Progress in the total synthesis of inthomycins

• Bidyut Kumar Senapati

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2021, 17, 58–82, doi:10.3762/bjoc.17.7

• -metathesis reaction of 121 with alkene fragment (rac)-118 in the presence of Grubbs II (G-II) catalyst under optimized conditions produced (rac)-122 in 57% yield. After exhaustive experimentation, demethoxylation of (rac)-122 was achieved to produce (E,E,E)-aldehyde 123 predominantly in an 8:1 mixture of

Recent progress in the synthesis of homotropane alkaloids adaline, euphococcinine and N-methyleuphococcinine

• Dimas J. P. Lima,
• Antonio E. G. Santana,
• Michael A. Birkett and
• Ricardo S. Porto

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2021, 17, 28–41, doi:10.3762/bjoc.17.4

• conditions to afford alkene (±)-39. Hydroboration of (±)-39 with the borane–THF complex followed by oxidation of the obtained intermediate led to the mixture of alcohols (±)-40 + (±)-41 with yields of 31% and 39%, respectively. The 1H NMR spectrum confirmed the structure and stereochemistry of alcohol (±)-41

• stereospecific semipinacol rearrangement in 78% yield over two steps. The resulting terminal alkene (−)-70 was submitted to Vacker's conditions to produce methyl ketone (−)-71 in 93% yield. The treatment of this ketone with potassium trimethylsilanolate induced a 1,5-Michael type reaction, via attack of tethered

• enone (−)-74, which was subjected to Luche reduction followed by removing the resulting alcohol under Barton–McCombie conditions, providing alkene (−)-75 in 55% yield from (−)-73. Finally, the acetal group of (+)-75 was hydrolyzed in the presence of catalytic Pd(MeCN)2Cl2. The intermediate ketone was

An atom-economical addition of methyl azaarenes with aromatic aldehydes via benzylic C(sp³)–H bond functionalization under solvent- and catalyst-free conditions

• Divya Rohini Yennamaneni,
• Vasu Amrutham,
• Krishna Sai Gajula,
• Rammurthy Banothu,
• Murali Boosa and
• Narender Nama

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 3093–3103, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.259

• ) also reacted well and provided the alcohol 3e in 55% yield along with the alkene product 4e in 19% yield (Table 2, entry 5). Exceptionally, substrates with groups such as cyano, trifluoromethyl, and formyl were reacted and provided the respective dehydrated alkenylpyridine compounds 4i–k in 77%, 71

Silver-catalyzed synthesis of β-fluorovinylphosphonates by phosphonofluorination of aromatic alkynes

• Yajing Zhang,
• Qingshan Tian,
• Guozhu Zhang and
• Dayong Zhang

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 3086–3092, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.258

• is the most rapid and convenient one (Scheme 1). Although studies on alkyne difunctionalization are ongoing [23], the successful attachment of a fluorine atom to the resulting alkene through transition metal catalysis remains a challenge. In particular, the phosphonofluorination of alkynes for the

Amine–borane complex-initiated SF₅Cl radical addition on alkenes and alkynes

• Audrey Gilbert,
• Pauline Langowski,
• Marine Delgado,
• Laurent Chabaud,
• Mathieu Pucheault and
• Jean-François Paquin

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 3069–3077, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.256

• , France 10.3762/bjoc.16.256 Abstract The SF5Cl radical addition on unsaturated compounds was performed using an air-stable amine–borane complex as the radical initiator. This method showed to be complementary to the classic Et3B-mediated SF5Cl addition on alkenes and alkynes. A total of seven alkene and

• hydrogen reservoirs [40], as reducing agents in various transformations, including the reduction of aldehydes, amides and ketones, reductive aminations, alkene hydroboration, and carbon bond forming reaction [41][42], as well as various boronate and borinic acid precursors [43][44][45][46][47]. More

• recently, it has been shown that some of these common amine–borane complexes can also be used as radical initiators for atom transfer radical addition of alkyl halides to alkenes [48]. They were also used in the free-radical polymerization of alkene-containing monomers such as methyl methacrylate or

All-carbon [3 + 2] cycloaddition in natural product synthesis

• Zhuo Wang and
• Junyang Liu

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 3015–3031, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.251

• Lee [24] independently in 2003. (Scheme 1C and Scheme 1D) In Krische’s synthesis, a stereospecific intramolecular phosphine-catalyzed [3 + 2] cycloaddition of 2-butynoate with electron-deficient alkene 29 afforded cycloadduct 31 in 88% yield as a single diastereomer [25] (Scheme 1C). Later, Lee`s

• trimethylsilyl ether. The electron-rich end of complex A attacks the carbon dioxide to give carboxylate B. Migration of the TMS group on carboxylate B generates the 1,3-dipole on C in the form of TMS carboxylate. An intermolecular [3 + 2] cycloaddition of C and alkene D (see Scheme 3B, inset) gives the

• fragmentation to afford alkene 72 in 61% yield. Marcfortine B (8) was synthesized from alkene 72 in seven steps. The enantioselective synthesis of marcfortine C (9) commenced with a catalytic asymmetric cyano-substituted TMM cycloaddition of oxindole 73 and TMM donor 75 with Pd(dba)2/74 as catalyst to give a

Ring-closing metathesis of prochiral oxaenediynes to racemic 4-alkenyl-2-alkynyl-3,6-dihydro-2H-pyrans

• Viola Kolaříková,
• Markéta Rybáčková,
• Martin Svoboda and
• Jaroslav Kvíčala

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 2757–2768, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.226

• reactions of unsaturated compounds, e.g., alkene and enyne cross metathesis (CM [1] and EYCM [2][3][4]), alkene and enyne ring-closing metathesis (RCM and RCEYM) [5][6], ring-opening metathetic polymerization (ROMP) [7], etc., the CM and RCM are the most popular in organic synthesis [8]. Furthermore, the

• that a ruthenium-containing metathesis intermediate, formed by the alkene cross metathesis in the initiating step followed by a RCEYM, was deactivated by a subsequent reaction with the triple bond of the second enyne molecule. The results of the RCEYM of the ester-modified oxaenediyne 2e were

Vicinal difluorination as a C=C surrogate: an analog of piperine with enhanced solubility, photostability, and acetylcholinesterase inhibitory activity

• Yuvixza Lizarme-Salas,
• Alexandra Daryl Ariawan,
• Ranjala Ratnayake,
• Hendrik Luesch,
• Angela Finch and
• Luke Hunter

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 2663–2670, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.216

• was another structural motif that could (i) mimic the extended geometry of an E-alkene, (ii) impart better solubility, and (iii) be more stable in the presence of UV light. Such a C=C surrogate might offer an improved lead compound for the development of drugs to treat Alzheimer’s disease

Synthesis of novel fluorinated building blocks via halofluorination and related reactions

• Attila Márió Remete,
• Tamás T. Novák,
• Melinda Nonn,
• Matti Haukka,
• Ferenc Fülöp and
• Loránd Kiss

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 2562–2575, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.208

• process, an alkene reacts with a halogen cation to form a halonium ion, which immediately undergoes ring opening by fluoride to form a vicinal halofluoride (see Scheme 1). The overall result is an anti-addition of the XF moiety (X = Cl, Br, I) across the double bond. Since many nucleophilic fluorine

Recent developments in enantioselective photocatalysis

• Callum Prentice,
• James Morrisson,
• Andrew D. Smith and
• Eli Zysman-Colman

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 2363–2441, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.197

• reductively quenches the photocatalyst to form enaminyl radical 13•+. However, in this reaction 13•+ can then add to the alkene to give an alkyl radical 14•+, followed by hydrogen atom abstraction from the thiol, acting as a HAT catalyst, to give iminium ion intermediate 15. Hydrolysis of 15 generates the

• carboxylic acids 155 with alkenes 156. A low yielding benzylation reaction was required for determination of enantioselectivities and a large excess of alkene was required for the reaction. The reaction is proposed to proceed via hydrogen-bonded complex 157, that lowers the triplet energy of the carboxylic

• to generate diradical 177 that then adds to the alkene to form diradical 178. A SET between the ketyl radical and the α-carbonyl radical generates enolate intermediate 179, which after proton transfer regenerates the catalyst and releases the desired cyclisation product 180 in a moderate yield and

Chan–Evans–Lam N1-(het)arylation and N1-alkеnylation of 4-fluoroalkylpyrimidin-2(1H)-ones

• Viktor M. Tkachuk,
• Oleh O. Lukianov,
• Mykhailo V. Vovk,
• Isabelle Gillaizeau and
• Volodymyr A. Sukach

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 2304–2313, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.191

• analogous enamides [57], the facile [2 + 2] photocycloaddition process likely occurred due to favorable orientation of the interacting molecules and close contacts between alkene carbon atoms in the crystal structure. Consequently, the synthesis of product 5c was performed in darkness. N1-Styryl-substituted

Synthetic approaches to bowl-shaped π-conjugated sumanene and its congeners

• Shakeel Alvi and
• Rashid Ali

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 2212–2259, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.186

• catalyst 15 to yield the trimerized products 12 (syn) and 13 (anti) in respectable yields (Scheme 2). The alkene-bridge exchange of 12 (syn) was accomplished by tandem ring-opening and ring-closing metathesis (ROM–RCM) in the presence of Grubbs’ first generation (G-I) catalyst to generate a C3-symmetric

• 27 in a single step. They also pointed out that when ethylene gas was used as an alkene source for the ring-opening step, diluted reaction conditions were necessary to dissolve the ethylene in dichloromethane to avoid polymerization. Therefore, after several experimentations, they noticed that liquid

• Z-oct-4-ene in toluene was found to be a more effective alkene source for the ring-opening reaction in comparison to the gaseous ethylene, as it increases solubility and also improve the lifetime of the catalyst. 2.1 Derivatization at benzylic position As can be inferred from the architecture of

Selective preparation of tetrasubstituted fluoroalkenes by fluorine-directed oxetane ring-opening reactions

• Clément Q. Fontenelle,
• Thibault Thierry,
• Romain Laporte,
• Emmanuel Pfund and
• Thierry Lequeux

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 1936–1946, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.160

• -opening reaction with bromide ions, even in the presence of bulky substituents. Keywords: acyclonucleotide; fluorine; monofluoroalkene; oxetane; selective ring-opening reaction; tetrasubstituted alkene; Introduction The introduction of fluorine atoms into organic compounds is known to modify their

• mixture of products (Table 1, entry 7). In contrast, the ring-opening reaction was successful when performed in the presence of TBAB and BF3·Et2O and afforded the E-alkene product 3d with good selectivity (E/Z ratio > 96:4) and 76% yield (Table 1, entry 8). The geometric assignment of compound 3d was

• analysis (see Supporting Information File 1). The attack of the bromide ion this time occurred from the side of the alkene hydrogen atom (cis attack) and away from the bulky phthalimido group giving solely product E-4d. Likewise, the reaction of the alkyl-substituted substrate 5 proceeded with excellent E

When metal-catalyzed C–H functionalization meets visible-light photocatalysis

• Lucas Guillemard and
• Joanna Wencel-Delord

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 1754–1804, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.147

• metal catalyst X2M into an aromatic C–H bond of a substrate (generally facilitated by the presence of a directing group (DG)), delivers a metal–aryl complex. Coordination and subsequent insertion of an alkene into the M–aryl bond then provides the desired coupling product after β-hydride elimination

Pauson–Khand reaction of fluorinated compounds

• Jorge Escorihuela,
• Daniel M. Sedgwick,
• Alberto Llobat,
• Mercedes Medio-Simón,
• Pablo Barrio and
• Santos Fustero

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 1662–1682, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.138

• the PKR of enynes containing a fluoride moiety. Keywords: alkene; alkyne; enyne; fluorine; Pauson–Khand; Introduction The prevalence of fluorine-containing molecules in drug-discovery programs is nowadays unquestionable [1][2][3]. The presence of fluorine atoms or fluorine-containing units at

• the intramolecular version, the fluorine atom or fluorinated group can also form a part of the linker. The reaction yields are dependent on the degree of substitution, bulkiness, and electronic effects of the substituents of both the alkyne and alkene moieties. In general, electron-deficient alkynes

• fluorinated group is positioned in the final compound depends on whether it is attached to the alkene or alkyne counterpart of the substrate (Scheme 5). Regarding the intramolecular PKR of fluorinated enynes, only a few examples have been described. The first example was reported in 2001 by Ishizaki and co

Heterogeneous photocatalysis in flow chemical reactors

• Christopher G. Thomson,
• Ai-Lan Lee and
• Filipe Vilela

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 1495–1549, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.125

An overview on disulfide-catalyzed and -cocatalyzed photoreactions

• Yeersen Patehebieke

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 1418–1435, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.118

• [3 + 2] methylenecyclopentane annulations of olefins with methylenecyclopropanes. This regioselective, mild, and protecting group-free annulation requires only an equimolar amount of the reacting alkene and does not require an excess of the reacting alkene, unlike other methods [9]. Furthermore, the

• intermediate 51 to the phenyl thiyl radical 43 yields the intermediate 49, thiophenol, the protonated pyridine 47, and bromide. Finally, HAT from the thiophenol to the intermediate 49 gives the difluoroalkylation product 50. Alkene functionalization reactions The olefin hydration is an important method to

• unsuccessful to be prepared by the Schlosser modification of the Wittig olefination (Scheme 26) [33]. A similar isomerization method was also used by Holmes in the synthesis of (−)-gloeosporone. Under irradiation conditions, diphenyl disulfide helped to convert the Z-alkene 76 to the E-alkene 77 (Scheme 27) [34

Synthesis of pyrrolidinedione-fused hexahydropyrrolo[2,1-a]isoquinolines via three-component [3 + 2] cycloaddition followed by one-pot N-allylation and intramolecular Heck reactions

• Xiaoming Ma,
• Suzhi Meng,
• Xiaofeng Zhang,
• Qiang Zhang,
• Shenghu Yan,
• Yue Zhang and
• Wei Zhang

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 1225–1233, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.106

• oxidative addition of the Pd(0) species to alkene intermediate 8a leads to Pd-complex I. Intramolecular coordination of Pd-complex I with the C–C double bond forms complex II which is followed by the syn insertion of alkene to give complex III [50][51]. Subsequent β-hydride elimination of III gives complex

Photocatalysis with organic dyes: facile access to reactive intermediates for synthesis

• Stephanie G. E. Amos,
• Marion Garreau,
• Luca Buzzetti and
• Jerome Waser

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 1163–1187, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.103

• cations and radical anions) Recently, the exploitation of alkenyl and aryl radical ions has emerged as a platform for the functionalization of small molecules. They appear as attractive intermediates for a direct alkene difunctionalization or arene C–H functionalization. In particular, radical cations are

• , exploiting the reactivity of alkene radical cations generated using organic dyes [96][97]. Their seminal work reported the oxidation of the alkenols 22.1 by the Fukuzumi dye (OD2, Scheme 22) [98]. The so-formed radical cation undergoes an intramolecular nucleophilic 5/6/7-exo-trig-cyclization to give the

• cyclic ethers 22.3. Mes-Acr-Me+ (OD2) is a strong enough oxidant (E(PC+*/PC) ≈ 2.1 V), allowing the oxidation of unactivated alkenes (1.2 ≤ Eox ≤ 1.9 V). In this transformation, the cocatalyst 22.2 acts as an H atom shuttle. This alkene radical cation-based strategy has been extended to various

Copper-catalysed alkylation of heterocyclic acceptors with organometallic reagents

• Yafei Guo and
• Syuzanna R. Harutyunyan

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 1006–1021, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.90

• co-workers elaborated the copper-catalysed ring opening reaction of oxabicyclic alkene substrates using organolithium reagents, finding excellent anti selectivities and enantioselectivity (Scheme 12) [42]. During the optimisation studies, they discovered that when the Lewis acid BF3·OEt2 was employed

Recent applications of porphyrins as photocatalysts in organic synthesis: batch and continuous flow approaches

• Rodrigo Costa e Silva,
• Luely Oliveira da Silva,
• Aloisio de Andrade Bartolomeu,
• Timothy John Brocksom and
• Kleber Thiago de Oliveira

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 917–955, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.83

• studies on this reaction are ongoing with initial suggestions of the coupling between the sulfonyl radical and the radical alkene as a key step for this transformation. In 2019, Ghaffari-Moghaddam, Oveisi and co-workers reported the synthesis of a new multifunctional MOF, namely Fe@PCN-222(Fe), and its

Copper catalysis with redox-active ligands

• Agnideep Das,
• Yufeng Ren,
• Cheriehan Hessin and
• Marine Desage-El Murr

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 858–870, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.77

• reminiscent of the entatic state model. The proposed mechanism (Scheme 12) involves the insertion of a nitrene or carbene group to the copper complex 22 to form intermediate 23. Subsequent alkene insertion yields species 25 and the group-transfer product (21a,h–j,n,o, 26a–g and 27a–o) is released upon ring

Aldehydes as powerful initiators for photochemical transformations

• Maria A. Theodoropoulou,
• Nikolaos F. Nikitas and
• Christoforos G. Kokotos

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 833–857, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.76

• . Moreover, the excited 4-anisaldehyde (98) underwent energy transfer over the addition to the double bond of the alkene, as no Paterno–Büchi cycloadducts were observed. Furthermore, the detection of the photolysis products of the alkyl halides mentioned above indicated the presence of triplet state 4

Preparation of 2-phospholene oxides by the isomerization of 3-phospholene oxides

• Péter Bagi,
• Réka Herbay,
• Nikolett Péczka,
• Zoltán Mucsi,
• István Timári and
• György Keglevich

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 818–832, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.75

• , entries 3–7). In contrast, there is no benefit for the ethylphospholene oxides (1h or 4h) (Table 5, entry 8). The olefinicity concept and the olefinicity value (OL%) was developed to measure and describe quantitatively the degree of conjugation of an alkene group with the neighboring functional groups

Combining enyne metathesis with long-established organic transformations: a powerful strategy for the sustainable synthesis of bioactive molecules

• Valerian Dragutan,
• Ileana Dragutan,
• Albert Demonceau and
• Lionel Delaude

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 738–755, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.68

• of known, in vivo effective substances but also for designing chemically modified analogs as valid alternatives for further therapeutic agents. Keywords: bioactive compounds; enyne metathesis; ring-closing metathesis; ruthenium catalysts; tandem reactions; Introduction Alkene and alkyne metathesis

• potential of enyne metathesis in providing sustainable access to bioactive organic compounds, when used in conjunction with a number of name reactions. Enyne metathesis is a fundamental chemical transformation involving an alkene and an alkyne to produce a dienic structure through unsaturated bond

• the respective dienic compounds (Scheme 2) [52]. The reaction course is essential for directing the process towards the desired exo or endo isomer, in compliance with the required stereochemistry of the final product. For the intermolecular enyne metathesis reaction, the double bond of the alkene is