Unexpected rearrangements and a novel synthesis of 1,1-dichloro-1-alkenones from 1,1,1-trifluoroalkanones with aluminium trichloride

• Beatrice Lansbergen,
• Catherine S. Meister and
• Michael C. McLeod

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2021, 17, 404–409, doi:10.3762/bjoc.17.36

• 5m compared to the longer chain substrates (e.g., 5c and 5l) could be explained mechanistically by the formation of a terminal carbocation upon the extraction of a fluorine atom by the aluminium species (Scheme 3). This carbocation could be stabilised to varying degrees by the ketone moiety

• ketone. When the 4-methoxy derivative 5n was treated with AlCl3 using our standard conditions, none of the expected 1,1-dichloroalkenone 6n was obtained. Instead, the acid chloride 13 was isolated in an excellent yield (Scheme 5). The structure of this product was elucidated using 2D-NMR experiments

• the described reactivity would be observed with substrates not containing a ketone linker. Replacing the ketone moiety with an oxygen or sulphur atom proved unsuccessful, with only complex mixtures being obtained the upon treatment with AlCl3 (see Supporting Information File 1). This observation

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

• allylic carbenium ions could exist in solution. The solvolysis of CF3-substituted allyl sulfonates was thus thoroughly examined by Gassmann and Harrington [76]. The solvolysis of doubly CF3-deactivated 90 in trifluoroethanol (TFE) required the presence of 2,6-lutidine, leading to ketone 91 and triflate 92

• , Pittman, et al. investigated the protonation of a variety of trifluoromethyl ketones in a superacid [35][91]. Trifluoromethyl ketone protonation was observed by NMR spectroscopy at −60 °C in a superacidic FSO3H–SbF5–SO2 solution (Scheme 34). The 19F chemical shift variation for the generated oxygen

• ↔142’ (Scheme 35). Oxygen-stabilized α-(trifluoromethyl)carbenium ions (oxocarbenium ions) have been exploited for chemical synthesis [92][93][94]. Ketone 143a and ketoxime 143b undergo Friedel–Crafts reactions in the presence of Brønsted or Lewis acid to furnish the corresponding CF3-containing

The preparation and properties of 1,1-difluorocyclopropane derivatives

• Kymbat S. Adekenova,
• Peter B. Wyatt and
• Sergazy M. Adekenov

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2021, 17, 245–272, doi:10.3762/bjoc.17.25

• -difluorocyclopropyl acetals 110 to form 2-aryl-3-fluorofurans 112 (Scheme 50) [99]. The reaction could proceed either via the intermediacy of the gem-difluorocyclopropyl ketone 111 (path a) or by the direct rearrangement of the protonated acetal (path b). Recently, the group of Amii has reported the conversion of 1

• imines 115, which led to alkylideneazetidines 116 (Scheme 52) [102]. The MgI2 acted as a Lewis acid and reducing agent, effecting the distal C–C bond cleavage in 113a to form an allenyl ketone, or an equivalent fluoro,iodo-enone species, either of which could then have added to the imine 115 and led to

• -fluoropyrroles 142 (Scheme 62) [113]. The reaction involved the gem-difluorocyclopropyl ketones 143 and nitriles 144. It was proposed that the protonation of the ketone with triflic acid led to a partial ring opening of the gem-difluorocyclopropyl ketone to generate a carbocation-like center that was stabilized

Selective synthesis of α-organylthio esters and α-organylthio ketones from β-keto esters and sodium S-organyl sulfurothioates under basic conditions

• Jean C. Kazmierczak,
• Roberta Cargnelutti,
• Thiago Barcellos,
• Claudio C. Silveira and
• Ricardo F. Schumacher

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2021, 17, 234–244, doi:10.3762/bjoc.17.24

• ethyl 2-(benzylthio)acetate (3a, 20% yield) and 1-(benzylthio)propan-2-one (4a, 44% yield) were obtained in a pure form by column chromatography (Table 1, entry 1). Interestingly, the formation of both an α-thio ester and an α-thio ketone, starting from ethyl acetoacetate and a sulfur source, was not

• chromatographed on silica gel, eluting with hexanes/EtOAc 99:1 to isolate the product 4 after combining the appropriate fractions. Minor fractions of the corresponding compound 3 were isolated in 6% to 17% yield. In addition, we employed acetylacetone (5) as a reagent to obtain an α-thio ketone (Scheme 2

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

• hydrogenation occurred with high stereoselectivity producing a single diastereoisomer of 29. Then, the amide was treated with methyllithium at −78 °C to provide ketone 30 in 85% yield. Subsequently, the intramolecular Mannich reaction was carried out, leading to the desired alkaloid, via precursor 32. Ketone 30

• diastereoisomeric mixture, converted to ketone (±)-37 via methylene derivative (±)-36, in 63% over two steps (Scheme 5). Ketone (±)-37 was converted to alkenyl triflate (±)-38 after treatment with LDA at −78 °C, followed by the Comins reagent [47]. (±)-38 was subjected to palladium-catalyzed hydrogenation

• , where the axial proton in position 3 appears in δ 4.62 as a triplet of triplets, having coupling constants 11.0 and 6.4 Hz. Oxidation of (±)-41 with the TPAP-NMO system produced ketone (±)-42, a potential precursor to (±)-euphococcinine (2). Although being racemic, Ikeda's synthesis employed an

Pentannulation of N-heterocycles by a tandem gold-catalyzed [3,3]-rearrangement/Nazarov reaction of propargyl ester derivatives: a computational study on the crucial role of the nitrogen atom

• Giovanna Zanella,
• Martina Petrović,
• Dina Scarpi,
• Ernesto G. Occhiato and
• Enrique Gómez-Bengoa

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 3059–3068, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.255

• for the complete disappearance of the starting material). Moreover, besides the ketone 16 [53], formed as byproduct in the reaction with AgOTf, we observed the formation of many other unidentified compounds, reasonably either via side reactions of gold intermediates or the degradation of the starting

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

• selectively attacked the C-8 ketone moiety of 47 to give alcohol 49 in β-configuration in 80% yield [32]. Chemoselective and stereoselective reduction of the C-9 ketone of 49 was accomplished by treatment with NaBH(OAc)3 [33] and produced 50 after a two-step synthesis. Removal of the sulfoximine group in 50

• -mediated conjugated addition of methyllithium to enone 59 in the presence of boron trifluoride ether [34][35] produced desired ketone 60 in 75% yield. The resultant ketone 60 was converted to waihoensene (16) in two steps. Palladium-catalyzed carboxylative trimethylenemethane cycloaddition In 1986, Trost

• ) were reported by Li’s group [42] and Zhai’s group [43] independently in 2017 (Scheme 6B and Scheme 6C). In Li’s synthesis, the common intermediate dienone 86 was subjected to a 1,1’-bis(diphenylphosphino)ferrocene-promoted [3 + 2] cycloaddition [41] with allenyl ketone 91 to give adduct 92a in 52

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

• (Scheme 17c) [63]. Interestingly, they found some of their examples required the more strongly reducing photocatalyst Ir(ppy)3 to achieve high yields, although the reason for this is unclear. Jiang et al. continued to explore the reactivity landscape of CPAs and azaarenes, demonstrating that ketone 128

• transition metal Lewis acids 291a–e that can coordinate to ketone substrates and form chiral photoactive complexes 292, which in many cases act as the in situ generated photocatalyst (Scheme 48) [115]. They have recently developed an example using an indazole-based ligand [116] to add to their well

• enolisable ketone 293 is used, enolate complex 294 can be formed in the presence of base (Scheme 49a) [116]. The complex in this example is then proposed to proceed via an oxidative quenching cycle with bromo nitrile 295 to form α-cyano radicals 295• that then add to another molecule of 294

Synthesis of 1,4-benzothiazinones from acylpyruvic acids or furan-2,3-diones and o-aminothiophenol

• Ekaterina E. Stepanova,
• Maksim V. Dmitriev and
• Andrey N. Maslivets

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 2322–2331, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.193

• more electrophilic ketone carbonyls of compounds IV firstly. To overcome these issues, we examined the reaction of acylpyruvic acid (2a) with o-aminothiophenol (1a) in the presence of carbodiimides in various solvents (Table 1). Fortunately, in many cases we succeeded to detect the desired BTA 3a by

Formation of an exceptionally stable ketene during phototransformations of bicyclo[2.2.2]oct-5-en-2-ones having mixed chromophores

• Asitanga Ghosh

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 2297–2303, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.190

• 10a,b were established from their analytical and spectral data. The ketene stetching (γC=C=O) was detected in the IR spectrum near 2090 cm−1 and the ring ketone stetching (γC=O) appeared at 1730 cm−1. The 1H NMR spectra of these compounds were very similar to those of the parent molecules but their

Photosensitized direct C–H fluorination and trifluoromethylation in organic synthesis

• Shahboz Yakubov and
• Joshua P. Barham

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 2151–2192, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.183

• products 41–44 (Scheme 15). Chen and co-workers maintained that their reaction proceeded via HAT between the excited-state ketone and the C(sp3)–H-containing substrate. However, a PS TTET mechanism still could not be ruled out when Selectfluor® is present. That 9-fluorenone gave no reaction in Tan’s

• fluorination [46][205]. The selectivity for β- or γ-fluorination could be attributed to an interaction of the breaking C(sp3)–H bond and the neighboring ketone, which is part of the proposed 5- and 6-membered transition state, respectively. When the 5- and the 6-membered transition state is possible, the free

• ). Ideally, to achieve the best selectivity, the β- and the γ-position must be distinctive based on their geometric constraints. We note that the nature of the transition states in this ketone-directed C(sp3)–H fluorination (and the subsequent carbonyl-directed C–H fluorinations) is not well-characterized

Reactions of 3-aryl-1-(trifluoromethyl)prop-2-yn-1-iminium salts with 1,3-dienes and styrenes

• Thomas Schneider,
• Michael Keim,
• Bianca Seitz and
• Gerhard Maas

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 2064–2072, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.173

• not isolated but directly converted into the norbornadienyl trifluoromethyl ketone 3 (Scheme 1). The smooth [4 + 2] cycloaddition of 1a as compared to comparably harsh thermal conditions of other propyne ketiminium salts with an internal acetylenic bond reveals the activating influence of the CF3

• converted in two steps into cyclohexadienyl ketone 5-Ch by intentional hydrolysis followed by dehydrogenating aromatization leading to biphenyl-2-yl trifluoromethyl ketone 6. The latter product was more effectively prepared in a one-pot cycloaddition/hydrolysis/aromatization sequence. 1H NMR spectra of

• unpurified 1,4-cyclohexadien-1-iminium salt 4-Ch and 1,4-cyclohexadien-1-yl ketone 5-Ch indicated the presence of a minor byproduct. In the case of 5-Ch, obtained as an oil, the two components could not be separated by column chromatography; however, the 1H NMR spectrum suggested the cyclobutene structure 5

Syntheses of spliceostatins and thailanstatins: a review

• William A. Donaldson

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 1991–2006, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.166

• reaction/hydrolysis sequence. The use of the dithiane 80 protecting group was crucial for the following steps. Initial attempts of using a dioxolane protecting group for the C-1 ketone (instead of dithiane) led to an insurmountable difficulty of the selective hydrolysis of the dioxolane and acetonide

• cleavage afforded the methyl ketone 96. The cyclic hemiketal 97 was unstable at an elevated temperature (37 °C), with t1/2 = 48 h. Both the Jacobsen (10 steps, 24.4% yield) and the Koide syntheses (11 steps, 22.3% yield) are relatively efficient in terms of the length and overall yield. Syntheses of the C

• an alkynyl ketone to produce the required stereocenter. Of the syntheses to date, Jacobsen’s use of an asymmetric Cr(III)-catalyzed cycloaddition stands as the most efficient route, in terms of synthetic steps and low catalyst loading, to the (all-cis)-2,3,5,6-tetrasubstituted tetrahydropyran and the

Regiodivergent synthesis of functionalized pyrimidines and imidazoles through phenacyl azides in deep eutectic solvents

• Paola Vitale,
• Luciana Cicco,
• Ilaria Cellamare,
• Filippo M. Perna,
• Antonio Salomone and
• Vito Capriati

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 1915–1923, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.158

• cross-coupling reactions. A 4-fluoro-substituted phenacyl chloride as well as a bromomethyl 2-naphthyl ketone proved to be competent substrates as well, thus furnishing the corresponding imidazoles 3i/3i' and 3j in 67–87% yield. Conversely, a phenacyl halide decorated with an additional phenyl group at

• formed. The latter was indeed isolated as the main product (68% yield, Scheme 3). A plausible mechanism for the formation of the 2-aroylimidazoles 3/3' is depicted in Scheme 4. A key intermediate may be the in situ generated α-imino ketone 5. The latter is known to undergo dimerization to give 6 followed

• intermediate α-imino ketone undergoes when a solution in ChCl/urea is stirred at rt for 4 h in the presence of Et3N (3 equiv) as a base. These cyclizations proved to be relatively sensitive to the electronic properties of the starting phenacyl azides as they did not take place in the presence of strong

Stereoselective Biginelli-like reaction catalyzed by a chiral phosphoric acid bearing two hydroxy groups

• Xiaoyun Hu,
• Jianxin Guo,
• Cui Wang,
• Rui Zhang and
• Victor Borovkov

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 1875–1880, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.155

• ) H bondings with the enolizable ketone, respectively. This rigid chiral transition-state structure favored the stereoselective attack of the enol on the imine. Once the two hydroxy groups were etherified, the loss of the rigid structure would lead to low enantioselectivity. Additionally, this

One-pot and metal-free synthesis of 3-arylated-4-nitrophenols via polyfunctionalized cyclohexanones from β-nitrostyrenes

• Haruyasu Asahara,
• Minami Hiraishi and
• Nagatoshi Nishiwaki

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 1830–1836, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.150

• preparing the precursor [10]. The condensation of benzyl methyl ketone with a nitrovinamidinium salt also affords 3-arylated-4-nitrophenols; however, 3-arylated-N,N-dimethyl-4-nitroanilines are competitively formed in this reaction [11]. Hence, there is an urgent demand for the development of a facile

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

• performed under air at high temperatures. The coupling exhibited a broad substrate scope and the procedure tolerated a variety of even sensitive functional groups, including trifluoromethyl, ketone, or ester motifs. Unsymmetrical alkynes were also compatible, although the cyclization provided the desired

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

• cyclized product was observed when using the trifluoromethyl ketone derivative 12d. Secondly, PKR with enynes 14 containing fluorinated propargyl alcohol groups yielded diastereoisomeric mixtures of pyrrolidine ring-fused cyclopentenones 15 in good yields (67–85%) but low diastereoselectivities. Finally

Fluorohydration of alkynes via I(I)/I(III) catalysis

• Jessica Neufeld,
• Constantin G. Daniliuc and
• Ryan Gilmour

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 1627–1635, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.135

• in the transformation, the catalytic process was repeated in the presence of H218O. Through isotope-shift experiments (please see Supporting Information File 1), it was possible to establish that the aryl ketone of the product contains the 18O atom (ΔδC = 4.42 Hz) [57][58][59]. Formation of the

• Hammett analyses, have identified key determinants that are essential for reaction efficiency. X-ray crystal structure analysis of ketone 2 reveals a dihedral angle of φO=C-C-F = −3.7°. Although the origin of this specificity requires clarification, this fluorohydration reaction constitutes a rare case of

Facile synthesis of 7-alkyl-1,2,3,4-tetrahydro-1,8-naphthyridines as arginine mimetics using a Horner–Wadsworth–Emmons-based approach

• Rhys A. Lippa,
• John A. Murphy and
• Tim N. Barrett

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 1617–1626, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.134

• tetrahydronaphthyridines predominantly revolve around late-stage hydrogenation of fully aromatic 1,8-naphthyridine derivatives 3, usually prepared via an acid or base-catalysed Friedländer reaction between 2-aminonicotinaldehyde (1) and the corresponding ketone 2 (Scheme 1). Both reactions employ harsh conditions with

Photoredox-catalyzed silyldifluoromethylation of silyl enol ethers

• Vyacheslav I. Supranovich,
• Vitalij V. Levin and
• Alexander D. Dilman

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 1550–1553, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.126

• employed in photoredox reactions to scavenge acidic byproducts [28][29], could not be employed. Silane 1 is easily destroyed by bases (even by the amide group [30]) followed by the rapid addition of difluorocarbene to silyl enol ethers [19][20]. Disappointingly, we were unable to isolate ketone 3a using

• -donating functional groups. Substrates containing pyridine, furan, and thiophene as heterocyclic fragments were also successfully converted into the corresponding alcohols 4. However, in the reaction of the enol ether derived from 2-acetyl-N-methylpyrrole, ketone 3p did not undergo reduction with sodium

• borohydride, and the decreased reactivity of this ketone allowed its isolation. A proposed mechanism for the photoredox fluoroalkylation reaction is shown in Scheme 3. The photoexcited catalyst converts silane 1 into difluoromethylsilyl-based radical. The efficiency of [AuCl(μ-dppm)]2 compared to other

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

• decomposes into ketone or aldehyde products (Scheme 9). However, in the absence of light or oxygen, disulfide could not catalyze the oxidative cleavage of olefins. It was proposed that disulfide and the olefin might be able to form a charge-transfer complex, which may rationalize the unconventional homolysis

• to the enone 63 and posterior hydrogen transfer from thiol to the intermediate 64 forms the ketone intermediate 65 (pathway 1). This ketone intermediate 65 is also accessible by an ionic addition in the dark (pathway 2). The tautomerization of the ketone 65 yields the enol form 66, which reacts with

Recent synthesis of thietanes

• Jiaxi Xu

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 1357–1410, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.116

Synthesis of 3-substituted isoxazolidin-4-ols using hydroboration–oxidation reactions of 4,5-unsubstituted 2,3-dihydroisoxazoles

• Lívia Dikošová,
• Júlia Laceková,
• Ondrej Záborský and
• Róbert Fischer

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 1313–1319, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.112

• , even at a lower temperature. The structures of 9a–c were definitely confirmed on the basis of 13C NMR spectra. The chemical shifts in the range of 210.8–215.0 ppm for the carbonyl carbon atom clearly indicated the presence of a ketone. With the isoxazolidin-4-ones 9a–c in hand, we were ready to examine