods that can