An investigation of the observed, but counter-intuitive, stereoselectivity noted during chiral amine synthesis via N-chiral-ketimines

• Thomas C. Nugent,
• Richard Vaughan Williams,
• Andrei Dragan,
• Alejandro Alvarado Méndez and
• Andrei V. Iosub

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2013, 9, 2103–2112, doi:10.3762/bjoc.9.247

• amines). Amines are known to be potent pharmacophores, and medicinal chemists have further leveraged their beneficial properties by using chiral versions to enhance protein binding affinities. Furthermore, chiral amines continue to find expanded roles: in organocatalysis [1][2][3][4], as ligands for

Organocatalyzed enantioselective desymmetrization of aziridines and epoxides

• Ping-An Wang

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2013, 9, 1677–1695, doi:10.3762/bjoc.9.192

• Ping-An Wang Department of Medicinal Chemistry, School of Pharmacy, Fourth Military Medical University, Changle Xilu 17, Xi-An, 710032, P. R. China 10.3762/bjoc.9.192 Abstract Enantioselective desymmetrization of meso-aziridines and meso-epoxides with various nucleophiles by organocatalysis has

• emerged as a cutting-edge approach in recent years. This review summarizes the origin and recent developments of enantioselective desymmetrization of meso-aziridines and meso-epoxides in the presence of organocatalysts. Keywords: aziridine; desymmetrization; enantioselectivity; epoxide; organocatalysis

An organocatalytic route to 2-heteroarylmethylene decorated N-arylpyrroles

• Alexandre Jean,
• Jérôme Blanchet,
• Jacques Rouden,
• Jacques Maddaluno and
• Michaël De Paolis

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2013, 9, 1480–1486, doi:10.3762/bjoc.9.168

• regioselective oxidation of these substrates is demonstrated, extending the molecular diversity and versatility of these scaffolds. Keywords: C–H oxidation; isomerization; N-arylpyrrole; organocatalysis; Introduction Due to their presence in some natural products [1] and pharmaceuticals [2][3][4], the

Thiourea-catalyzed Diels–Alder reaction of a naphthoquinone monoketal dienophile

• Carsten S. Kramer and
• Stefan Bräse

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2013, 9, 1414–1418, doi:10.3762/bjoc.9.158

• tricycle of beticolin 0 (1) and is also a valuable model substrate for the total synthesis of related natural products. Keywords: beticolin 0; Diels–Alder reaction; natural product; organocatalysis; thiourea catalysis; total synthesis; Introduction In the past few years, many different types of

• pioneering research in organocatalysis. C.S.K. acknowledges the Fonds der Chemischen Industrie for a Kekulé scholarship.

Transition-metal and organocatalysis in natural product synthesis

• David Yu-Kai Chen and
• Dawei Ma

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2013, 9, 1192–1193, doi:10.3762/bjoc.9.134

Synthesis of the tetracyclic core of Illicium sesquiterpenes using an organocatalyzed asymmetric Robinson annulation

• Lynnie Trzoss,
• Jing Xu,
• Michelle H. Lacoske and
• Emmanuel A. Theodorakis

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2013, 9, 1135–1140, doi:10.3762/bjoc.9.126

• . Keywords: natural products; neurodegenerative diseases; neurotrophic small molecule; organocatalysis; total synthesis; Introduction Neurotrophins are a family of endogenous proteins that are vital for neuron function, survival, and regeneration [1][2][3]. As such, they have prompted intense studies toward

• (Figure 2). Results and Discussion During the past 20 years, organocatalysis has emerged as an important field in asymmetric stereoselective synthesis due to its advantages, which include high enantioselectivity, environmental friendliness and ease of handling [27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37

1-n-Butyl-3-methylimidazolium-2-carboxylate: a versatile precatalyst for the ring-opening polymerization of ε-caprolactone and rac-lactide under solvent-free conditions

• Astrid Hoppe,
• Faten Sadaka,
• Claire-Hélène Brachais,
• Gilles Boni,
• Jean-Pierre Couvercelle and
• Laurent Plasseraud

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2013, 9, 647–654, doi:10.3762/bjoc.9.73

• under vacuo (method A) or by addition of NaBPh4 (method B). Possible catalytic and deactivation mechanisms are proposed. Keywords: aliphatic polyesters; green polymerization reaction; imidazolium-2-carboxylates; N-heterocarbene precursor; organocatalysis; Introduction Poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL) and

Enantioselective reduction of ketoimines promoted by easily available (S)-proline derivatives

• Martina Bonsignore,
• Maurizio Benaglia,
• Laura Raimondi,
• Manuel Orlandi and
• Giuseppe Celentano

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2013, 9, 633–640, doi:10.3762/bjoc.9.71

• studies were also performed in order to elucidate the origin of the stereoselection. Keywords: chiral prolines; imine reduction; Lewis bases; organocatalysis; trichlorosilane; Introduction The reaction with stoichiometric amounts of trichlorosilane in the presence of a chiral catalyst is a well

• stereoselettiva di molecole funzionali" is gratefully acknowledged. M. B. thanks COST action CM9505 “ORCA” Organocatalysis. We thank Prof. Franco Cozzi for helpful discussions.

NHC-catalysed highly selective aerobic oxidation of nonactivated aldehydes

• Lennart Möhlmann,
• Stefan Ludwig and
• Siegfried Blechert

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2013, 9, 602–607, doi:10.3762/bjoc.9.65

• -free oxidation; N-heterocyclic carbene; organocatalysis; Introduction The development of efficient and selective aerobic oxidation methods for organic substrates is of increasing interest and an attractive goal in green chemistry [1][2][3]. In a recent communication we reported on selective oxidation

Metal-mediated aminocatalysis provides mild conditions: Enantioselective Michael addition mediated by primary amino catalysts and alkali-metal ions

• Matthias Leven,
• Jörg M. Neudörfl and
• Bernd Goldfuss

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2013, 9, 155–165, doi:10.3762/bjoc.9.18

• catalysis provides an effective alternative to conventional primary amino catalysis were strong acid additives are essential components. Keywords: alkali metals; aminocatalysis; DFT-calculations; Lewis acids; Michael addition; Introduction Organocatalysis based on primary or secondary amines enables a

• famous examples are Mac Millan’s secondary-amine-based catalysts [6] or 9-amino-9-deoxy-epihydroquinine salts used by Jørgensen et al. [7][8]. Another growing field of catalysis is metal-promoted organocatalysis, which is closely related to tandem reactions of metal- and organocatalysis [9][10][11][12

Mechanochemistry assisted asymmetric organocatalysis: A sustainable approach

• Pankaj Chauhan and
• Swapandeep Singh Chimni

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2012, 8, 2132–2141, doi:10.3762/bjoc.8.240

• methods for the development of environmentally benign chemical transformations. Recently, the use of these mechanochemical techniques in asymmetric organocatalysis has increased. This review highlights the progress in asymmetric organocatalytic reactions assisted by mechanochemical techniques. Keywords

• : ball-milling; enantioselective synthesis; mechanochemistry; organocatalysis; solvent-free; Introduction Green chemistry involves innovation in chemical research and engineering that encourages the design of processes to minimize the use and production of hazardous materials and also reduce the use of

• amplified in recent times. In this regard, catalytic asymmetric synthesis involving the use of chiral organocatalysts has emerged as a powerful tool from the infancy to the maturity of asymmetric organocatalysis [13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26]. The use of organocatalysts for

Design and synthesis of a photoswitchable guanidine catalyst

• Philipp Viehmann and
• Stefan Hecht

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2012, 8, 1825–1830, doi:10.3762/bjoc.8.209

• rac-lactide in order to explain the findings. Keywords: azobenzenes; guanidines; molecular switches; organocatalysis; photochromism; ring opening polymerization; Introduction The macroscopic properties of a given polymer, e.g., the glass-transition temperature, morphology, density and tensile

Asymmetric Brønsted acid-catalyzed aza-Diels–Alder reaction of cyclic C-acylimines with cyclopentadiene

• Magnus Rueping and
• Sadiya Raja

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2012, 8, 1819–1824, doi:10.3762/bjoc.8.208

• optically active aza-tetracycles in good yields with high diastereo- and enantioselectivities under mild reaction conditions. Keywords: BINOL phosphate; [4 + 2] cycloaddition; Diels–Alder reaction; organocatalysis; Introduction The enantioselective aza-Diels–Alder reaction is an important method for the

• compounds. Acknowledgements Financial support by the DFG priority programme Organocatalysis is gratefully acknowledged.

Automated three-component synthesis of a library of γ-lactams

• Erik Fenster,
• David Hill,
• Oliver Reiser and
• Jeffrey Aubé

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2012, 8, 1804–1813, doi:10.3762/bjoc.8.206

• ; maleimide; organocatalysis; parallel synthesis; reductive amination; Introduction In recent years, the rapid access to structurally diverse and complex small molecules has grown in importance within the context of high-throughput screening of biologically relevant targets. The need for such compounds, both

Imidazolinium and amidinium salts as Lewis acid organocatalysts

• Oksana Sereda,
• Nicole Clemens,
• Tatjana Heckel and
• René Wilhelm

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2012, 8, 1798–1803, doi:10.3762/bjoc.8.205

• desulfurization of the products containing a thiol or thiocarbonyl group. Keywords: Diels–Alder; ionic liquids; organocatalysis; soft Lewis acids; thiiranes; thioesters; Introduction Salts with melting points below 100 °C are known as ionic liquids and are often used as novel solvents for reactions and

• the C(2) position as catalysts for the aza-Diels–Alder reaction [11][12]. These catalysts do not activate the substrate through hydrogen bonding, but instead, like other carbon-cation based catalysts, through their positive center [8][9][10][13][14][15], and belong also to the field of organocatalysis

Asymmetric desymmetrization of meso-diols by C₂-symmetric chiral 4-pyrrolidinopyridines

• Hartmut Schedel,
• Keizo Kan,
• Yoshihiro Ueda,
• Kenji Mishiro,
• Keisuke Yoshida,
• Takumi Furuta and
• Takeo Kawabata

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2012, 8, 1778–1787, doi:10.3762/bjoc.8.203

• pyrrolidinopyridine framework as a catalytic site. Some of these organocatalysts effectively promoted asymmetric desymmetrization of meso-diols via enantioselective acylation. Keywords: acylation; desymmetrization; hydrogen bond; meso-diol; nucleophilic catalyst; organocatalysis; Introduction Since the pioneering

Synthesis and ring openings of cinnamate-derived N-unfunctionalised aziridines

• Alan Armstrong and
• Alexandra Ferguson

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2012, 8, 1747–1752, doi:10.3762/bjoc.8.199

• -diphenylphosphinyl hydroxylamine. The resulting N-unfunctionalised aziridines are shown to be versatile synthetic building blocks that undergo highly selective ring-opening reactions with a wide range of nucleophiles. Keywords: amino acids; aziridination; organocatalysis; ring opening; stereoselectivity

Organocatalytic cascade aza-Michael/hemiacetal reaction between disubstituted hydrazines and α,β-unsaturated aldehydes: Highly diastereo- and enantioselective synthesis of pyrazolidine derivatives

• Zhi-Cong Geng,
• Jian Chen,
• Ning Li,
• Xiao-Fei Huang,
• Yong Zhang,
• Ya-Wen Zhang and
• Xing-Wang Wang

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2012, 8, 1710–1720, doi:10.3762/bjoc.8.195

• good results (up to 86% yield, >10/1 regioselectivity, >20:1 dr, 99% ee) in the presence of (S)-diphenylprolinol trimethylsilyl ether catalyst. Keywords: aza-Michael; domino; hydrazine; organocatalysis; pyrazolidine; Introduction Pyrazolidines are privileged and valuable heterocyclic compounds, which

• synthesis of pyrazolidine derivatives by Wolfe et al. [33]. In the past decade, the research area of organocatalysis has grown rapidly and become a third brand of catalysis besides the well-established biocatalysis and metal catalysis [34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44]. Particularly

• stereoselective cascade reaction for the synthesis of the pyrazolidine compounds through organocatalysis. In this paper, we present a convenient access to racemic and enantioenriched 5-hydroxypyrazolidines through a domino aza-Michael/hemiacetal organocatalytic sequence of disubstituted hydrazines to α,β

Enantioselective total synthesis of (R)-(−)-complanine

• Krystal A. D. Kamanos and
• Jonathan M. Withey

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2012, 8, 1695–1699, doi:10.3762/bjoc.8.192

• ; organocatalysis; Introduction The marine fireworm Eurythoe complanata resides in the shallow water and sands of temperate and sub-tropical regions. Its small setae cause skin inflammation upon contact, the causative agent having been identified as complanine. This novel amphipathic substance was first isolated

Organocatalytic tandem Michael addition reactions: A powerful access to the enantioselective synthesis of functionalized chromenes, thiochromenes and 1,2-dihydroquinolines

• Chittaranjan Bhanja,
• Satyaban Jena,
• Sabita Nayak and
• Seetaram Mohapatra

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2012, 8, 1668–1694, doi:10.3762/bjoc.8.191

• organocatalysis has become a field of central importance within asymmetric chemical synthesis and appears to be efficient approach toward the construction of complex chiral molecules from simple achiral materials in one-pot transformations under mild conditions with high stereocontrol. This review addresses the

Cyclization of ortho-hydroxycinnamates to coumarins under mild conditions: A nucleophilic organocatalysis approach

• Florian Boeck,
• Max Blazejak,
• Markus R. Anneser and
• Lukas Hintermann

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2012, 8, 1630–1636, doi:10.3762/bjoc.8.186

• -hydroxycinnamates, followed by the phosphane catalyzed cyclization. Keywords: catalysis; coumarins; heterocycles; mechanisms; organocatalysis; phosphanes; Introduction Coumarins are important structural motifs in natural products and bioactive compounds, in which they exhibit broad biological activity, e.g., as

N-Heterocyclic carbene-catalyzed direct cross-aza-benzoin reaction: Efficient synthesis of α-amino-β-keto esters

• Takuya Uno,
• Yusuke Kobayashi and
• Yoshiji Takemoto

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2012, 8, 1499–1504, doi:10.3762/bjoc.8.169

• -amino-β-keto esters; cross-aza-benzoin; α-imino ester; N-heterocyclic carbenes; organocatalysis; umpolung reactions; Introduction α-Amino-β-keto ester derivatives are one of the fundamental structural subunits in natural products such as miuraenamides [1], and important building blocks for the

• Supporting Information File 334: Experimental details and characterization of the synthesized compounds. Acknowledgements This work was supported in part by a Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research on Innovative Areas “Advanced Molecular Transformations by Organocatalysis” and “Targeted Proteins Research

Synthesis and evaluation of new guanidine-thiourea organocatalyst for the nitro-Michael reaction: Theoretical studies on mechanism and enantioselectivity

• Tatyana E. Shubina,
• Matthias Freund,
• Sebastian Schenker,
• Timothy Clark and
• Svetlana B. Tsogoeva

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2012, 8, 1485–1498, doi:10.3762/bjoc.8.168

• . Extensive DFT calculations, including solvent effects and dispersion corrections, as well as ab initio calculations provide a plausible description of the reaction mechanism. Keywords: bifunctional organocatalyst; DFT calculations; guanidine-thiourea; Michael addition; organocatalysis; transition states

• archive entries. Supporting Information File 434: Detailed information about the DFT calculations Acknowledgements The authors gratefully acknowledge generous financial support from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (SPP 1179 “Organocatalysis”) and the generous amount of computational time from HLRBII

A quantitative approach to nucleophilic organocatalysis

• Herbert Mayr,
• Sami Lakhdar,
• Biplab Maji and
• Armin R. Ofial

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2012, 8, 1458–1478, doi:10.3762/bjoc.8.166

• ; kinetics; NHC activation; organocatalysis; structure reactivity relationships; Review Introduction The most comprehensive nucleophilicity and electrophilicity scales presently available, are based on Equation 1, in which electrophiles are characterized by one solvent-independent parameter E, and

• aliphatic substitutions [21][22]. In this essay, we will illustrate applications of Equation 1 in nucleophilic organocatalysis. Iminium activated reactions A key step of the commonly accepted catalytic cycle for iminium activated reactions (Figure 2) is the attack of a nucleophile 4 on the intermediate

• 1179 Organokatalyse / Priority Program 1179 Organocatalysis 2004–2010 and SFB 749) for financial support.

Organocatalytic asymmetric addition of malonates to unsaturated 1,4-diketones

• Sergei Žari,
• Tiiu Kailas,
• Marina Kudrjashova,
• Mario Öeren,
• Ivar Järving,
• Toomas Tamm,
• Margus Lopp and
• Tõnis Kanger

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2012, 8, 1452–1457, doi:10.3762/bjoc.8.165

• calculated VCD spectra of the reaction product 3a. Keywords: Michael addition; non-covalent catalysis; organocatalysis; squaramide; thiourea; Introduction The asymmetric 1,4-conjugated addition (Michael reaction) of C-nucleophiles to enones is a powerful tool for obtaining a significant variety of

• enantiomer. From the synthetic point of view, the conjugate addition of the nucleophile is, at the same time, a formal umpolung reaction with respect to the other carbonyl group (Figure 1). Results and Discussion Catalyst screening As a part of our ongoing studies in organocatalysis [16][17][18][19] we

• ), and the EU European Regional Development Fund (3.2.0101.08-0017) for financial support and COST Action CM0905 (ORCA, Organocatalysis).