Enantioselective desymmetrization strategy of prochiral 1,3-diols in natural product synthesis

• Lihua Wei,
• Rui Yang,
• Zhifeng Shi and
• Zhiqiang Ma

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 1932–1963, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.151

• -catalyzed and Zn-catalyzed acylation reactions. Cu-catalyzed acylation In 2008, Kang and co-workers demonstrated the first use of Cu-catalyzed enantioselective acylation [57][58] in the synthesis of ʟ-cladinose (Scheme 18) [59]. In the presence of catalyst 128, triol 127, prepared from compound 126 in two

• , synthesis of the third fragment 146 was then pursued and further elaborated to complete the synthesis of azithromycin (Scheme 20). Triol 141 was first prepared in two steps from iodide 140. Subsequent Cu-catalyzed desymmetrization with catalyst 129, benzoyl chloride (BzCl) and Et3N, enabled the synthesis of

• , Ma and co-workers accomplished their synthesis of (+)-alstrostine G with a Cu-catalyzed asymmetric desymmetrization as the key step (Scheme 25) [67]. Diol 192 with a 1,1-disubstituted tetrahydro-β-carboline (THBC) core was prepared from tryptamine derivative 191 via a two-step sequence comprising a

Research progress on calixarene/pillararene-based controlled drug release systems

• Liu-Huan Yi,
• Jian Qin,
• Si-Ran Lu,
• Liu-Pan Yang,
• Li-Li Wang and
• Huan Yao

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 1757–1785, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.139

• Cu-catalyzed click chemistry to construct a photo-responsive macroscopic switch. This switch can achieve photo-controlled chiral reversible recognition of (1R,2S)-1-amino-2-indanol through changes in contact angle, and it holds promise for applications in chiral drug controlled release and other

Azide–alkyne cycloaddition (click) reaction in biomass-derived solvent Cyrene^TM under one-pot conditions

• Zoltán Medgyesi and
• László T. Mika

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 1544–1551, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.117

• results reported by Citarella et al. [39], excellent functional group tolerance was verified and the isolated yields are in the same range as reported by Citarella et al. (for 3a, 90% [39] and 87% [39]). It should be noted that no Cu-catalyzed Glaser-coupling of acetylenes [45] was observed, indicating

Recent advances in synthetic approaches for bioactive cinnamic acid derivatives

• Betty A. Kustiana,
• Galuh Widiyarti and
• Teni Ernawati

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 1031–1086, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.85

• been successfully done for this method. Similarly, Hou and co-workers (2022) also used CO2 to carry out an auto-tandem Cu-catalyzed carboxylation of styrenes via β-hydride elimination (208) (Scheme 60B) [104]. Impressively, several natural product-like compounds (e.g., 207) were successfully prepared

• cinnamate (44). The reaction is catalyzed by Cu(I) and 4,4’-dimethyl-2,2’-bipyridine as the ligand and proceeds via organocopper intermediate 212 followed by carbonate 213 formation (Scheme 61B) [106]. In addition, a gram scale reaction has been smoothly conducted. Yu and co-workers (2019) reported a Cu

• -catalyzed carboxylation of gem-difluoroalkenes with CO2 to give the corresponding α-fluoro methyl cinnamates 214–217 via transmetallation and carboxylation (219 and 218) (Scheme 62A) [107]. The thus-obtained α-fluorocinnamic acid was successfully converted into the bioactive compounds 220 and 221. In

Silver(I) triflate-catalyzed post-Ugi synthesis of pyrazolodiazepines

• Muhammad Hasan,
• Anatoly A. Peshkov,
• Syed Anis Ali Shah,
• Andrey Belyaev,
• Chang-Keun Lim,
• Shunyi Wang and
• Vsevolod A. Peshkov

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 915–925, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.74

• employed the U4CR of ortho-halogenated benzaldehydes 7, primary amines 2, 3-substituted propiolic acids 8, and isocyanides 4 to synthesize propargylamides 9. These propargylic Ugi adducts 9 were subsequently subjected to a Cu-catalyzed tandem azide–alkyne cycloaddition/Ullmann coupling resulting in the

Cu–Bpin-mediated dimerization of 4,4-dichloro-2-butenoic acid derivatives enables the synthesis of densely functionalized cyclopropanes

• Patricia Gómez-Roibás,
• Andrea Chaves-Pouso and
• Martín Fañanás-Mastral

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 877–883, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.71

• mechanism for the Cu-catalyzed dimerization of 4,4-dichoro-2-butenoic acid derivatives. a) KOt-Bu-mediated intramolecular cyclization of 9. b) Direct formation of cyclopropane 20 from gem-dichloride 5 using KOt-Bu as base. Optimization studies. Synthesis of densely functionalized (2,2-dichlorovinyl

Regioselective formal hydrocyanation of allenes: synthesis of β,γ-unsaturated nitriles with α-all-carbon quaternary centers

• Seeun Lim,
• Teresa Kim and
• Yunmi Lee

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 800–806, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.63

• in 85% and 93% yield, respectively. Unfortunately, the 1,1,3-trialkyl-substituted allene 1aa was not suitable for Cu-catalyzed hydroalumination under the established conditions, resulting in less than 2% conversion to allylaluminum reagents. In a previous study on the electrophilic cyanation of

Copper-catalyzed domino cyclization of anilines and cyclobutanone oxime: a scalable and versatile route to spirotetrahydroquinoline derivatives

• Qingqing Jiang,
• Xinyi Lei,
• Pan Gao and
• Yu Yuan

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 749–754, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.58

• conditions, we proceeded to investigate the generality of this Cu-catalyzed system. Initially, a series of anilines bearing diverse substituents was examined, and the results are summarized in Scheme 2. When copper(II) trifluoroacetate was employed as the catalyst, para-halogen-substituted anilines 1b–e

• cyclopentanone oxime (2f), cyclohexanone oxime (2g), or azetidinone oxime (2h) were employed as alternative substrates to cyclobutanone oxime, the corresponding spirotetrahydroquinoline products were not observed. To showcase the practical utility of our Cu-catalyzed spirotetrahydroquinoline formation process

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

• stoichiometric quantities of a copper reagent [3]. This pioneering work, known as the “classical Ullmann reaction”, was extended by Ullmann and Goldberg to enable the C–N and C–O bond formation [4][5][6]. Subsequently, key developments in Cu-catalyzed cross-coupling reactions were achieved, including the

• ], however, no comprehensive review focusing on Cu-catalyzed electrochemistry has been reported to date. Copper catalysts are potential candidates for pharmaceutical applications owing to their abundance, low cost, and lower toxicity compared with noble transition metals such as palladium [39]. In terms of

• catalysis to organic synthesis, focusing on recent developments in Cu-catalyzed electrochemical reaction categorized into four types: 1) C–H functionalization, 2) olefin addition, 3) decarboxylative functionalization, and 4) coupling reactions (Figure 3). This review aims to provide insight into the

Synthesis of the 1,5-disubstituted tetrazole-methanesulfonylindole hybrid system via high-order multicomponent reaction

• Cesia M. Aguilar-Morales,
• América A. Frías-López,
• Nadia V. Emilio-Velázquez,
• Alejandro Islas-Jácome,
• Angelica Judith Granados-López,
• Jorge Gustavo Araujo-Huitrado,
• Yamilé López-Hernández,
• Hiram Hernández-López,
• Luis Chacón-García,
• Jesús Adrián López and
• Carlos J. Cortés-García

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 3077–3084, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.256

• , 98160, México 10.3762/bjoc.20.256 Abstract A series of 1,5-disubstituted tetrazole-indole hybrids were synthesized via a high-order multicomponent reaction consisting of an Ugi-azide/Pd/Cu-catalyzed hetero-annulation cascade sequence. This operationally simple one-pot protocol allowed high bond-forming

• synthesis of a novel bis-heterocyclic hybrid, 1,5-disubstituted-tetrazole-indoles. The compounds were achieved through a high-order multicomponent reaction consisting of two sequential processes: an Ugi-azide reaction and a further Pd/Cu-catalyzed heteroannulation (Scheme 1d). Results and Discussion Our

• -heterocyclic system [23], involves a two-step sequence starting with an Ugi-azide multicomponent reaction, followed by a Pd/Cu-catalyzed heteroannulation process, as depicted in Scheme 2. Conditions for the Ugi-azide reaction were optimized based on our recent findings, i.e., the reaction was performed in

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

• in Kwon’s review [34]. Cu-catalyzed oxygen atom transfer with TBHP were discussed in the review [35]. The review by Xiao considered visible light-driven C–C bond cleavage enabled with organic peroxides [36]. This comprehensive review summarizes all ever published studies on radical peroxidation with

• intermediate D and on to product 95. Difunctionalization of unsaturated С–С bonds with ROO fragment With C-containing second component Alkyl fragment: The first example of the alkylation–peroxidation of C=C double bonds using TBHP and C–H as partner has been reported in 1995 on the example of Cu-catalyzed

• aid of the ortho-directing group to give the palladium intermediate B, which undergoes reductive elimination to establish the C−C bond. A Cu-catalyzed difunctionalization of styrenes 211 with TBHP and N-hydroxyphthalimide (NHPI) (212) as sources of O-functional groups was reported (Scheme 66) [135

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

• –heteroatom bonds vicinal to alkenyl or alkynyl groups, which are highly valuable for downstream synthesis. At present, unstabilized nucleophiles [33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46][47][48][49][50][51] are commonly used in Cu-catalyzed allylic substitutions because of the inner-sphere

• mechanism and relatively harsh reaction conditions such as anhydrous, anaerobic, and low temperatures are usually required (Scheme 1a). Therefore, using stabilized nucleophiles in Cu-catalyzed allylic substitutions is a tremendous challenge. On the other hand, since the pioneering work of van Maarseveen [52

• ] and Nishibayashi [53] groups in 2008, Cu-catalyzed asymmetric propargylic substitutions have made significant progress [54][55][56][57][58][59][60]. The protocol allows the use of stabilized nucleophiles via the outer-sphere mechanism, and the copper allenylidene intermediate formed by copper and

Improved deconvolution of natural products’ protein targets using diagnostic ions from chemical proteomics linkers

• Andreas Wiest and
• Pavel Kielkowski

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 2323–2341, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.199

• bearing an affinity or reporter tag. To carry out this bioorthogonal reaction well-known chemistries were developed including traceless Staudinger ligation, Cu-catalyzed azide–alkyne cycloaddition (CuAAC), strain-promoted azide–alkyne cycloaddition (SPAAC), inverse electron-demand Diels–Alder reaction

Synthesis of 2-benzyl N-substituted anilines via imine condensation–isoaromatization of (E)-2-arylidene-3-cyclohexenones and primary amines

• Lu Li,
• Na Li,
• Xiao-Tian Mo,
• Ming-Wei Yuan,
• Lin Jiang and
• Ming-Long Yuan

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 1468–1475, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.130

• are not always readily accessible. Typically, the preparation methods involve SNAr reactions with N-centered nucleophiles [5], nitroarene reduction [6] and transition metal (e.g., Pd, Cu)-catalyzed C–N cross coupling of aryl halides, aryl sulfonates or arylboronic acid reagents with ammonia or NH

Carbonylative synthesis and functionalization of indoles

• Alex De Salvo,
• Raffaella Mancuso and
• Xiao-Feng Wu

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 973–1000, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.87

• hexaketocyclohexane octahydrate as the CO source again. This cyclic hexaketone is a non-toxic stable solid and therefore, it is simple and safe to use unlike of carbon monoxide. It was used as reagent to obtain indol-α-ketoesters by the Cu-catalyzed direct double-carbonylation of indoles and alcohols [76]. The

• -3-yl aryl ketones reported by Zhao and co-workers [73] (path a) and Zhang and co-workers [74] (path b). Pd-catalyzed carbonylative synthesis of BIMs from aryl iodides and N-substituted and NH-free indoles with of TFBen as CO source. Cu-catalyzed direct double-carbonylation and monocarbonylation of

Three-component N-alkenylation of azoles with alkynes and iodine(III) electrophile: synthesis of multisubstituted N-vinylazoles

• Jun Kikuchi,
• Roi Nakajima and
• Naohiko Yoshikai

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 891–897, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.79

• Suzuki–Miyaura and Sonogashira couplings on 4aa or 4ba afforded the desired products 5 and 6 in 47% and 74% yields, respectively. In the former case, the C–Br bond on the pyrazole moiety remained intact, highlighting the superior leaving group ability of the BX group. Cu-catalyzed Ullmann coupling

Mechanisms for radical reactions initiating from N-hydroxyphthalimide esters

• Carlos R. Azpilcueta-Nicolas and
• Jean-Philip Lumb

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 346–378, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.35

• substrate and participating in the key bond-forming/breaking steps via substrate–TM interactions [73][74]. This paradigm has been employed in the activation of NHPI esters under photoinduced copper (Cu) and palladium (Pd) catalysis. In 2017, Peters and Fu reported a Cu-catalyzed decarboxylative C(sp3)–N

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

• , 76–86% yields) provided better chemical yields in this reaction compared with those containing electron-donating groups (4b–e, 31–84% yields). For the case with a strong electron-donating group (methoxy, 3g) only traces of 4g were produced. Besides benzoic acid, the current Cu-catalyzed reaction was

• ][40][41][58][59], a possible mechanism for this Cu-catalyzed reaction of β-trifluoromethyl β-amino esters was proposed in Scheme 4. Initially, β-trifluoromethyl β-amino ester 1a reacts with tert-butyl nitrite to form trifluoromethylated β-carbonyl diazo intermediate A. Then, the diazo intermediate A

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

• under the catalysis of AcOH at 110 °C for 6 h afforded the monocycloaddition product 19a in 93% LC yield [71]. The isolated compound 19a was used for an N-propargylation to produce compound 20a in 94% LC yield. The following Cu-catalyzed click reaction afforded triazolobenzodiazepine 21a in 88% LC yield

Application of N-heterocyclic carbene–Cu(I) complexes as catalysts in organic synthesis: a review

• Nosheen Beig,
• Varsha Goyal and
• Raj K. Bansal

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 1408–1442, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.102

• site-selective NHC–Cu-catalyzed hydroboration of enantiomerically enriched allenes and conversion to the corresponding β-vinyl ketones demonstrates the importance of the strategy. An example is shown below (Scheme 44). 2.2.4 Reaction with organozinc reagents: Organozinc reagents, such as diethylzinc

• heterocyclic compounds with CO2 resulting in higher yields than those obtained with the imidazolylidene carbene ligand, IPr (Scheme 70). 2.7 C(sp2)–H Alkenylation and allylation In 2016, Chang and co-worker [93] achieved an NHCs–Cu-catalyzed efficient C(sp2)–H allylation of polyfluoroarenes 183 and

• conversion occurred using either Pd–NHC or Cu–NHC alone. 2.9 C(sp2)–H amidation Chang and co-workers [96] reported an NHC–Cu-catalyzed direct amidation of C–H bonds by using N-chlorocarbamates or N-chloro-N-sodiocarbamates as amino source. In this mechanism, a copper–aryl intermediate reacts with the

Non-noble metal-catalyzed cross-dehydrogenation coupling (CDC) involving ether α-C(sp³)–H to construct C–C bonds

• Hui Yu and
• Feng Xu

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 1259–1288, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.94

• . Route b: the α-C(sp3)–H bonds are activated by a combination of transition metals and radical initiators to give the alkyl radicals, which are coupled with other radical receptors to afford the target product. Cu-catalyzed reactions Copper (common oxidation states are +I, +II and +III) has a

• Cu-catalyzed oxidative coupling reactions [43]. However, due to complex mechanisms, Cu-catalyzed C–H functionalization reactions developed only slowly in the last decade. Since recently the Cu-catalyzed oxidative coupling has emerged as a powerful synthetic strategy due to the development of CDC

• triggers the whole coupling reaction. The potential application of NHIP as a catalyst for oxidative coupling reactions with oxygen as a terminal oxidant was explored. In 2011, Garcia-Mancheño et al. developed a Cu-catalyzed CDC of cyclic benzyl ethers 10 with aliphatic or α,β-unsaturated aldehydes 13 or 14

Asymmetric tandem conjugate addition and reaction with carbocations on acylimidazole Michael acceptors

• Brigita Mudráková,
• Renata Marcia de Figueiredo,
• Jean-Marc Campagne and
• Radovan Šebesta

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 881–888, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.65

• construction of stereogenic centers using polar organometallics [1]. In this way, 1,4-additions of typical organometallics such as dialkylzinc, Grignard reagents, and trialkylaluminum have been developed [2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9]. Recently, also Cu-catalyzed conjugate additions of organozirconium [10][11] or

Pyridine C(sp²)–H bond functionalization under transition-metal and rare earth metal catalysis

• Haritha Sindhe,
• Malladi Mounika Reddy,
• Karthikeyan Rajkumar,
• Akshay Kamble,
• Amardeep Singh,
• Anand Kumar and
• Satyasheel Sharma

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 820–863, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.62

• . Except lately, in 2020, Chen and group [82] reported a Pd/Cu-catalyzed regio- and stereoselective synthesis of C2-alkenylated pyridines starting from internal alkynes 84 and pyridinium salts in a stereodivergent manner (Scheme 17a). The interesting part of this work was the switching of the alkene

• organoboron coupling partners, Wu and co-workers [91] reported a protocol for the Cu-catalyzed C–H arylation of pyridine N-oxides 9 with arylboronic esters 114 and prepared C2-arylated pyridines 115 in moderate to good yields (Scheme 22). By using an inexpensive Cu catalyst, the method allows for the simple

Enolates ambushed – asymmetric tandem conjugate addition and subsequent enolate trapping with conventional and less traditional electrophiles

• Péter Kisszékelyi and
• Radovan Šebesta

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 593–634, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.44

• azetidines 19 were also synthesized using this methodology (Scheme 5b). Nitronate anions were also found suitable for Mannich-type trapping reactions [28][29]. Anderson and co-workers accomplished several Cu-catalyzed conjugate additions of R2Zn to nitroolefins 20, followed by subsequent reaction with p

• asymmetric conjugate addition. The magnesium enolates 56 then participated in a copper(II)-mediated intramolecular oxidative coupling to afford benzofused spirocyclic cycloalkanones 57 (Scheme 14) [45]. Our team became interested in domino reactions of metal enolates generated by Cu-catalyzed asymmetric

• participated in the Cu-catalyzed homoconjugate addition of Grignard reagents and subsequent enolate trapping to give densely functionalized cyclobutanes 77 with high diastereoselectivity (Scheme 20). The enolates were alkylated, allylated, benzylated, benzoylated, and thienylated. Minnaard and co-workers

Transition-metal-catalyzed domino reactions of strained bicyclic alkenes

• Austin Pounder,
• Eric Neufeld,
• Peter Myler and
• William Tam

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 487–540, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.38

• final ring-opened adduct 37. Copper-catalyzed reactions In 2009, Pineschi and co-workers explored the Cu-catalyzed rearrangement/allylic alkylation of 2,3-diazabicyclo[2.2.1]heptenes 47 with Grignard reagents 48 (Scheme 8) [41]. The reaction is thought to proceed via the Lewis acid-catalyzed [3,4

• success of the reaction, hypothesizing it inhibited the classical [3,3]-sigmatropic Lewis acid-catalyzed rearrangement often observed. Both alkyl and aryl Grignard reagents were amenable to the reaction; however, heteroaryl Grignard reagents resulted in poor conversion. The Cu-catalyzed borylative

• intercepted by an electrophile to generate the difunctionalized system. This methodology has been applied several times to strained bicyclic alkenes with a variety of electrophiles. In 2015, Hirano and Miura developed a Cu-catalyzed aminoboration of bicyclic alkenes 1 with bis(pinacolato)diboron (B2pin2) (53