Beyond symmetric self-assembly and effective molarity: unlocking functional enzyme mimics with robust organic cages

• Keith G. Andrews

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 421–443, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.30

• are linear molecules able to direct functionality toward each other in a relatively rigid pincer orientation. One example featuring a pair of antipodal carboxylic acids demonstrated acetal hydrolysis catalysis (Figure 3B) [110]. However, as linear molecules, the clefts are difficult to develop past

• triad (red) was hoped to activate the benzyl alcohol nucleophile, but it does not activate (polarize) the electrophile (substrate ester group). (B) One of Rebek’s “clefts” [108][109]. The rigidly organized carboxylic acids both bind the substrate and the transition state for hydrolysis of an acetal. (A

The effect of neighbouring group participation and possible long range remote group participation in O-glycosylation

• Rituparna Das and
• Balaram Mukhopadhyay

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 369–406, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.27

• could be orthogonally deprotected in the presence of a wide range of other protecting groups like acetyl, benzoyl, acetal, and methoxymethyl [131]. It has been even applied for the first total synthesis of telophiose A [132]. The stereoselectivity and yield obtained in the presence of the PhCar group

• glycoside in moderate 43% yield. However, a five-membered cyclic acetal 88 as the side product was obtained which led to the determination of the plausible mechanism involving participation of the alkoxymethyl group of the C-2 position (Scheme 15). Path A in Scheme 15 designates the expected participating

Synthesis of disulfides and 3-sulfenylchromones from sodium sulfinates catalyzed by TBAI

• Zhenlei Zhang,
• Ying Wang,
• Xingxing Pan,
• Manqi Zhang,
• Wei Zhao,
• Meng Li and
• Hao Zhang

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 253–261, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.17

• -hydroxyacetophenone and N,N-dimethylformamide dimethyl acetal (DMF-DMA) were reacted at 120 °C to give compound 3a, and without further isolation and purification, 1a, H2SO4 and TBAI were added directly to the reaction solution and the reaction was continued at 120 °C for 12 hours. In this way, the product 4a could

Streamlined modular synthesis of saframycin substructure via copper-catalyzed three-component assembly and gold-promoted 6-endo cyclization

• Asahi Kanno,
• Ryo Tanifuji,
• Satoshi Yoshida,
• Sota Sato,
• Saori Maki-Yonekura,
• Kiyofumi Takaba,
• Jungmin Kang,
• Kensuke Tono,
• Koji Yonekura and
• Hiroki Oguri

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 226–233, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.14

• coupling of alkyne 8, THIQ segment 9, and benzaldehyde would enable convergent assembly of the building blocks to produce 10 [43][44][45][46]. Removal of the cyclic acetal in 10 followed by Strecker-type conversion leading to an α-amino nitrile would enable tandem intramolecular cyclization with phenol to

• reaction involves an in situ generation of the iminium cation A followed by isomerization to the thermodynamically more stable iminium cation B. Subsequent nucleophilic attack of a copper acetylide enabled regioselective C–C bond formation at the C11 position. After removal of the cyclic acetal, the

4,6-Diaryl-5,5-difluoro-1,3-dioxanes as chiral dopants for liquid crystal compositions

• Maurice Médebielle,
• Peer Kirsch,
• Jérémy Merad,
• Carolina von Essen,
• Clemens Kühn and
• Andreas Ruhl

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 2940–2945, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.246

• potential chiral dopants. Our long-term goal would be to provide a structure–property relationship of this class of molecules by i) modification of the aryl and ii) and/or acetal moieties (Scheme 1) and to elucidate the possible role of fluorine on their physical properties, with comparison to their non

N-Glycosides of indigo, indirubin, and isoindigo: blue, red, and yellow sugars and their cancerostatic activity

• Peter Langer

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 2840–2869, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.240

• -galactose and subsequent perbenzoylation afforded an anomeric mixture (α:β = 87:13) of tribenzoyl-4,6-benzylidene-ᴅ-galactose from which the pure α-anomer 10a was separated (Scheme 6) [20]. Cleavage of the acetal and subsequent regioselective replacement of the hydroxy group OH-6 with an iodide by

Synthesis of tricarbonylated propargylamine and conversion to 2,5-disubstituted oxazole-4-carboxylates

• Kento Iwai,
• Akari Hikasa,
• Kotaro Yoshioka,
• Shinki Tani,
• Kazuto Umezu and
• Nagatoshi Nishiwaki

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 2827–2833, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.238

• ,O-acetal derived from diethyl mesoxalate (DEMO) undergoes elimination of acetic acid upon treatment with a base, leading to the formation of N-acylimine in situ. Lithium acetylide readily attacks the imino group to afford N,1,1-tricarbonylated propargylamines. When the resulting propargylamine

• nucleophiles to synthesize PCPAs, and their ring closures were also investigated. Results and Discussion NAI 2 can be generated by treating N,O-acetal 1 with a base, such as triethylamine. However, the addition of an amine was omitted because lithium acetylide functions both as nucleophile and base. When 1a

• -4200 spectrometer equipped with an ATM detector. High-resolution mass spectra (HRMS) were obtained with a Bruker compact mass spectrometer APCI–TOF set at positive mode. The melting point was measured on an SRS-OptiMelt automated melting point system. Preparation of N,O-acetal 1 In a manner analogous

Transition-metal-free synthesis of arylboronates via thermal generation of aryl radicals from triarylbismuthines in air

• Yuki Yamamoto,
• Yuki Konakazawa,
• Kohsuke Fujiwara and
• Akiya Ogawa

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 2577–2584, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.216

• resulted in the low conversion. This system could be applied to the unstable dimethyl acetal-substituted triphenylbismuthine 1f, and 3f was obtained in 51% yield. Interestingly, the use of triarylbismuthines 1i and 1j with strong electron-withdrawing groups such as trifluoromethyl and formyl groups was

Asymmetric organocatalytic synthesis of chiral homoallylic amines

• Nikolay S. Kondratyev and
• Andrei V. Malkov

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 2349–2377, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.201

• requires 18 hours (Scheme 16). A proposed catalytic cycle is shown in Scheme 17. In this reaction, the aromatic acetal 80 gives rise to a hydrogen-bonded triflate 82 and oxocarbenium ion 81. The latter quickly reacts with BocNH2 forming the ArCH=HN+-Boc iminium–triflate ion pair 83. Notably, the attack of

• . In the optimisation of the catalyst 78 structure, several important observations were made (Scheme 19). Replacing thiourea (91) as the H-bond donor unit with squaramide (93) or urea (92) did not affect the enantioselectivity of the allylation of the benzaldehyde-derived acetal. On the other hand

• the aromatic group of the substrate had a significant contribution to the stereoselectivity of the reaction. The reaction demonstrated a broad scope both in the acetal 98 and in the allylsilane (Scheme 20). A high enantioselectivity was achieved even with the non-aromatic 1-cyclohexene-1

Heterocycle-guided synthesis of m-hetarylanilines via three-component benzannulation

• Andrey R. Galeev,
• Maksim V. Dmitriev,
• Alexander S. Novikov and
• Andrey N. Maslivets

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 2208–2216, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.188

• condensation by introducing additional functional groups into the amine moiety (Figure 3). Substituted arylamines bearing alcohol (3ae), phenol (3ad), alkene (3bi), dimethyl acetal (3bj) functionality can be accessed in good yields. Reaction of 1,3-diketone 1a with a non-amidine type heterocyclic amine, 3

Natural resorcylic lactones derived from alternariol

• Joachim Podlech

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 2171–2207, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.187

Multicomponent syntheses of pyrazoles via (3 + 2)-cyclocondensation and (3 + 2)-cycloaddition key steps

• Ignaz Betcke,
• Alissa C. Götzinger,
• Maryna M. Kornet and
• Thomas J. J. Müller

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 2024–2077, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.178

• catalysis not only enables the synthesis of alkynones, but also facilitates the introduction of protected alkynal moieties, which can be converted to pyrazoles in a one-pot fashion. Sonogashira coupling is particularly well-suited for this purpose. The alkynylation of propynal diethyl acetal (140) and

• (hetero)aryl iodides gives rise to 3-arylalkynyl acetals 142. Since 3-arylpropynals are sensitive to oligo- and polymerization, it proved useful to perform acetal deprotection and cyclization with hydrazine hydrate in a one-pot procedure to give 3-substituted pyrazoles 141 (Scheme 48) [151]. Given that

Harnessing the versatility of hydrazones through electrosynthetic oxidative transformations

• Aurélie Claraz

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 1988–2004, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.175

• ’-dimethoxybenzilhydrazone (X = H, Cl). In these cases, the diazo compounds directly underwent both Wolff rearrangement and overoxidations to yield a mixture of the corresponding diphenyl acetal and benzil dimethyl acetal (akin to the conversion of 132 into 133 in Scheme 27), respectively (Scheme 29) [78]. Using a similar

The Groebke–Blackburn–Bienaymé reaction in its maturity: innovation and improvements since its 21st birthday (2019–2023)

• Cristina Martini,
• Muhammad Idham Darussalam Mardjan and
• Andrea Basso

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 1839–1879, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.162

• excellent yields (71–89%). Dömling et al. have used glyoxal dimethyl acetal as orthogonal bifunctional monoprotected aldehyde to synthetize GBB dimers as potential fluorophores. More details are given in chapter 5 [43]. The GBB reaction can be exploited also in the late-stage functionalization of natural

• Ganesher [57] reported the one-pot cascade synthesis of indole-imidazo[1,2,a]pyridine hybrids 61 (Scheme 23). In this study, the convertible isocyanide 1-isocyano-2-(2,2-dimethoxyethyl)benzene (59, Kobayashi–Wessjohann isocyanide) was utilized as one of the precursors in the GBB reaction. The acetal

Synthesis of polycyclic aromatic quinones by continuous flow electrochemical oxidation: anodic methoxylation of polycyclic aromatic phenols (PAPs)

• Hiwot M. Tiruye,
• Solon Economopoulos and
• Kåre B. Jørgensen

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 1746–1757, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.153

• trap the phenoxonium cation formed in the oxidation as an acetal, that later were hydrolysed to the quinone. Formation of hydrogen gas as the cathode reaction caused challenges in the flow cell and were overcome by recycling the reaction mixture through the cell at increased flow rate several times

• estitmation of the HOMO/LUMO energies to shed more light on this transformation. The easy separation of the supporting electrolyte from the product will allow recycling and makes this a green transformation. Keywords: acetal formation; cyclic voltammetry; flow electrochemistry; green oxidation; polycyclic

• , formed o-dimethoxylated products (Table 3). The oxidation of 2-naphthol (1a) to quinone acetal 2 by PhI(OAc)2 (PIDA) has been reported to provide yields ranging from 63% [48] to 76% [49], compared to 84% in our electrochemical oxidation that afforded 30 mg of 2 after 4 h (Table 3, entry 1). The

Challenge N- versus O-six-membered annulation: FeCl₃-catalyzed synthesis of heterocyclic N,O-aminals

• Giacomo Mari,
• Lucia De Crescentini,
• Gianfranco Favi,
• Fabio Mantellini,
• Diego Olivieri and
• Stefania Santeusanio

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 1412–1420, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.123

• -hydrazino form [17][24][25], we conceived the idea of reversing the reactivity of 4a–r in the six-membered cyclization process (N- vs O-annulation) through the generation of an electrophilic oxocarbenium [26][27] cation intermediate from the acetal residue at N-3 of the (thio)hydantoin core. To pursue our

• , in this case, the formation of carbinolamine 6a becomes predominant (45%), despite a small quantity of N,O-aminal 5j (14%) is also produced, by virtue of the alcohol released from the starting acetal 4j. Probably, the higher water concentration in acetonitrile shifts the equilibrium in favour of 6a

• over the time (Scheme 4). Within our proposed catalytic cycle, when compound 4j is utilized, methanol is released, due to the presence of a dimethyl acetal residue. Therefore, using molecular sieves (MS 4 Å) little alcohol molecules, such as MeOH, can be potentially trapped, allowing the insertion of a

Synthetic applications of the Cannizzaro reaction

• Bhaskar Chatterjee,
• Dhananjoy Mondal and
• Smritilekha Bera

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 1376–1395, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.120

• tetracyclic cage compound 51. Acetal opening in 51 afforded the keto-aldehyde 52 which underwent an intramolecular Cannizzaro reaction to give the trihydroxy acid 53, finally cyclizing to the lactone diol 54, elaboration of which led to the desired target (Scheme 18). An interesting application of the

• , formed the product 93 in 36–59% yield along with the overoxidized compound 95, and the dimer 94 as byproducts. However, upon reaction with methanol under acidic conditions, the product 93 and the dimer 94 underwent a smooth transformation to the methyl acetal in high yields. Similar exposure of the

Generation of alkyl and acyl radicals by visible-light photoredox catalysis: direct activation of C–O bonds in organic transformations

• Mithu Roy,
• Bitan Sardar,
• Itu Mallick and
• Dipankar Srimani

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 1348–1375, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.119

• breakdown of ethyl vinyl ether and trapping of ethanol, yielding radical 84. To regenerate the photocatalyst, PhSSPh functioned as an oxidant. After protonation upon the β-elimination step, PhS− contributed a hydrogen atom to both 83 and 84, alongside regeneration of the HAT catalyst. Lastly, the acetal

Domino reactions of chromones with activated carbonyl compounds

• Peter Langer

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 1256–1269, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.108

• electrophilicity. The products are finally generated by intramolecular formation of a semi-acetal. The yields were generally good (56–78%). The yields for pentafluoroethyl- and heptafluoropropyl-substituted derivatives were slightly better than the yields of trifluoromethyl-substituted derivatives which might be

Enantioselective synthesis of β-aryl-γ-lactam derivatives via Heck–Matsuda desymmetrization of N-protected 2,5-dihydro-1H-pyrroles

• Arnaldo G. de Oliveira Jr.,
• Martí F. Wang,
• Rafaela C. Carmona,
• Danilo M. Lustosa,
• Sergei A. Gorbatov and
• Carlos R. D. Correia

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 940–949, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.84

• presence of a methoxy group after the Heck–Matsuda reaction indicates methanolysis after arylation. Given the importance of the lactam rings, we envisioned a sequential Jones oxidation protocol without isolation of the methyl N,O-acetal products to obtain the corresponding lactams 4. As observed in

Skeletal rearrangement of 6,8-dioxabicyclo[3.2.1]octan-4-ols promoted by thionyl chloride or Appel conditions

• Martyn Jevric,
• Julian Klepp,
• Johannes Puschnig,
• Oscar Lamb,
• Christopher J. Sumby and
• Ben W. Greatrex

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 823–829, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.74

• the acetal in 3 and 6 to the neighbouring C4-position (Figure 1) [19][20]. A variety of products were reported resulting from fluorination as well as the skeletal rearrangement, with the reaction outcome highly substrate-dependent. A key finding in this work was that the configuration of the alcohol

• separated by 0.21 ppm. In the 13C NMR spectrum of 11a–f, a ≈10 ppm upfield shift for the chloroacetal was seen to δ ≈92 ppm from the C5 acetal present in the starting materials. Only a single diastereomer was formed for all 3,3-disubstituted rearrangement products due to the hindrance on the endo-face, with

• 18 containing an exocyclic alkene was subjected to the reaction conditions, a mixture of benzylic chlorides (20) was formed in low yields, and trace amounts of the allylic chloride 19 was also isolated, the materials differentiated on the basis of the coupling of the acetal H5 with the respective

A laterally-fused N-heterocyclic carbene framework from polysubstituted aminoimidazo[5,1-b]oxazol-6-ium salts

• Andrew D. Gillie,
• Matthew G. Wakeling,
• Bethan L. Greene,
• Louise Male and
• Paul W. Davies

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 621–627, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.54

• type (Scheme 1a, path a). However, attempts to form the desired imidazolium ring from 3 using triethyl orthoformate and different additives were unsuccessful. Similarly, an imine precursor 6, prepared in high yields by synthesising the known acetal-bearing oxazole 5 [21] and reacting it with 2,6

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

• acetaldehyde dimethyl acetal as a masked form of acetaldehyde, which is hydrolyzed in situ, allowing for a higher product yield and fewer byproducts [15]. The group of Müller describes an elegant consecutive four-component reaction involving an alkynylation–cyclization–iodination–alkylation sequence toward

Synthesis of the 3’-O-sulfated TF antigen with a TEG-N₃ linker for glycodendrimersomes preparation to study lectin binding

• Mark Reihill,
• Hanyue Ma,
• Dennis Bengtsson and
• Stefan Oscarson

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 173–180, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.17

• -butylsilyl-4,6-acetal-protected donor, as developed by the Kiso group [13][14], was chosen. After some initial testing the known N-Troc-protected donor 3 [15][16] (Scheme 1) was selected [17]. Since donor 3 possessed a Troc group, which contains 3 chlorine atoms, nucleophilic introduction of an azido group

• 10 furnished target 1 in a 90% yield. Formation of a stannylidene acetal via tin-activation was employed to achieve selective 3’-O-sulfation of compound 1 [27], with a variety of conditions being attempted (Table 1). With a TEG-N3 lactose compound, tin-activation was performed with Bu2SnO in

N-Sulfenylsuccinimide/phthalimide: an alternative sulfenylating reagent in organic transformations

• Fatemeh Doraghi,
• Seyedeh Pegah Aledavoud,
• Mehdi Ghanbarlou,
• Bagher Larijani and
• Mohammad Mahdavi

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 1471–1502, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.106

• of polarized ketene-N,O-acetal to the alkyne β-carbon and trapping of the sulfonium cation at the alkyne-α-carbon afforded 5-(arylthio)-3,6-dihydropyridin-2(1H)-one 148. The coordination of a sulfonium electrophile to the C–C triple bond of 1-I occurred through cyclopropyl intermediate 1-I. The