Total syntheses of highly oxidative Ryania diterpenoids facilitated by innovations in synthetic strategies

• Zhi-Qi Cao,
• Jin-Bao Qiao and
• Yu-Ming Zhao

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 2553–2570, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.198

• adduct was subjected to AgOTf-catalyzed lactonization to successfully construct the D ring of target molecular framework. Next, a 1,4-addition reaction introduced a vinyl group to compound 68, affording compound 70. A Pauson–Khand cyclization of 70 under [RhCl(CO)2]2/CO conditions smoothly furnished the

• hemiacetalization to construct the oxa[3.2.1]-bridged ring system, thereby forming the D and E rings. Subsequently, the introduction of a tertiary hydroxy thiocarbonate at C11 afforded compound 38. Under thermal conditions, 38 underwent smooth introduction of an allyl fragment via intermolecular radical addition

• reaction with allyltributylstannane, yielding compound 40. After isomerization of the C11 allyl double bond and introduction of a C6 isobutenyl group, the resulting diene 42 underwent RCM catalyzed by the Hoveyda–Grubbs catalyst to form the pentacyclic skeleton 43, thus completing the C ring of the natural

Ni-promoted reductive cyclization cascade enables a total synthesis of (+)-aglacin B

• Si-Chen Yao,
• Jing-Si Cao,
• Jian Xiao,
• Ya-Wen Wang and
• Yu Peng

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 2548–2552, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.197

• Abstract The total synthesis of bioactive (+)-aglacin B was achieved. The key steps include an asymmetric conjugate addition reaction induced by a chiral auxiliary and a nickel-promoted reductive tandem cyclization of the elaborated β-bromo acetal, which led to the efficient construction of the

Halogenated butyrolactones from the biomass-derived synthon levoglucosenone

• Johannes Puschnig,
• Martyn Jevric and
• Ben W. Greatrex

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 2297–2301, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.175

• between was biased to 16 and not 5, gave full consumption of the starting material in 2 hours and the fluorinated product 7c was obtained in 18% yield. Attempts to combine the methanol addition reaction and the fluorination starting with LGO proceeding through 16 were unsuccessful. Although the yield was

Bioinspired total syntheses of natural products: a personal adventure

• Zhengyi Qin,
• Yuting Yang,
• Nuran Yan,
• Xinyu Liang,
• Zhiyu Zhang,
• Yaxuan Duan,
• Huilin Li and
• Xuegong She

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 2048–2061, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.160

• benzylic oxidation to generate a para-quinone methide (pQM) intermediate. Using fusarentin 6-methyl ether as an example, pQM intermediate 10 would be generated. The C10 alcohol should successively undergo an oxa-Michael addition reaction to close the THF ring, providing 7-O-demethylmonocerin. Similarly

• powerful synthetic approach. By utilizing the concept of bioinspired total synthesis, our group has achieved the total synthesis of chabranol through a Lewis acid-promoted double cyclization, total synthesis of natural products of the monocerin-family through a benzylic oxidation and oxa-Michael addition

• reaction, total synthesis of (12-OMe-)tabertinggine converted it into other iboga alkaloids through skeletal diversifications, total synthesis of gymnothelignans of diverse skeletons through acid-promoted Friedel–Crafts cyclization, and the total synthesis of sarglamides through an endo-selective Diels

Measuring the stereogenic remoteness in non-central chirality: a stereocontrol connectivity index for asymmetric reactions

• Ivan Keng Wee On,
• Yu Kun Choo,
• Sambhav Baid and
• Ye Zhu

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 1995–2006, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.155

• they do not share a common path. Typically, in stereoselective reactions involving central chirality, the proximity between the site of reaction and the points of stereo-differentiation means that the indices [ij] are expected to have small values. In general, j = 0 in the index [ij] of an addition

• reaction to two prochiral faces of a planar substrate, where the prostereogenic carbon is part of the reaction site. However, this is not always the case, particularly in remote desymmetrization reactions [2][3][4][5][6][7][8]. For instance, the catalytic desymmetrization of phosphine oxides [9] will be

Chiral phosphoric acid-catalyzed asymmetric synthesis of helically chiral, planarly chiral and inherently chiral molecules

• Wei Liu and
• Xiaoyu Yang

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 1864–1889, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.145

• novel inherently chiral ligands have been explored. For example, they demonstrated excellent enantioselectivity control in some asymmetric reactions, such as the Rh/diphosphine ligand 66-catalyzed asymmetric addition reaction between cyclic enone and arylboronic acid. In 2024, our group reported the

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

• –carbon double bond in a certain molecular structure could allow for efficient subsequent functionalization via, for example, an addition reaction, opening possibilities for building even more complex molecular skeletons involving 1,2,3-triazole units. Using allyl bromide in the reaction sequence results

Recent advances in amidyl radical-mediated photocatalytic direct intermolecular hydrogen atom transfer

• Hao-Sen Wang,
• Lin Li,
• Xin Chen,
• Jian-Li Wu,
• Kai Sun,
• Xiao-Lan Chen,
• Ling-Bo Qu and
• Bing Yu

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 1306–1323, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.100

• (Scheme 2) [70]. Through a similar oxidative pathway, amidyl radical 13 was generated directly from the amide HRP-2, facilitating a smooth HAT process with substrate 1 while simultaneously regenerating HRP-2. The resulting radical 4 then participated in an addition reaction with radical anion 15. The

Recent advances and future challenges in the bottom-up synthesis of azulene-embedded nanographenes

• Bartłomiej Pigulski

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 1272–1305, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.99

• constructed by condensation of dialdehyde 160 with compounds 161–163 yielding diketones 164–166. Next, diketones 164–166 were subjected to nucleophilic addition reaction by lithiated triisopropylsilyl (TIPS) acetylene, followed by SnCl2-mediated reduction of the intermediate diols. Finally, azulene-embedded

Synthetic approach to borrelidin fragments: focus on key intermediates

• Yudhi Dwi Kurniawan,
• Zetryana Puteri Tachrim,
• Teni Ernawati,
• Faris Hermawan,
• Ima Nurasiyah and
• Muhammad Alfin Sulmantara

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 1135–1160, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.91

• , successfully processing up to 15 g of starting material. Compound 93 was reduced to its corresponding aldehyde using DIBAL-H, followed by Horner–Wadsworth–Emmons (HWE) olefination with (EtO)2P(O)CH2COSEt, resulting in the unsaturated thioester 95. Reapplying the 1,4-addition reaction conditions to 95 produced

• using cross-metathesis In 2008, Iqbal and co-workers conducted a synthetic study in which they successfully synthesized the C3–C17 fragment of borrelidin using a cross-metathesis reaction [35]. In the retrosynthesis, compound 132, representing the synthetic target, was realized through an addition

• reaction of a Grignard reagent derived from 133 to the aldehyde counterpart (Scheme 20). Compound 133 was prepared via a cross-metathesis reaction of 2-bromohexa-2,4-dienenitrile 134 and a selection of alkenes. Iqbal noted from the literature that cyano alkenes, such as acrylonitrile, predominantly yielded

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

Development and mechanistic studies of calcium–BINOL phosphate-catalyzed hydrocyanation of hydrazones

• Carola Tortora,
• Christian A. Fischer,
• Sascha Kohlbauer,
• Alexandru Zamfir,
• Gerd M. Ballmann,
• Jürgen Pahl,
• Sjoerd Harder and
• Svetlana B. Tsogoeva

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 755–765, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.59

• achieved by reacting 11 with stoichiometric reagent TMSCN (8). This "reloads" calcium with cyanide and replaces TMS-bound isolated product 12 from the metal complex and in which silicon, rather than calcium, is bound to the carbonyl oxygen. The addition reaction itself is rather exothermic (Figure 3) and

Asymmetric synthesis of β-amino cyanoesters with contiguous tetrasubstituted carbon centers by halogen-bonding catalysis with chiral halonium salt

• Yasushi Yoshida,
• Maho Aono,
• Takashi Mino and
• Masami Sakamoto

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 547–555, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.43

• developed chiral halonium salts and applied them to asymmetric reactions such as vinylogous Mannich reactions of cyanomethylcoumarins 6 with isatin-derived ketimines 7 [33][35] and 1,2-addition reaction of thiols to ketimine [34], which formed the corresponding products 8 in high yields with high to

Vinylogous functionalization of 4-alkylidene-5-aminopyrazoles with methyl trifluoropyruvates

• Judit Hostalet-Romero,
• Laura Carceller-Ferrer,
• Gonzalo Blay,
• Amparo Sanz-Marco,
• José R. Pedro and
• Carlos Vila

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 533–540, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.41

• Judit Hostalet-Romero Laura Carceller-Ferrer Gonzalo Blay Amparo Sanz-Marco Jose R. Pedro Carlos Vila Departament de Química Orgànica, Facultat de Química, Universitat de València, Dr Moliner 50, 46100 Burjassot, València, Spain 10.3762/bjoc.21.41 Abstract A valuable vinylogous addition reaction

• properties along a C=C double bond [1]. This effect has been established to be very advantageous to expand the range of reactions of different functional groups that can be coupled efficiently through a conjugated π-system. In this context, the addition reaction of vinylogous nucleophiles to carbonyl

• functionalization of 5-aminopyrazoles [26], we decided to study 4-alkenyl-5-aminopyrazoles as nucleophiles in the vinylogous addition reaction to electrophiles. Herein, we report the regioselective and diastereoselective functionalization of 4-cyclohexenyl-5-aminopyrazoles using alkyl trifluoropyruvates [27][28][29

Organocatalytic kinetic resolution of 1,5-dicarbonyl compounds through a retro-Michael reaction

• James Guevara-Pulido,
• Fernando González-Pérez,
• José M. Andrés and
• Rafael Pedrosa

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 473–482, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.34

• organometallic catalysis [15], enzymatic catalysis [16], aminocatalysis [17][18][19], and hydrogen-bonding catalysis [20][21][22]. The Michael addition reaction is a versatile synthetic methodology that allows the formation of new carbon–carbon and carbon–heteroatom bonds through the coupling of electron-poor

• organocatalyzed kinetic resolution of 1,5-dicarbonyl compounds prepared by a Michael addition reaction has been described. The concentration of the reaction mixture significantly affects the retro-Michael process, achieving higher enantioselectivity in dilute solutions. The enantioselectivity also depends on the

Reactivity of hypervalent iodine(III) reagents bearing a benzylamine with sulfenate salts

• Beatriz Dedeiras,
• Catarina S. Caldeira,
• José C. Cunha,
• Clara S. B. Gomes and
• M. Manuel B. Marques

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 3281–3289, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.272

• lengths and angles fall within the expected range for similar compounds [31]. Later, the β-sulfinyl esters 4 were prepared by Michael addition reaction of thiols and α,β-unsaturated esters [32], followed by oxidation of the corresponding sulfides 3 using two different oxidizing agents (oxone and m-CPBA

Advances in the use of metal-free tetrapyrrolic macrocycles as catalysts

• Mandeep K. Chahal

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 3085–3112, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.257

Enantioselective regiospecific addition of propargyltrichlorosilane to aldehydes catalyzed by biisoquinoline N,N’-dioxide

• Noble Brako,
• Sreerag Moorkkannur Narayanan,
• Amber Burns,
• Layla Auter,
• Valentino Cesiliano,
• Rajeev Prabhakar and
• Norito Takenaka

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 3069–3076, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.255

• , University of Miami, 1301 Memorial Drive, Coral Gables, Florida 33146-0431, USA 10.3762/bjoc.20.255 Abstract Distilled propargyltrichlorosilane with >99% isomeric purity was prepared for the first time, and its asymmetric catalytic regiospecific addition reaction to aldehydes was developed through a

• catalytic regiospecific addition reaction to aldehydes via a systematic catalyst structure–reactivity and selectivity relationship study, and computationally investigated possible mechanisms of N,N-diisopropylethylamine-promoted propargyl–allenyl isomerization of propargyltrichlorosilane. The observed

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

• through successive nucleophilic additions to the central carbon atom of DEMO. Cyclization of 4a quenched by D2O. Plausible mechanisms for the ring closure of 4. Hydration of the ethynyl group of 4a. Optimization of the reaction conditions for the reaction of 1a with the lithium acetylide of 3a. Addition

• reaction using other N,O-acetals 1 and alkynes 3. Conversion of adducts 4 to oxazoles 5. Ring closure of 4a using ammonium acetate. Supporting Information Supporting Information File 18: Spectral data for 4, 5, and 9 as well as 1H and 13C NMR spectra.

Hypervalent iodine-mediated cyclization of bishomoallylamides to prolinols

• Smaher E. Butt,
• Konrad Kepski,
• Jean-Marc Sotiropoulos and
• Wesley J. Moran

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 2455–2460, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.209

• the alkene and the amide increased from two to three atoms. In the latter case, cyclization at the amide nitrogen to form the pyrrolidine ring was favored over cyclization at the amide oxygen. A DFT study was undertaken to rationalize the change in mechanism of this cyclization process. In addition

• , reaction conditions were developed, and the scope of this cyclization studied. Keywords: cyclization; DFT; hypervalent iodine; mechanism; proline; Introduction Proline is one of the 20 DNA-encoded proteinogenic amino acids that are essential to life [1][2]. In addition, the pyrrolidine core is present in

Synthesis, electrochemical properties, and antioxidant activity of sterically hindered catechols with 1,3,4-oxadiazole, 1,2,4-triazole, thiazole or pyridine fragments

• Daria A. Burmistrova,
• Andrey Galustyan,
• Nadezhda P. Pomortseva,
• Kristina D. Pashaeva,
• Maxim V. Arsenyev,
• Oleg P. Demidov,
• Mikhail A. Kiskin,
• Andrey I. Poddel’sky,
• Nadezhda T. Berberova and
• Ivan V. Smolyaninov

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 2378–2391, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.202

• , imidazole, thiadiazole, or other fragments [44][45][46][47][48]. Previously, we obtained a series of sterically hindered catechols linked through a sulfide bridge with various polar or low-polar groups [36][49][50][51] and heterocyclic fragments [52] via the Michael addition reaction. Also, we have

Stereoselective mechanochemical synthesis of thiomalonate Michael adducts via iminium catalysis by chiral primary amines

• Michał Błauciak,
• Dominika Andrzejczyk,
• Błażej Dziuk and
• Rafał Kowalczyk

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 2313–2322, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.198

• -chlorobenzylideneacetone (E5). In contrast to previous examples, where the use of 1.5 equiv of the electrophile was a necessary step to ensure product formation in a ball mill (see Schemes 2–4), an equimolar mixture of acceptor E5 and nucleophile 1–4 was subjected to Michael addition reaction using system A (Scheme 6

Synthesis and reactivity of the di(9-anthryl)methyl radical

• Tomohiko Nishiuchi,
• Kazuma Takahashi,
• Yuta Makihara and
• Takashi Kubo

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 2254–2260, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.193

• to the DAntM radical is shown in Scheme 1. The alcohol precursor 3 was prepared via addition reaction of lithium reagent 2 to 10-mesitylanthracene-9-carbaldehyde (1) in moderate yield (59%). The generation of the DAntM radical was performed using stannous chloride dihydrate with hydrogen chloride in

Metal-free double azide addition to strained alkynes of an octadehydrodibenzo[12]annulene derivative with electron-withdrawing substituents

• Naoki Takeda,
• Shuichi Akasaka,
• Susumu Kawauchi and
• Tsuyoshi Michinobu

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 2234–2241, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.191

• , the double azide addition reaction was applied to polymer crosslinking and the mechanical properties of the self-standing polymer films were compared. Results and Discussion Strain-promoted azide–alkyne cycloaddition Octadehydrodibenzo[12]annulene (DBA) with electron-withdrawing carbonyl substituents

Efficacy of radical reactions of isocyanides with heteroatom radicals in organic synthesis

• Akiya Ogawa and
• Yuki Yamamoto

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 2114–2128, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.182

• '-azobis(isobutyronitrile) (AIBN). Then, E• adds to isocyanide 1 to form imidoyl radical 2, which abstracts hydrogen from E–H. The addition reaction proceeds by a radical chain mechanism, producing the 1,1-addition product 3 with regeneration of E•. In method 2, E• is generated by homolysis of a heteroatom

• ]. In the case of aromatic isocyanides, the 1,1-addition reaction is probably more likely to proceed because the C–N double bond of the 1,1-addition product 4 (R = Ar, E = PhS) is conjugated to the aromatic ring, which stabilizes it compared to the corresponding adduct with aliphatic isocyanides

• -withdrawing group improves the stability of the product 4 (R = p-O2N-C6H4, E = PhSe) and also because phase separation is caused by the product precipitation from the reaction solution. On the other hand, the addition reaction of (PhTe)2 to isocyanides does not proceed at all [30]. This is because the