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

Negishi-coupling-enabled synthesis of α-heteroaryl-α-amino acid building blocks for DNA-encoded chemical library applications

• Matteo Gasparetto,
• Balázs Fődi and
• Gellért Sipos

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 1922–1932, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.168

Towards an asymmetric β-selective addition of azlactones to allenoates

• Behzad Nasiri,
• Ghaffar Pasdar,
• Paul Zebrowski,
• Katharina Röser,
• David Naderer and
• Mario Waser

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 1504–1509, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.134

• -selective manner with moderate levels of enantioselectivities (up to 83:17 er). Furthermore, the obtained products can be successfully engaged in nucleophilic ring opening reactions, thus giving highly functionalized α-amino acid derivatives. Keywords: allenoates; amino acids; azlactones; organocatalysis

• -functionalizations by reacting them with suited C- or heteroatom electrophiles. α-Amino acid-derived azlactones 1 are amongst the most commonly utilized starting materials to access more diverse chiral α,α-disubstituted amino acids (Scheme 1A) [20][21][22]. More specifically, these compounds can be engaged in a

• [29] as well as α-amino acid-based thiazolones [30] have successfully been used for asymmetric β-selective additions to allenoates when using chiral ammonium salt catalysts or chiral organobase catalysts. However, to the best of our knowledge the β-selective asymmetric addition of azlactones 1 to

Catalytic multi-step domino and one-pot reactions

• Svetlana B. Tsogoeva

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 254–256, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.25

• . Zhang, Ma, and W. Zhang reflects the state of the art in the α-amino acid-based [3 + 2] cycloaddition reactions of N–H-type azomethine ylides in multicomponent, one-pot, and stepwise reactions for the synthesis of diverse bioactive heterocyclic compounds and natural products [9]. Computational studies

Copper-catalyzed multicomponent reaction of β-trifluoromethyl β-diazo esters enabling the synthesis of β-trifluoromethyl N,N-diacyl-β-amino esters

• Youlong Du,
• Haibo Mei,
• Ata Makarem,
• Ramin Javahershenas,
• Vadim A. Soloshonok and
• Jianlin Han

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 212–219, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.21

• example, Wan and co-workers developed a cascade reaction of α-diazo esters, nitriles, and carboxylic acids via the generation of nitrile ylides and Mumm rearrangement affording unsymmetric diacyl α-amino acid esters as products (Scheme 1a) [39]. In 2017, Zhang, Hu, and co-workers developed a Cu-catalyzed

Decarboxylative 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition of amino acids for the synthesis of heterocyclic compounds

• Xiaofeng Zhang,
• Xiaoming Ma and
• Wei Zhang

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 1677–1693, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.123

• with arylaldehydes are much less explored. The [3 + 2] adducts of α-amino acids could be used for a second [3 + 2] cycloaddition as well as for other post-condensation modifications. This article highlights our recent work on the development of α-amino acid-based [3 + 2] cycloaddition reactions of N–H

A new oxidatively stable ligand for the chiral functionalization of amino acids in Ni(II)–Schiff base complexes

• Alena V. Dmitrieva,
• Oleg A. Levitskiy,
• Yuri K. Grishin and
• Tatiana V. Magdesieva

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 566–574, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.41

• )) and includes a chiral auxiliary, an amino acid, and a bifunctional linker capable to arrange the components in the Schiff base complex. Such templates provide a significant C–H acidity at the α-amino acid carbon and a possibility for recycling of the chiral auxiliaries (for reviews see [5][14][15][16

• (RCysNi)L7 formed in the Michael addition reaction was confirmed using the NOESY spectrum. It is illustrated in Figure 1 for (oBrCysNi)L7 complex as the representative example. A correlation between the signal of the H-2 proton at the α-amino acid stereocenter with the signal of the ortho-protons of the

• benzyl fragment was observed. This indicated that H-2 is located on the same side of the nickel coordination plane as the benzyl substituent at the proline nitrogen atom, leading to the ʟ-configuration of the α-amino acid stereocenter. Notably, the major stereoisomer of all thiolated compounds (RCysNi)L7

Organocatalytic asymmetric nitroso aldol reaction of α-substituted malonamates

• Ekta Gupta,
• Narendra Kumar Vaishanv,
• Sandeep Kumar,
• Raja Krishnan Purshottam,
• Ruchir Kant and
• Kishor Mohanan

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2022, 18, 217–224, doi:10.3762/bjoc.18.25

• as a pro-nucleophile in an enantioselective addition reaction. The mild reaction conditions allow the use of various functionalized malonamates. Given the importance of highly functionalized α-amino acid derivatives, the present strategy could be useful in generating a wide range of α-oxyamino

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

• acylation product 123 initiated by an EDA complex. Mechanism of the synthesis of acylation product 123. Synthesis of trifluoromethylation product 126 initiated by an EDA complex. Synthesis of unnatural α-amino acid 129 initiated by an EDA complex. Synthesis of thioether derivative 132 initiated by an EDA

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

• tautomer 147, and the CPA-catalysed Povarov reaction between them gives the enantioenriched THQ 144 in good yields and enantioselectivities (4 examples, up to 97:3 er). This reactivity has been extended to enamides 148, with the imine generated from the α-amino acid 149 now reacting with 148 in a CPA

Fluorinated phenylalanines: synthesis and pharmaceutical applications

• Laila F. Awad and
• Mohammed Salah Ayoup

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 1022–1050, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.91

• ‑hydroxy-β-aminophenylalanine esters [75][76] 152a–d using XtalFluor-E. The reaction also included an aziridinium ion rearrangement as the key step. Deprotection of the resultant β-fluoro-α-amino acid esters 153a–d afforded the corresponding enantiopure anti-β-fluorophenylalanines 154a–d in good yield and

• affecting the newly introduced fluorine atom was attempted by a two-step, one-pot protocol involving an in situ esterification of a highly electrophilic pyridinium triflate intermediate [77] and afforded the anti-β-fluoro-α-amino acid methyl ester 160a in 52% yield and with 98.8% ee (Scheme 39). On the

Sugar-derived oxazolone pseudotetrapeptide as γ-turn inducer and anion-selective transporter

• Sachin S. Burade,
• Sushil V. Pawar,
• Tanmoy Saha,
• Navanath Kumbhar,
• Amol S. Kotmale,
• Manzoor Ahmad,
• Pinaki Talukdar and
• Dilip D. Dhavale

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2019, 15, 2419–2427, doi:10.3762/bjoc.15.234

• transporter for which an anion–anion antiport mechanism was established. Keywords: ion transport; oxazolone; peptidomimetics; pseudo-peptides; sugar amino acid; Introduction Tetrasubstituted α-amino acid (TAA)-derived peptidomimetics offer well-defined turn structures due to the presence of a

Recent advances in transition-metal-catalyzed incorporation of fluorine-containing groups

• Xiaowei Li,
• Xiaolin Shi,
• Xiangqian Li and
• Dayong Shi

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2019, 15, 2213–2270, doi:10.3762/bjoc.15.218

• (Scheme 10). Notably, this reaction used an air and moisture-stable chiral palladium complex as the catalyst, which worked well at low catalyst loading (as low as 0.5 mol %). In 2015, Shi et al. [47] introduced a Pd(II)/Pd(IV)-catalyzed fluorination of β-methylene C(sp3)–H bonds of α-amino acid

Synthesis of a novel category of pseudo-peptides using an Ugi three-component reaction of levulinic acid as bifunctional substrate, amines, and amino acid-based isocyanides

• Maryam Khalesi,
• Azim Ziyaei Halimehjani and
• Jürgen Martens

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2019, 15, 852–857, doi:10.3762/bjoc.15.82

• esterification of the α-amino acid using thionyl chloride in methanol as reagent and solvent. The second reaction is the formylation of the corresponding amino acid ester salt with ethyl formate in the presence of NaHCO3. Finally, the formamide group was transformed to the corresponding isocyanide 3 using POCl3

Synthesis of C₃-symmetric star-shaped molecules containing α-amino acids and dipeptides via Negishi coupling as a key step

• Sambasivarao Kotha and
• Saidulu Todeti

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2019, 15, 371–377, doi:10.3762/bjoc.15.33

• Sambasivarao Kotha Saidulu Todeti Department of Chemistry, Indian Institute of Technology-Bombay, Powai, Mumbai-400076, India, Fax: +91(22)-2572 7152 10.3762/bjoc.15.33 Abstract We demonstrate a new synthetic strategy toward star-shaped C3-symmetric molecules containing α-amino acid (AAA

Sigmatropic rearrangements of cyclopropenylcarbinol derivatives. Access to diversely substituted alkylidenecyclopropanes

• Guillaume Ernouf,
• Jean-Louis Brayer,
• Christophe Meyer and
• Janine Cossy

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2019, 15, 333–350, doi:10.3762/bjoc.15.29

• , various alkyl substituents could be present at the propargylic position in glycolates 64k–n which afforded the corresponding rearranged compounds 66k–n in moderate yields (40–61%, Scheme 23) [65]. With the goal of accessing α-amino acid derivatives incorporating an alkylidenecyclopropane, the Ireland

• synthesis of a wide variety of alkylidenecyclopropanes, substituted by heteroatoms (P, O, N, F) and/or incorporating valuable functional groups (α-alkoxy or α-amino acid derivatives) which are potentially useful for further functionalization. The reactivity of heterosubstituted/functionalized

Cross metathesis-mediated synthesis of hydroxamic acid derivatives

• Shital Kumar Chattopadhyay,
• Subhankar Ghosh and
• Suman Sil

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2018, 14, 3070–3075, doi:10.3762/bjoc.14.285

• important demonstration of the protocol is the preparation of the unusual amino acid component of the bioactive cyclic peptide Chap-31. Keywords: α-amino acid; catalysis; cross metathesis; hydroxamates; Introduction Cross-metathesis reactions (CM) have rapidly grown [1][2][3] to be a reliable method for

Green synthesis of new chiral 1-(arylamino)imidazo[2,1-a]isoindole-2,5-diones from the corresponding α-amino acid arylhydrazides in aqueous medium

• Nadia Bouzayani,
• Jamil Kraїem,
• Sylvain Marque,
• Yakdhane Kacem,
• Abel Carlin-Sinclair,
• Jérôme Marrot and
• Béchir Ben Hassine

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2018, 14, 2923–2930, doi:10.3762/bjoc.14.271

• -dione derivatives were obtained in good to excellent yields via the cyclocondensation of 2-formylbenzoic acid and various α-amino acid arylhydrazides using water as the solvent in the presence of sodium dodecyl sulfate as the surfactant and under simple and minimum manipulation, without purification

• directed toward the development of environmentally safe conditions for the synthesis of heterocyclic compounds starting from natural (L)-α-amino acids [19][20][21][22][23] and the reactivity of α-amino acid phenylhydrazides [24][25], we now report a green and eco-friendly procedure for the synthesis of new

• chiral 1-(arylamino)-1H-imidazo[2,1-a]isoindole-2,5(3H,9bH)-diones (Scheme 1). Results and Discussion Synthesis The starting (L)-α-amino acid arylhydrazides 3 were prepared in a manner similar to the well-known procedures [26][27][28], improving the amount of the added arylhydrazine 2 down to 2.5 equiv

Cobalt- and rhodium-catalyzed carboxylation using carbon dioxide as the C1 source

• Tetsuaki Fujihara and
• Yasushi Tsuji

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2018, 14, 2435–2460, doi:10.3762/bjoc.14.221

• . found the direct carboxylation reaction with CO2 under photo-irradiation reaction conditions [46]. Jamison et al. also reported the synthesis of α-amino acid derivatives using amine and CO2 [47]. Iwasawa disclosed the Pd-catalyzed carboxylation of aryl halides using CO2 in the presence of an Ir photo

Recent applications of chiral calixarenes in asymmetric catalysis

• Mustafa Durmaz,
• Erkan Halay and
• Selahattin Bozkurt

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2018, 14, 1389–1412, doi:10.3762/bjoc.14.117

• asymmetric alkylation of tert-butyl glycinate benzophenone Schiff base 3 with alkyl halides 4 in a toluene–50% KOH biphasic system (Scheme 1). The corresponding α-alkyl-α-amino acid derivatives 5 were obtained in excellent yields with very low enantioselectivities (up to 9%). This is the first example of

Mechanochemistry of nucleosides, nucleotides and related materials

• Olga Eguaogie,
• Joseph S. Vyle,
• Patrick F. Conlon,
• Manuela A. Gîlea and
• Yipei Liang

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2018, 14, 955–970, doi:10.3762/bjoc.14.81

• presence of L-tartaric after grinding the racemate [112]. Heinicke briefly summarised early investigations into potential prebiotic α-amino acid preparation under “tribochemical stress” in the presence of transition metals [113] and more recently, Hernández and co-workers demonstrated that an efficient

A Brønsted base-promoted diastereoselective dimerization of azlactones

• Danielle L. J. Pinheiro,
• Gabriel M. F. Batista,
• Pedro P. de Castro,
• Leonã S. Flores,
• Gustavo F. S. Andrade and
• Giovanni W. Amarante

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2017, 13, 2663–2670, doi:10.3762/bjoc.13.264

• -position of α-amino acid derivatives. To this end, different catalytic transformations involving azlactones have been established [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19]. For example, our research group has explored the potential of these heterocycles in the presence of Michael

Hydrolysis, polarity, and conformational impact of C-terminal partially fluorinated ethyl esters in peptide models

• Vladimir Kubyshkin and
• Nediljko Budisa

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2017, 13, 2442–2457, doi:10.3762/bjoc.13.241

• hydrolysis acceleration from the proximal lysine charge (9b, 10b vs 8b, factor ≈ 30) is lower than the α-NH2/NH3+ hydrolysis acceleration in the classical studies of α-amino acid esters (factor ≈ 100–150) [58]. The hydrolysis rate can thus be further tuned by changing the proximity of the positive charge to

Synthesis of 2-aminosuberic acid derivatives as components of some histone deacetylase inhibiting cyclic tetrapeptides

• Shital Kumar Chattopadhyay,
• Suman Sil and
• Jyoti Prasad Mukherjee

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2017, 13, 2153–2156, doi:10.3762/bjoc.13.214

• and the synthesis of peptides of biological relevance. Keywords: α-amino acid; catalysis; chiral pool; cross metathesis; cyclic peptides; Introduction α-Aminosuberic acid (Asu) is a component of apicidin F (1, Figure 1) belonging to an interesting class of cyclic tetrapeptides displaying

1-Imidoalkylphosphonium salts with modulated C_α–P⁺ bond strength: synthesis and application as new active α-imidoalkylating agents

• Jakub Adamek,
• Roman Mazurkiewicz,
• Anna Węgrzyk and
• Karol Erfurt

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2017, 13, 1446–1455, doi:10.3762/bjoc.13.142

•  1. Synthesis of 2-imidoalkanecarboxylic acids 6 from α-amino acids: The synthesis of 2-imidoalkanecarboxylic acids 6 was carried out based on the modified procedure described by McKenzie and Walker [32]. The corresponding α-amino acid (10 mmol) was heated with phthalic or succinic anhydride (11 mmol