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

• developed convenient access to phenolic benzyltetrahydroisoquinolines opens the possibility for flexible late stage etherification with various aromatic, benzylic and related residues for a comprehensive investigation of the chemical space around this pharmacophoric backbone. Experimental Materials and

Synthesis of highly substituted fluorenones via metal-free TBHP-promoted oxidative cyclization of 2-(aminomethyl)biphenyls. Application to the total synthesis of nobilone

• Ilya A. P. Jourjine,
• Lukas Zeisel,
• Jürgen Krauß and
• Franz Bracher

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2021, 17, 2668–2679, doi:10.3762/bjoc.17.181

• give imines, iminium salts, aldehydes and other, in some cases dimeric products [49]. Here, oxidation of the benzylic amino moiety should lead either to iminium ions (or N-acyl iminium ions) 4a as strong electrophiles or to stabilized radicals 4b which could undergo cyclization to give the fluorenone

• backbone. Expected 9-aminofluorene intermediates 5 were envisaged to undergo subsequent oxidation by the same oxidant to hopefully provide the fluorenones 3 in a domino reaction. Results and Discussion After comprehensive literature search for successful oxidations of benzylic C–N bonds we tested a variety

• of oxidizing agents, oxidizing systems, and radical initiators on a set of model molecules 2 (see Table 1) in a preliminary screening for suitable oxidants for the intramolecular ring-closure reaction. The set of model molecules 2 bears different benzylic N-containing functional groups, including

Visible-light-mediated copper photocatalysis for organic syntheses

• Yajing Zhang,
• Qian Wang,
• Zongsheng Yan,
• Donglai Ma and
• Yuguang Zheng

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2021, 17, 2520–2542, doi:10.3762/bjoc.17.169

• functionalization reactions Benzylic or α-amino C–H groups and even the stable C(sp3)–H group were functionalized through the corresponding benzylic radical, α-amino radical, or alkyl radical. In 2016, Greaney and co-workers [92] investigated the direct C–H azidation with benzylic C–H compounds 47 and the Zhdankin

• reagent. After investigating a range of reaction parameters, copper salts and visible light were found to be necessary for the transformation. The reaction is highly selective for the benzylic position. In the same year, Bissember’s group [93] reported a copper-photocatalyzed α-amino C–H functionalization

• between N-heteroarenes 69 and redox-active esters 68. In 2018, Gong and co-workers [43] used benzyltrifluoroborates 71 as a benzylic radical source for the visible-light-induced alkylation of imines 70. In the catalytic system, chiral ligands initiated benzylic radical formation and governed the

Direct C(sp³)–H allylation of 2-alkylpyridines with Morita–Baylis–Hillman carbonates via a tandem nucleophilic substitution/aza-Cope rearrangement

• Siyu Wang,
• Lianyou Zheng,
• Shutao Wang,
• Shulin Ning,
• Zhuoqi Zhang and
• Jinbao Xiang

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2021, 17, 2505–2510, doi:10.3762/bjoc.17.167

• allylic functionalization of 2-alkylazaarenes. Due to the high pKa value of alkyl azaarenes, the functionalization of benzylic C(sp3)–H was challengeable and pre-activation of the benzylic proton with suitable Lewis acids was often required prior to deprotonation of the alkyl chain by a stoichiometric

• our studies on a direct benzylic allylic reaction of 2-alkylpyridines with MBH carbonates as allylic precursors under base- and catalyst-free conditions. As depicted in Scheme 2, we envisioned that the MBH carbonate 2 can undergo the SN2’ reaction with the nucleophilic 2-picoline 1a, giving the

• pyridinium cation intermediate A. The in situ generated tert-butoxide anion has enough basicity to deprotonate of the activated benzylic proton of intermediate A and generates the anion B1, which can be tautomerized into more stable enamine intermediate B2. Finally, the intermediates B1 or B2 occur an

Exfoliated black phosphorous-mediated CuAAC chemistry for organic and macromolecular synthesis under white LED and near-IR irradiation

• Azra Kocaarslan,
• Zafer Eroglu,
• Önder Metin and
• Yusuf Yagci

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2021, 17, 2477–2487, doi:10.3762/bjoc.17.164

• -Alk) and 9-(azidomethyl)anthracene (Az-2) as click components was investigated. The detailed 1H NMR spectrum of the resulting anthracene functional polymer (PCL-Anth) exhibited the characteristic signals of triazole and benzylic protons at 5.5 ppm and 8.70 ppm, respectively (Figure 4a). The obtained

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

• with cross-coupling using the same carbenoid and epoxide 5 (Scheme 5), where the presence of LTMP also proved necessary. A cinnamylamine 23 could be obtained in a tin-free process (Scheme 10), which utilises the increased acidity of a benzylic ether 22. In this case, the presence of LTMP was necessary

• stereoselectivity. However, neither isopropyl or neopentyl benzylic ethers 26 and 27 [23][24] led to a significant change in the E/Z ratio for cinnamylamine 23 (Scheme 11). Conclusion In summary, we report a new, convergent access to allylic alcohols and amines. The process proceeds by selective cross-coupling of α

• epoxide 5. Synthesis of vinylsilane 14. Allylic alcohol 8 from epoxide 5 and sulfone 15. Allylic amines from aziridine 17. Cyclopropylidene synthesis from aziridine 20. Cinnamylamine 23 synthesis from aziridine 17. Cinnamylamine 23 synthesis from isopropyl or neopentyl benzylic ethers 26 and 27

Advances in mercury(II)-salt-mediated cyclization reactions of unsaturated bonds

• Sumana Mandal,
• Raju D. Chaudhari and
• Goutam Biswas

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2021, 17, 2348–2376, doi:10.3762/bjoc.17.153

• the racemic naphthohydroquinone hongconin (197) starting from the ortho-allyl alcohol derivative 195. The starting material was cyclized using a Hg(II) salts to get an inseparable mixture of products 196a and 196b in the ratio of 1:5 [121]. The synthetic route proceeded by benzylic alcohol ortho

A novel methodology for the efficient synthesis of 3-monohalooxindoles by acidolysis of 3-phosphate-substituted oxindoles with haloid acids

• Li Liu,
• Yue Li,
• Tiao Huang,
• Dulin Kong and
• Mingshu Wu

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2021, 17, 2321–2328, doi:10.3762/bjoc.17.150

• has a remarkable structural feature: the phosphate moiety is located at the benzylic position as well as at the position α to an amide group, which makes it a good leaving group for the design and development of new reactions. Accordingly, diethyl (2-oxoindolin-3-yl) phosphates 2 have been used

Photoredox catalysis in nickel-catalyzed C–H functionalization

• Lusina Mantry,
• Rajaram Maayuri,
• Vikash Kumar and
• Parthasarathy Gandeepan

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2021, 17, 2209–2259, doi:10.3762/bjoc.17.143

• photoredox nickel-catalyzed arylation of α-oxy C–H bonds of tetrahydrofuran (THF) and oxetane were also shown. Further, the catalytic system also proved compatible for the C‒H arylation of the benzylic system. As shown in Figure 2 [54], the mechanism for the transformation is proposed to involve the

• iridium(III) photocatalyst 2-I. Subsequently, Ahneman and Doyle reported a related process for the synthesis of a variety of benzylic amines 7 by the arylation of α-amino C(sp3)‒H bonds with aryl iodides 2 involving photoredox nickel catalysis (Scheme 4) [55]. In this protocol, bis(oxazoline) (BiOx) was

• . Notably, the photocatalytic conditions proved suitable for the benzylic C(sp3)−H and unactivated alkane cyclohexane C‒H arylations. The catalytic cycle is proposed to involve the oxidative addition of nickel(0) 4-IV into an aryl chloride 8a to form nickel(II) intermediate 4-V (Figure 4) [56]. The SET

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

• -cyclotrimerization reaction catalyzed by a cobalt/zinc reagent [40]. With regard to substituted anthracenes, this method consisted of a [2 + 2 + 2] cycloaddition reaction of 1,6-diynes 27 with 4-aryl-2-butyn-1-ols 28 (Scheme 6). The authors converted the resulting benzylic alcohols 29 to the corresponding aldehydes

• prepared substituted anthracenes 77, bearing phenyl, methyl, chloro, or methoxy groups, such as 77a–c in excellent yields (94–96%) by treating the corresponding 2-benzylic aromatic aldehydes/ketones 76 with a catalytic amount of In(OTf)3 (Scheme 18) [51]. In addition, the authors explored this methodology

• agent. One-pot procedure to synthesize substituted 9,10-dicyanoanthracenes. Reduction of bromoanthraquinones with NaBH4 in alkaline medium. In(III)-catalyzed reductive-dehydration intramolecular cycloaromatization of 2-benzylic aromatic aldehydes/ketones. Acid-catalyzed cyclization of new O-protected

On the application of 3d metals for C–H activation toward bioactive compounds: The key step for the synthesis of silver bullets

• Renato L. Carvalho,
• Amanda S. de Miranda,
• Mateus P. Nunes,
• Roberto S. Gomes,
• Guilherme A. M. Jardim and
• Eufrânio N. da Silva Júnior

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2021, 17, 1849–1938, doi:10.3762/bjoc.17.126

• heterogeneous vanadium-based catalysts have been employed to obtain alcohols and carbonyl compounds through oxidation, including VOSO4, Na(VO3), VO(acac)2, VOX3, among others. Obtaining ketones and aldehydes from hydrocarbon compounds through vanadium-mediated activation of C(sp3)–H bonds in a benzylic position

• to oxidize ethylbenzene without significant loss of activity and metal leaching. The authors have suggested a mechanism for the reaction involving radical species bearing a benzylic carbon–vanadium bond. Fluorine presents unique features and may lead to essential changes in the structural and

• reaction showed to be chemoselective, maintaining good yields with compounds bearing varied functional groups, whereas low yields were observed for benzylic fluorination. Preliminary mechanistic studies suggested the C–H abstraction to be the rate-determining step and the high oxygen sensitivity of the

Sustainable manganese catalysis for late-stage C–H functionalization of bioactive structural motifs

• Jongwoo Son

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2021, 17, 1733–1751, doi:10.3762/bjoc.17.122

• was observed at the less sterically hindered benzylic position. The proposed reaction mechanism for radiofluorination is depicted in Figure 2. Although the trans-difluoro-substituted Mn(IV) complex is the reactive F-transfer intermediate in 19F chemistry, the formation of a trans-18F-difluoro

• adjacent carbamate group. The naturally available substrate 9b was shown to undergo the azidation process at the less sterically hindered position. An analogue of rasagiline (Azilect®), a Parkinson’s disease drug, successfully underwent benzylic azidation, providing product 11c. Other complex molecules

• bearing aromatic groups were also successfully azidated, predominantly at the benzylic position (see 11e and 11f). Notably, diazidation of 9e was observed as the major side reaction (18%). Interestingly, OBz-substituted artemisinin 9g was converted to OBz-substituted N3–artemisinin 11g via azidation at

Cerium-photocatalyzed aerobic oxidation of benzylic alcohols to aldehydes and ketones

• Girish Suresh Yedase,
• Sumit Kumar,
• Jessica Stahl,
• Burkhard König and
• Veera Reddy Yatham

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2021, 17, 1727–1732, doi:10.3762/bjoc.17.121

• , Universitätstraße 31, D-93053 Regensburg, Germany 10.3762/bjoc.17.121 Abstract We have developed a cerium-photocatalyzed aerobic oxidation of primary and secondary benzylic alcohols to aldehydes and ketones using inexpensive CeCl3·7H2O as photocatalyst and air oxygen as the terminal oxidant. Keywords: alcohol

• thermal conditions. Significant advances were made for the oxidation of benzylic alcohols by using metal-based photocatalysts [38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46] and metal-free photocatalysis [47][48][49][50][51][52][53] in combination with various oxidants, such as TBHP and DDQ [54][55]. However, the

• reported methods require either specific nanoparticle catalysts [39][40][41][42] or the catalytic method is limited to electron-rich or electron-neutral benzylic alcohols [56]. An operationally simple method avoiding waste and potentially toxic transition-metal catalysts that is able to convert any

A recent overview on the synthesis of 1,4,5-trisubstituted 1,2,3-triazoles

• Pezhman Shiri,
• Ali Mohammad Amani and
• Thomas Mayer-Gall

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2021, 17, 1600–1628, doi:10.3762/bjoc.17.114

• 1H NMR spectrum displayed two peaks at 6.28 and 5.19 ppm related to the benzylic and the phenolic OH protons, respectively, of the intermediate 106 (Scheme 32) [57]. Preparation of 5-aryl-substituted 1,2,3-triazole derivatives 112 through a Cu-catalyzed reaction of alkynes 109, azides 110, and

Methodologies for the synthesis of quaternary carbon centers via hydroalkylation of unactivated olefins: twenty years of advances

• Thiago S. Silva and
• Fernando Coelho

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2021, 17, 1565–1590, doi:10.3762/bjoc.17.112

• catalyst in the reductive dimerization of aryl olefins 32 reported by van der Donk in 2002 [71]. This group showed the formation of a new C–C bond between benzylic carbons, affording compounds 33 with two vicinal quaternary carbon centers (Scheme 17). The occurrence of a radical pathway was proposed based

• (Scheme 17B). The proposed mechanism involves the formation of a cobalt hydride species that, upon transfer of a hydrogen atom to 32, generates a geminate radical pair containing a Co(II) species and a benzylic radical. The escape from the radical cage then generates the corresponding free radicals, which

• tend to recombine and eventually generate benzylcobalamin in a parasite pathway. However, the presence of Ti(III) citrate reduces the Co(II) radical, thereby overcoming the “persistent radical effect” observed in cobalt-mediated radical reactions and allowing benzylic radical dimerization to afford 33

Chemical synthesis of C6-tetrazole ᴅ-mannose building blocks and access to a bioisostere of mannuronic acid 1-phosphate

• Eleni Dimitriou and
• Gavin J. Miller

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2021, 17, 1527–1532, doi:10.3762/bjoc.17.110

• of the PMB group on the tetrazole ring for each compound. For 11, a correlation of tetrazole Cq (δC = 150.4 ppm) with the benzylic protons of the PMB group (δH = 5.66 ppm, see Supporting Information File 1, Figure S3), was observable. Similar analysis for 12 indicated no such correlation. In order to

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

• give the tetralin product. Instead, we only isolated 30% yield of the difuranyl-substituted compound 15 as the major product. In addition, aldehydes 13e or 13f bearing a methyl group at the acetaldehyde side or the benzylic position of the alkene side were also suitable substrates for this cascade

• strategy: the 1,2,4-trisubsitituted tetralins 14ea and 14eb as well as the 2,4,4-trisubsitituted tetralins 14fa and 14fb were obtained in moderate to reasonable yields. The aldehyde 13g bearing a phenyl group at the benzylic position of the alkene side was also tried. Under the standard conditions, the

N-tert-Butanesulfinyl imines in the asymmetric synthesis of nitrogen-containing heterocycles

• Joseane A. Mendes,
• Paulo R. R. Costa,
• Miguel Yus,
• Francisco Foubelo and
• Camilla D. Buarque

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2021, 17, 1096–1140, doi:10.3762/bjoc.17.86

• -amino ketone derivative 124 in high yield and diastereoselectivity (Scheme 34). A reduction of 124 gave a mixture of diastereomeric alcohols, and the one with (R)-configuration at the benzylic position was isolated in 54% yield. Further treatment of the alcohol with NaH furnished a cyclized product

Prins cyclization-mediated stereoselective synthesis of tetrahydropyrans and dihydropyrans: an inspection of twenty years

• Asha Budakoti,
• Pradip Kumar Mondal,
• Prachi Verma and
• Jagadish Khamrai

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2021, 17, 932–963, doi:10.3762/bjoc.17.77

• % yield and <5% ee. The poor enantiomeric excess of the product 23 indicates that the racemization takes place during the course of the reaction. It was explained that the reason for the loss of optical purity was due to the formation of a benzylic cation, which is stabilized by the electron-rich aromatic

• enantioselectivity varied with the polarity of the solvent. The optimization study disclosed that the enantioselectivity increases with the decrease of the polarity of the solvent (Scheme 68). Yu and co-workers reported a novel segment-coupling Prins cyclization involving sequential benzylic/allylic C–H bond

• DDQ and the subsequent abstraction of hydride from the benzylic or allylic position generated a charge-transfer complex 298. The complex 298 formed a tin-containing ate oxocarbenium ion complex 299 with SnBr4, and then rapid C–C bond formation took place to generate the cyclic intermediate 300. The

Manganese/bipyridine-catalyzed non-directed C(sp³)–H bromination using NBS and TMSN₃

• Kumar Sneh,
• Takeru Torigoe and
• Yoichiro Kuninobu

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2021, 17, 885–890, doi:10.3762/bjoc.17.74

• radical C(sp3)−H halogenation at the benzylic and allylic position using N-halosuccinimide with azobisisobutyronitrile or benzoyl peroxide as a radical initiator is known as the Wohl–Ziegler bromination reaction, which requires heating, acidic/basic conditions, and/or UV irradiation (Scheme 1a) [17][18

• reported the manganese-porphyrin-catalyzed chlorination and bromination of C(sp3)−H bonds, respectively (Scheme 1d). Groves et al. also reported the manganese-salen-catalyzed fluorination of benzylic C(sp3)−H bonds [49]. Although these methods are efficient, they have a limited substrate scope

• (cycloalkanes and substrates bearing a benzylic C–H group). Therefore, there remains room for the development of a simple manganese catalytic system to achieve C(sp3)−H halogenation using commercially available reagents. Herein, we report a manganese-catalyzed C(sp3)–H bromination reaction at the methine and

Synthesis of bis(aryloxy)fluoromethanes using a heterodihalocarbene strategy

• Carl Recsei and
• Yaniv Barda

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2021, 17, 813–818, doi:10.3762/bjoc.17.70

• )chloromethane via a published protocol for radical chlorination of an acetal due to the presence of vulnerable benzylic methyl groups proximate to the acetal [10]. We then synthesized carboxylic acid 9, from which we anticipated creating an aryloxylchlorofluoromethane (10, X = Cl, Scheme 4) via

Synthetic reactions driven by electron-donor–acceptor (EDA) complexes

• Zhonglie Yang,
• Yutong Liu,
• Kun Cao,
• Xiaobin Zhang,
• Hezhong Jiang and
• Jiahong Li

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2021, 17, 771–799, doi:10.3762/bjoc.17.67

• that could react with olefin 120 with an electron-withdrawing group to give alkylation product 121 under irradiation with light (Scheme 41). The reaction is compatible with various substrates, including alkenes, secondary alkylpyridinium ions, benzylic pyridinium ions, and primary alkylpyridinium ions

Amino- and polyaminophthalazin-1(2H)-ones: synthesis, coordination properties, and biological activity

• Zbigniew Malinowski,
• Emilia Fornal,
• Agata Sumara,
• Renata Kontek,
• Karol Bukowski,
• Beata Pasternak,
• Dariusz Sroczyński,
• Joachim Kusz,
• Magdalena Małecka and
• Monika Nowak

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2021, 17, 558–568, doi:10.3762/bjoc.17.50

• 2-chloro-N,N-dimethylethylamine and 4-(2-chloroethyl)morpholine and further palladium-catalyzed amination of lactams 3 with aliphatic, aromatic, benzylic, cyclic amines and polyamines. Furthermore, we have demonstrated that some of the phthalazinone derivatives act as ligands and form stable

A new and efficient methodology for olefin epoxidation catalyzed by supported cobalt nanoparticles

• Lucía Rossi-Fernández,
• Viviana Dorn and
• Gabriel Radivoy

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2021, 17, 519–526, doi:10.3762/bjoc.17.46

• benzylic alcohol byproducts (Table 1, entries 6–9). In view of these results, we decided to continue the optimization of the reaction conditions by testing other oxidizing agents and solvents but only for the CoNPs/MgO catalyst. Thus, we found that using this catalyst, in refluxing MeCN as the solvent and

CF₃-substituted carbocations: underexploited intermediates with great potential in modern synthetic chemistry

• Anthony J. Fernandes,
• Armen Panossian,
• Bastien Michelet,
• Agnès Martin-Mingot,
• Frédéric R. Leroux and
• Sébastien Thibaudeau

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2021, 17, 343–378, doi:10.3762/bjoc.17.32

• very poor stabilizing power by π-electron donation. A trend exists in the magnitude of the parameter according to the nature of the carbenium ions, which is in line with the carbenium ion stability (alkyl < allylic < benzylic). Thus, an increased π-electron transfer is present in the least-stabilized

• observed predominantly at the benzylic position (Δδ13C = 110.1 ppm), with minor impacts at the ortho- and para-positions (Δδ13C ≈ 20 ppm) relative to the starting alcohol 9c [37]. These variations are fully consistent with the presence of a positive charge located at the benzylic position, with only

•  5) [38]. Tidwell et al. explored the influence of a CF3 group on the solvolysis reaction of various benzylic sulfonate derivatives [39][40]. They found a linear free-energy relationship between the solvolysis rate of sulfonate 13f in different solvents compared to the one of 2-adamantyl tosylate