Three-component reactions of conjugated dienes, CH acids and formaldehyde under diffusion mixing conditions

• Dmitry E. Shybanov,
• Maxim E. Kukushkin,
• Eugene V. Babaev,
• Nikolai V. Zyk and
• Elena K. Beloglazkina

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 262–269, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.18

• adducts of formaldehyde condensation are formed under milder conditions and are highly reactive, which is important for further synthetic transformations. However, due to the high carbonyl reactivity of formaldehyde, its interaction with active methylene compounds is often complicated by polycondensation

• various CH acid derivatives and conjugated dienes (cyclopentadiene, 1,3-cyclohexadiene, 2,3-dimethylbutadiene and isoprene), leading to [4 + 2]-cycloaddition adducts (Scheme 1). It should be noted that in previous works describing three-component reactions of carbonyl compounds, conjugated dienes and

Hydrogen-bonded macrocycle-mediated dimerization for orthogonal supramolecular polymerization

• Wentao Yu,
• Zhiyao Yang,
• Chengkan Yu,
• Xiaowei Li and
• Lihua Yuan

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 179–188, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.10

• amide macrocycle with six aromatic residues (hereafter called cyclo[6]aramide for brevity, Scheme 1a) could mediate dimerization as a host. That is because such a 2D macrocycle has six carbonyl oxygen atoms pointing inwards as binding sites, demonstrating excellent affinity for cationic organic guests

Recent advances in electrochemical copper catalysis for modern organic synthesis

• Yemin Kim and
• Won Jun Jang

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 155–178, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.9

• identical racemic carbonyl nucleophiles to generate Cu-enolate 44 and Ni-enolate 43 simultaneously (Figure 10). The Ni-enolate 43 undergoes anodic oxidation through single-electron transfer, releasing nickel-bound α-carbonyl radical 45, whereas the copper complex 44 remains electrochemically inert under

• standard conditions. Subsequently, radical-polar coupling between electrophilic Ni-bound α-carbonyl radical intermediate 45 and remaining nucleophilic Cu-enolate 44 provides a chiral product 42 containing vicinal quaternary stereocenters with high stereoselectivity, and all three possible stereoisomers of

Cu(OTf)₂-catalyzed multicomponent reactions

• Sara Colombo,
• Camilla Loro,
• Egle M. Beccalli,
• Gianluigi Broggini and
• Marta Papis

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 122–145, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.7

• some cases, activation of a carbonyl group by the copper catalyst to facilitate nucleophilic attack has also been reported. Moreover, both activations can be operative simultaneously. Since copper shows affinity either for multiple C–C bonds or polar functional groups, it seems the ideal tool for this

Recent advances in organocatalytic atroposelective reactions

• Henrich Szabados and
• Radovan Šebesta

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 55–121, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.6

• process was inspired by the biocatalytic synthesis of aromatic polyketides by polyketide synthase from poly β-carbonyl substrates. Pyrrolidine-based organocatalyst C4 was able to promote a twofold atroposelective arene-forming 6-enolendo aldol condensation (Scheme 4). Sparr also realized a central-to

• yields and enantiomeric purities. The reaction was initiated by the formation of acylazolium intermediate Int-24 that underwent a 1,6-addition with the enol form of the carbonyl substrate to give Int-25. Cyclization was realized via an intramolecular aldol reaction to Int-26 (Scheme 15). Ye and co

Synthesis, structure and π-expansion of tris(4,5-dehydro-2,3:6,7-dibenzotropone)

• Yongming Xiong,
• Xue Lin Ma,
• Shilong Su and
• Qian Miao

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 1–7, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.1

• starting material unreacted or resulted in complex mixtures, from which cyclodehydrogenation products, such as compound 7 (Scheme 1b), could not be isolated in a pure form. This can be attributed to the electron-withdrawing carbonyl groups, which make compound 1 unreactive to oxidation. For thionation of

• the carbonyl groups in 1, it was treated with three equivalents Lawesson's reagent, affording dithioketone 8a in a 40% yield together with trithioketone 8b in a yield of 10%. To expand the π-skeleton of 1, compound 8a was subjected to the Barton–Kellogg reaction with diazo compound 9, which was

• in the reported crystal structure of 1·CH2Cl2 [22]. The side view of compound 1 indicates that two of its carbonyl groups are oriented upwards while the third one points downwards. Compound 1 comprises three [5]helicenoid moieties, each containing three benzene rings and two seven-membered rings. In

Non-covalent organocatalyzed enantioselective cyclization reactions of α,β-unsaturated imines

• Sergio Torres-Oya and
• Mercedes Zurro

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 3221–3255, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.268

• cyclic derivatives. Conjugated imines are usually synthesized from the corresponding carbonyl precursors by reaction with a sulfonamide in the presence of Lewis acids and a dehydrating agent such as molecular sieves [3]. Also, recently a palladium-catalyzed dehydrogenation of aliphatic imines was

Ceratinadin G, a new psammaplysin derivative possessing a cyano group from a sponge of the genus Pseudoceratina

• Shin-ichiro Kurimoto,
• Kouta Inoue,
• Taito Ohno and
• Takaaki Kubota

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 3215–3220, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.267

• existence of a substituted benzenoid chromophore was suggested by the UV absorption maximum at 258 nm. The presence of hydroxy and/or amino groups and a carbonyl group was indicated by IR absorptions at 3337 cm−1 and 1671 cm−1, respectively. The analysis of the HSQC spectrum, along with the 1H and 13C NMR

• ]. Despite the absence of an HMBC correlation directly indicating a connection between C-8 and C-9, the HMBC correlation between the N-methylene protons H2-10 (δH 3.66) and the carbonyl carbon C-9 (δC 161.5), along with the molecular formula of compound 1 by process of elimination, suggested that C-8 and 9-N

• were linked via a carbonyl group at C-9. Therefore, the gross structure of 1 was elucidated. The absolute configuration of ceratinadin G (1) was assigned by comparing its NMR and ECD data with those of psammaplysin F (2), whose absolute configuration has already been established [10][11][12]. The NMR

Discovery of ianthelliformisamines D–G from the sponge Suberea ianthelliformis and the total synthesis of ianthelliformisamine D

• Sasha Hayes,
• Yaoying Lu,
• Bernd H. A. Rehm and
• Rohan A. Davis

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 3205–3214, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.266

• protons indicating the presence of a symmetrical aromatic moiety, were observed. The 13C NMR (Table 1) spectrum of 4 showed two carbonyls (δC 164.4, 173.9), with the carbonyl at δC 164.4 readily assigned to an acrylamide group, which is present in all previously published ianthelliformisamine molecules [7

• 3.33, 1.91, 2.21), and a three-bond HMBC correlation from δH 3.33, and a two-bond correlation from δH 2.20 to the carbonyl resonating at δC 173.9 [15]. The observation of a 3JCH correlation from δH 3.20 to the nitrogen-bearing carbon at δC 46.4 and to δC 173.9 supported the assignment of the

• ]. The 13C NMR (Table 1) data of 5 displayed six aliphatic carbons (δC 35.9, 26.1, 44.8, 46.3, 21.1, 30.4) and two carbonyl signals (δC 164.9, 173.6). Similarly to the other ianthelliformisamines, the aromatic (δC 131.6) and olefin (δC 124.5, 135.2) carbons were observed [7]. COSY correlations associated

Synthesis of 2H-azirine-2,2-dicarboxylic acids and their derivatives

• Anastasiya V. Agafonova,
• Mikhail S. Novikov and
• Alexander F. Khlebnikov

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 3191–3197, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.264

• their amides, esters, and azides by FeCl2-catalyzed isomerization of 3-aryl-5-chloroisoxazole-4-carbonyl chlorides into 3-aryl-2H-azirine-2,2-dicarbonyl dichlorides followed by their reaction with nucleophiles are reported. Two approaches to the preparation of 3-aryl-5-chloroisoxazole-4-carbonyl

• derivatives [1]. In particular, the catalytic isomerization of 5-chloroisoxazoles allows the generation of azirine-2-carbonyl chlorides, which can be easily converted into a variety of azirine-2-carboxylic acid derivatives by reactions with nucleophilic reagents. Using this approach, numerous 2-(1H-pyrazol-1

• -ylcarbonyl)-2H-azirines, 1-(2H-azirine-2-carbonyl)benzotriazoles, 2H-azirine-2-carbonyl azides, anhydrides, amides, esters, and thioesters of azirine carboxylic acids, as well as azirine carboxylic acids themselves, have been prepared over the last decade (see [2] and references therein). Azirine-2

Direct trifluoroethylation of carbonyl sulfoxonium ylides using hypervalent iodine compounds

• Radell Echemendía,
• Carlee A. Montgomery,
• Fabio Cuzzucoli,
• Antonio C. B. Burtoloso and
• Graham K. Murphy

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 3182–3190, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.263

• the ethyl or ethoxy groups and therefore it is very attractive for applications in medicinal chemistry and related areas [10][11][12][13]. α-Carbonyl sulfoxonium ylides are well recognized as more stable and more easily handled surrogates of diazo compounds [14][15]. They have also emerged as

• [28]. In 2017, the Aϊssa group described a procedure to better synthesize such α-alkyl-substituted carbonyl sulfoxonium ylides [29]. This protocol involved the alkylation of a dialkyl thioether, counterion exchange, oxidation, and eventual acylation (Scheme 1a). More recently, the Burtoloso group

• reported the α-alkylation of carbonyl sulfoxonium ylides via a Michael addition approach that occurred without any competition from cyclopropanation [30]. While this reaction represented the first direct alkylation of sulfoxonium ylides, it was nonetheless limited to the more reactive ester ylide variants

Multicomponent reactions driving the discovery and optimization of agents targeting central nervous system pathologies

• Lucía Campos-Prieto,
• Aitor García-Rey,
• Eddy Sotelo and
• Ana Mallo-Abreu

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 3151–3173, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.261

• a multicomponent reaction to obtain SIRT2 inhibitors (Scheme 12). The authors suggest a Knoevenagel condensation approach between isatin derivatives and ethyl cyanoacetate, followed by a Michael addition with C–H activated carbonyl compounds and intramolecular cyclization [50]. They synthesized 45

• carbonyl compound, and an isocyanide in a single operation. The reaction proved to be effective using different isocyanides, both aromatic and aliphatic ones. Additionally, the transformation worked with the convertible isocyanide. This opened the possibility of synthesizing various derivatives of racetams

Enantioselective regiospecific addition of propargyltrichlorosilane to aldehydes catalyzed by biisoquinoline N,N’-dioxide

• Noble Brako,
• Sreerag Moorkkannur Narayanan,
• Amber Burns,
• Layla Auter,
• Valentino Cesiliano,
• Rajeev Prabhakar and
• Norito Takenaka

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 3069–3076, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.255

• benzaldehydes, which may be attributable to that they have smaller steric demands in the vicinity of the carbonyl carbon atom than benzaldehyde. Importantly, we did not observe the corresponding homopropargylic alcohols [51] in all cases. Since this work is the first asymmetric catalysis study of isomerically

Advances in radical peroxidation with hydroperoxides

• Oleg V. Bityukov,
• Pavel Yu. Serdyuchenko,
• Andrey S. Kirillov,
• Gennady I. Nikishin,
• Vera A. Vil’ and
• Alexander O. Terent’ev

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 2959–3006, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.249

• ) into verbenol and verbenone [44], it was found when using the CuI/TBHP system, the major observed products are peroxides 13 and 14 (Scheme 8). Carbonyl or cyano-activated C(sp3)–H In 1959 Kharasch demonstrated the introduction of the tert-butylperoxy fragment into the α-position of cyclohexanone (15

• -scale syntheses demonstrated that the protocol is practical and useful for preparation of the γ-carbonyl peroxides. The authors propose the following reaction mechanism: initially Co(II) is oxidized by TBHP to form Co(III)OH and the tert-butoxy radical. In result of ligand exchange with TBHP or acetic

• mechanism is based on a series of redox reactions of TBHP with Fe(II) catalyst resulting in the formation of tert-butoxy radical A and tert-butylperoxy radical B, respectively (Scheme 44a). Further, hydrogen atom abstraction from the carbonyl group of aldehyde 131 by radical A generates the acyl radical C

gem-Difluorovinyl and trifluorovinyl Michael acceptors in the synthesis of α,β-unsaturated fluorinated and nonfluorinated amides

• Monika Bilska-Markowska,
• Marcin Kaźmierczak,
• Wojciech Jankowski and
• Marcin Hoffmann

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 2946–2953, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.247

• our laboratory, we have explored the synthesis of 3,3,3-trifluoro- and 2,3,3,3-tetrafluoro-N-substituted propanamides, contributing to the field of fluorinated amides [25]. We have also investigated deprotonation at the α position of other fluorinated carbonyl derivatives as a route to new building

• substituent at nitrogen located in the opposite direction to the carbonyl group, while cisoid (cis 15a’ (16a’)) isomers featured a smaller substituent at nitrogen located in the opposite direction to the carbonyl group. We determined the quantitative ratio as well as the cis/trans configuration of isomers by

The charge transport properties of dicyanomethylene-functionalised violanthrone derivatives

• Sondos A. J. Almahmoud,
• Joseph Cameron,
• Dylan Wilkinson,
• Michele Cariello,
• Claire Wilson,
• Alan A. Wiles,
• Peter J. Skabara and
• Graeme Cooke

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 2921–2930, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.244

• systems to determine if this drawback can be overcome while maintaining the favourable properties of PDIs. Violanthrones are a class of materials featuring a large π-conjugated system composed of nine fused benzene rings with two carbonyl groups, in the 5 and 10 positions (Figure 1). The related

• structural features of violanthrones suggest that these materials may possess similar charge transport, optical and electrochemical properties to those of PDIs. However, the larger π-conjugated system of violanthrone, along with the two carbonyl groups, increases the possibility of stronger π–π

N-Glycosides of indigo, indirubin, and isoindigo: blue, red, and yellow sugars and their cancerostatic activity

• Peter Langer

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 2840–2869, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.240

• are strongly influenced by the anisotropic effect of the indoxyl carbonyl group resulting in a downfield shift in case of the Z-isomers. The reaction of anomerically pure α-configured isatin-N-rhamnoside α-16a with 3-acetoxyindole and 3-acetoxy-5-chloroindole afforded α-configured indirubin-N

• products with those of non-glycosylated thioindirubin and by crystal structure analysis. As mentioned above for the indirubins, the chemical shifts of the H-4 proton signals are strongly influenced by the anisotropic effect of the carbonyl group resulting in a downfield shift in case of the Z-isomers. In

• coumaranone carbonyl group resulting in a downfield shift in case of the Z-isomers. The different E/Z-selectivity in case of oxoindirubins as compared to other indirubin derivatives can be explained, on the one hand, by the absence of the favorable intramolecular hydrogen bond which is present in case of

Multicomponent synthesis of α-branched amines using organozinc reagents generated from alkyl bromides

• Baptiste Leroux,
• Alexis Beaufils,
• Federico Banchini,
• Olivier Jackowski,
• Alejandro Perez-Luna,
• Fabrice Chemla,
• Marc Presset and
• Erwan Le Gall

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 2834–2839, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.239

• alkyl iodides [24]. It was indeed noticed that the reactivity of primary iodides in the multicomponent carbonyl alkylative amination (CAA) reaction was quite sluggish compared to the secondary counterparts. In addition, primary alkyl bromides were found to be almost inactive in the process. Therefore

Synthesis of tricarbonylated propargylamine and conversion to 2,5-disubstituted oxazole-4-carboxylates

• Kento Iwai,
• Akari Hikasa,
• Kotaro Yoshioka,
• Shinki Tani,
• Kazuto Umezu and
• Nagatoshi Nishiwaki

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 2827–2833, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.238

• derivative has been employed (Scheme 1) [13][14]. Recently, we have demonstrated that the central carbonyl group of DEMO is highly electrophilic, facilitating the nucleophilic addition of less reactive reagents such as acid amides [23][24][25][26]. When the reaction was conducted in the presence of acetic

• molecule on this cation, followed by tautomerism (path a). The intramolecular attack of an amide carbonyl on this cationic site in intermediate 10, leading to the formation of oxonium ion 11, is also possible (path b). After the addition of water, the formed hemiacetal 12 was hydrolyzed to give the

Synthesis and antimycotic activity of new derivatives of imidazo[1,2-a]pyrimidines

• Dmitriy Yu. Vandyshev,
• Daria A. Mangusheva,
• Khidmet S. Shikhaliev,
• Kirill A. Scherbakov,
• Oleg N. Burov,
• Alexander D. Zagrebaev,
• Tatiana N. Khmelevskaya,
• Alexey S. Trenin and
• Fedor I. Zubkov

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 2806–2817, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.236

• -nitrogen atom. The second route involves the participation of an amino group which allows the formation of adducts 7 and 9 (routes A2 and B2). The intermediates formed then undergo subsequent tandem recyclization of succinimide/citraconimide fragments at the expense of one of the carbonyl groups and the

• in Scheme 3). In addition, clearly distinguishable cross-peaks between the protons of the CH2-5 group and both endo and exo-carbonyl groups are observed. This allowed us to explicitly exclude from the analysis structures 13 and 15, which contain both endo-methylene groups, as part of a

• conformationally rigid seven-membered cycle. In the latter case, the picture would be different: the interaction of both methylene groups with the carbonyl carbon atom would be observed to an equal extent. In order to obtain additional information on the course of the reaction between 2-aminoimidazole 1 and imides

Mechanochemical difluoromethylations of ketones

• Jinbo Ke,
• Pit van Bonn and
• Carsten Bolm

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 2799–2805, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.235

• by these findings, we now explored difluoromethylation reactions with compounds bearing less nucleophilic functional groups. Ketones caught our particular attention as they contain a weak nucleophilic carbonyl oxygen adjacent to an electrophilic carbonyl carbon. Previous studies have focused on

Copper-catalyzed yne-allylic substitutions: concept and recent developments

• Shuang Yang and
• Xinqiang Fang

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 2739–2775, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.232

• structure precludes stable copper-carbonyl interaction, favoring attack from a less hindered site. Later, Qi and Xu et al. [75] achieved highly enantioselective copper-catalyzed [4 + 1] cyclization of yne-allylic esters and cyclic 1,3-dicarbonyls, achieving remote stereoselective control through copper

Synthesis of fluoroalkenes and fluoroenynes via cross-coupling reactions using novel multihalogenated vinyl ethers

• Yukiko Karuo,
• Keita Hirata,
• Atsushi Tarui,
• Kazuyuki Sato,
• Kentaro Kawai and
• Masaaki Omote

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 2691–2703, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.226

• blocks. When using them as nucleophilic reagents [15][16][17][18][19][20], the reaction between anion species, such as fluorine-containing Horner–Wadsworth–Emmons reagents, and carbonyl compounds led to E-selective olefination (Scheme 1A) [15]. On the other hand, some reactions with electrophilic

• (Table 3, entries 1–3). Introduction of 3,4-methylenedioxyphenyl (4e) or p-fluorophenyl groups (4f) to 1a proceeded in high yields (Table 3, entries 4 and 5). Boronic acids with carbonyl groups such as acetyl, ester or formyl moieties in para position (4g–i) underwent the cross-coupling in 76, 96 or 77

Transition-metal-free decarbonylation–oxidation of 3-arylbenzofuran-2(3H)-ones: access to 2-hydroxybenzophenones

• Bhaskar B. Dhotare,
• Seema V. Kanojia,
• Chahna K. Sakhiya,
• Amey Wadawale and
• Dibakar Goswami

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 2655–2667, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.223

• presence of a strong-electron donating substituent, e.g., a -OCH3 on the benzene ring attached to the carbonyl center has a more pronounced effect on the UV-protection abilities (4bb, 4cb, 4eb and 4fb) since it increases the electron density on the carbonyl center, and hence the hydrogen bonding between

• the carbonyl and the phenol residue is weakened. A similar phenomenon has been reported for 4′-substituted- 2-hydroxybenzophenones [6]. On the contrary, a strong electron-withdrawing group viz. –F at the 4'-position (4fd) rendered the compound to be a poor UV-protector. It was also observed that the

The scent gland composition of the Mangshan pit viper, Protobothrops mangshanensis

• Jonas Holste,
• Paul Weldon,
• Donald Boyer and
• Stefan Schulz

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 2644–2654, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.222

• , Figure S1), confirming the acid functional group in the natural compounds. In support of these data, GC/IR analysis of Dm (Supporting Information File 1, Figure S2) showed strong carbonyl bands at 1741 cm−1 accompanied by two intermediate bands at 1198 cm−1 and 1177 cm−1, characteristic of ester valence