Recent total synthesis of natural products leveraging a strategy of enamide cyclization

• Chun-Yu Mi,
• Jia-Yuan Zhai and
• Xiao-Ming Zhang

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 999–1009, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.81

• particular emphasis on their pivotal role as a strategy in the total synthesis of natural products. Keywords: alkaloid; cyclization; enamide; natural product; total synthesis; Introduction The use of enamines as surrogates for enols in nucleophilic reactions has been well-documented for decades since their

• on this strategy, the authors also accomplished the total synthesis of (−)-lycospidine A in only 10 steps [20], another Lycopodium alkaloid with a truncated tetracyclic skeleton and distinct oxidation levels, further highlighting the versatility and efficiency of the enamide aza-Prins approach

• total synthesis of cephalotaxine. Similarly, diastereoselective reduction of 25 with KBH4 followed by alane reduction provided another alkaloid cephalezomine H. Collective total syntheses of Cephalotaxus alkaloids The cyclopentane ring in most Cephalotaxus alkaloids is characterized by the highest

Studies on the syntheses of β-carboline alkaloids brevicarine and brevicolline

• Benedek Batizi,
• Patrik Pollák,
• András Dancsó,
• Péter Keglevich,
• Gyula Simig,
• Balázs Volk and
• Mátyás Milen

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 955–963, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.79

• , Semmelweis University, Üllői út 26, H-1085 Budapest, Hungary 10.3762/bjoc.21.79 Abstract A new total synthesis of the β-carboline alkaloid brevicarine is disclosed. The synthesis was carried out starting from an aromatic triflate key intermediate, allowing the introduction of various substituents into

• salt for further confirming their structures. A new synthesis of the related alkaloid brevicolline was also attempted from the same intermediate. However, after successful coupling of β-carboline with N-methylpyrrole, the trials to saturate the pyrrole ring under various conditions led to unexpected

• reactions: reduction of ring A of the β-carboline skeleton or trifluoroethylation of the pyrrole moiety occurred, leading to interesting and potentially useful derivatives. Keywords: alkaloid; β-carboline; Carex brevicollis DC; cross-coupling reaction; trifluoroethylation; Introduction Carex brevicollis

New advances in asymmetric organocatalysis II

• Radovan Šebesta

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 766–769, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.60

• describes the enantioselective Michael addition of pyrazoline-5-ones to α,β-unsaturated ketones. The enantioselectivity and chemical efficiency of this transformation were achieved with a cinchona-alkaloid-derived primary-amine–Brønsted acid composite [22]. A good demonstration of how organocatalysis

Origami with small molecules: exploiting the C–F bond as a conformational tool

• Patrick Ryan,
• Ramsha Iftikhar and
• Luke Hunter

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 680–716, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.54

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

• involvement of a fluorescent intermediate in the cascade synthetic process. Keywords: cascade reactions; copper-catalyzed three-component coupling; gold-mediated 6-endo hydroamination; tandem cyclizations; tetrahydroisoquinoline alkaloids; Introduction The bis-tetrahydroisoquinoline (THIQ) alkaloid family

• represented by saframycin A (1) and ecteinascidin 743 (2) shares a complex penta- or hexacyclic core skeleton composed of two THIQ units (Figure 1) [1][2][3][4][5]. As proven by the clinical use of compound 2 for the treatment of malignant soft tissue sarcomas, the bis-THIQ alkaloid family exhibits potent

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

Non-covalent organocatalyzed enantioselective cyclization reactions of α,β-unsaturated imines

• Sergio Torres-Oya and
• Mercedes Zurro

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 3221–3255, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.268

• -workers reported a cinchona alkaloid-derived thiourea-catalyzed regio- and stereoselective cycloaddition of 3-isothiocyanatooxindoles and imines containing two or three electron-deficient unsaturated bonds [25]. Firstly, the (3 + 2) cycloaddition of 3-isothiocyanatooxindoles 4 and aldimines 5 was explored

• utilized for a wide variety of organocatalytic processes. In this section, different cyclizations of α,β-unsaturated imines involving Brønsted base organocatalysts such as (DHQD)2-based catalysts will be described. In 2015, Jiang, Chen and co-worker published a modified cinchona alkaloid-catalyzed [4 + 2

• alkaloid and (DHQD)2PHAL. Enantioselective bifunctional thiourea-catalyzed inverse electron demand Diels–Alder reaction of N-tosyl-2-methylene-but-3-enoates and cyclic keto/enolate salts. Cinchona-derived thiourea-catalyzed stereoselective (3 + 2) reaction of α,β-unsaturated imines and 3

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

• process and the rich toolkit of advanced organic synthesis [5]. Homoallylic amines occupy a significant niche in alkaloid synthesis as they frequently appear as key intermediates in syntheses of the various nitrogen-containing natural products [6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14]. Additionally, they can be

• mechanism is energetically more favoured [34]. Two computed reaction pathways for the COBI-catalysed Strecker reaction (TS1 identical to allylation – COBI–imine complex) reported by Chen and Qiao in 2023 [38]. The position of homoallylic amines in the landscape of alkaloid and nitrogen compounds syntheses

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

• , changes in the epi-amino alkaloid core of the two-component catalytic system were investigated. Introduction of the 2’-substitution to the quinine core as in AQ-2 and AQ-4 (Scheme 2) resulted in the decrease of chirality transfer providing the product with 50% and 72% ee, respectively. A similar trend was

Factors influencing the performance of organocatalysts immobilised on solid supports: A review

• Zsuzsanna Fehér,
• Dóra Richter,
• Gyula Dargó and
• József Kupai

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 2129–2142, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.183

• organocatalyst was demonstrated by List and co-workers, who showcased the robustness of a cinchona alkaloid-based sulfonamide organotextile catalyst 36 (immobilised on nylon 6,6) through hundreds of recycling experiments (Scheme 11) [15]. The organotextile catalyst 36 exhibited a very similar enantioselectivity

Solvent-dependent chemoselective synthesis of different isoquinolinones mediated by the hypervalent iodine(III) reagent PISA

• Ze-Nan Hu,
• Yan-Hui Wang,
• Jia-Bing Wu,
• Ze Chen,
• Dou Hong and
• Chi Zhang

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 1914–1921, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.167

• activity and thus block cancer formation [2]. Alangiumkaloids A, an isoquinolinone alkaloid isolated from Alangium salviiforlium, was reported to exhibit cytotoxic activity against cancer cells [3]. In 2018, duvelisib, a dual inhibitor of phosphoinositide-3 kinases, was firstly approved by the FDA for the

Chemo-enzymatic total synthesis: current approaches toward the integration of chemical and enzymatic transformations

• Ryo Tanifuji and
• Hiroki Oguri

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 1693–1712, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.151

• . Iterative Pictet–Spengler cyclizations: saframycin A and jorunnamycin A Saframycin A (5) was isolated from Streptomyces lavendulae, and a number of related alkaloid families such as safracins and renieramycins have been identified from both soil and marine microorganisms [89][90]. These natural product

• synthesis of the bis-THIQ alkaloid family, Oguri and Oikawa utilized the NRPS module SfmC to construct a highly functionalized scaffold from amino acid derivatives (Scheme 10) [102]. The total synthesis of 5 from original biosynthetic intermediate 93 requires regioselective amide bond cleavage to remove the

• place of ʟ-alanine in 88 to the SfmC-catalyzed chemo-enzymatic process [107]. The key enzyme SfmC tolerated all the synthetic analogs of the biosynthetic intermediate 88 and facilitated the rapid synthesis of non-natural bis-THIQ alkaloid-like scaffolds such as 106, 107 (Scheme 10B). The essence of this

Polymer degrading marine Microbulbifer bacteria: an un(der)utilized source of chemical and biocatalytic novelty

• Weimao Zhong and
• Vinayak Agarwal

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 1635–1651, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.146

• Gram-positive bacteria Kocuria rhizophila and S. aureus, Gram-negative bacterium Tenacibaculum maritimum, and a panel of fungi. These molecules also demonstrated moderate cytotoxicity against P388 murine leukemia cells. The bisindole alkaloid violacein (24, Figure 8) was isolated and characterized from

Mining raw plant transcriptomic data for new cyclopeptide alkaloids

• Draco Kriger,
• Michael A. Pasquale,
• Brigitte G. Ampolini and
• Jonathan R. Chekan

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 1548–1559, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.138

• cyclopeptide alkaloids due to the invariant C-terminal Tyr residue (Figure 3). Rubiaceae family Our previous results revealed Coffea arabica (Arabica coffee plant), to be a cyclopeptide alkaloid producer [7]. In contrast to those from the Rhamnaceae family, these cyclopeptide alkaloids were only cyclized and

• additional plant species may be responsible for the production of burpitides. To evaluate this, we examined G. jasminoides and A. bettzickiana from the Rubiaceae and Amaranthaceae families, respectively. We analyzed methanol extracts of these plants along with the known cyclopeptide alkaloid producer C

Primary amine-catalyzed enantioselective 1,4-Michael addition reaction of pyrazolin-5-ones to α,β-unsaturated ketones

• Pooja Goyal,
• Akhil K. Dubey,
• Raghunath Chowdhury and
• Amey Wadawale

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 1518–1526, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.136

• 10.3762/bjoc.20.136 Abstract The enantioselective 1,4-addition reaction of pyrazolin-5-ones to α,β-unsaturated ketones catalyzed by a cinchona alkaloid-derived primary amine–Brønsted acid composite is reported. Both enantiomers of the anticipated pyrazole derivatives were obtained in good to excellent

• metal catalytic conditions. In continuation of our work in the field of organocatalysis [26][27][28][29], herein, we present the Michael addition reaction of 4-unsubstituted pyrazolin-5-ones with arylidene/heteroarylideneacetones using cinchona alkaloid-derived primary amine catalysts. The developed

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

• gives an overview of the most significant results obtained hereby). First experiments using cinchona alkaloid-based quaternary ammonium salts A showed that the expected β-addition product 5a can be accessed under typical phase-transfer conditions, but with low selectivities and yields only when using

• these catalysts (Table 1, entries 1–4, other cinchona alkaloid-based ammonium salt derivatives as well as free base cinchona alkaloids were tested too but did not allow for any improvement). Using the established and commercially available Maruoka catalysts B1 and B2 [39] next turned out to be more

Chemoenzymatic synthesis of macrocyclic peptides and polyketides via thioesterase-catalyzed macrocyclization

• Senze Qiao,
• Zhongyu Cheng and
• Fuzhuo Li

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 721–733, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.66

• options for treating vinca alkaloid- and taxol-resistant cancers [79]. Therefore, the pharmaceutical investigation of these natural products started for the first time when they were isolated in the early 1990s and has lasted until the present. A synthetic analog, cryptophycin 52, completed phase I

Chemical and biosynthetic potential of Penicillium shentong XL-F41

• Ran Zou,
• Xin Li,
• Xiaochen Chen,
• Yue-Wei Guo and
• Baofu Xu

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 597–606, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.52

• terpene alkaloid; natural products; Penicillium; structure elucidation; Introduction Penicillium, a genus within the Ascomycota phylum, is a type of critical saprophytic fungus with over 400 strains identified in diverse environments such as mountains, oceans, and the human gut [1]. After the first

Synthesis of 7-azabicyclo[4.3.1]decane ring systems from tricarbonyl(tropone)iron via intramolecular Heck reactions

• Aaron H. Shoemaker,
• Elizabeth A. Foker,
• Elena P. Uttaro,
• Sarah K. Beitel and
• Daniel R. Griffith

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 1615–1619, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.118

• number of alkaloid natural products can be accessed from commercially available tropone in as little as five steps: 1) formation of tricarbonyl(tropone)iron, 2) aza-Michael addition, 3) amine protection, 4) photodemetallation, and 5) intramolecular Heck reaction (two steps – aza-Michael addition and

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

• thiiranium ion by the tosylamide and deprotonation led to the final product 99 or 100 (Scheme 41). Through the coupling reaction of N-(aryl/alkylthio)succinimides 1 with 5H-oxazol-4-ones 101 in the presence of an organocatalyst named cinchona alkaloid-derived squaramide F, a series of α-sulfenylated products

• acid catalyst I, leading to the formation of an electrophilic sulfenium source (Scheme 49). The use of dimeric cinchona alkaloid J as another organocatalyst for α-sulfenylation of deconjugated butyrolactam substrates 117 with N-(arylsulfanyl)succinimides 1 demonstrated in Mukherjee′s work (Scheme 50

Aromatic C–H bond functionalization through organocatalyzed asymmetric intermolecular aza-Friedel–Crafts reaction: a recent update

• Anup Biswas

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 956–981, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.72

• . Cinchona alkaloid O2 was the efficient catalyst for this asymmetric C–C bond formation delivering the products with moderate to good enantioselectivities. One example was documented involving β-naphthol as nucleophile and another example included electron-rich phenol (Scheme 31) [61]. Lin, Duan and co

• benzothiazolimines. Thiourea-catalyzed reaction between β-naphthol and isatin-derived ketamine. Quinine-derived molecule as catalyst. Cinchona alkaloid as catalyst. aza-Friedel–Crafts reaction by phase transfer catalyst. Disulfonamide-catalyzed reaction. Heterogenous thiourea-catalyzed aza-Friedel–Crafts reaction

Clauson–Kaas pyrrole synthesis using diverse catalysts: a transition from conventional to greener approach

• Dileep Kumar Singh and
• Rajesh Kumar

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 928–955, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.71

• demonstrated the synthesis of polygonatine, an alkaloid natural product, using this protocol. (2) Reactions under solvent-free conditions In recent years, interest in organic reactions that do not use toxic organic solvents has increased due to environmental considerations. Ramesh et al. [71] in 2012 reported

Photoredox catalysis enabling decarboxylative radical cyclization of γ,γ-dimethylallyltryptophan (DMAT) derivatives: formal synthesis of 6,7-secoagroclavine

• Alessio Regni,
• Francesca Bartoccini and
• Giovanni Piersanti

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 918–927, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.70

• accomplish by more conventional procedures, enables the synthesis of ergot alkaloid precursors. In addition, this work describes a mild, environmentally friendly method to activate, reductively and oxidatively, natural carboxylic acids for decarboxylative C–C bond formation by exploiting the same

• position via a sequential electron transfer–proton transfer (ET/PT) [52][53][54][55][56][57][58][59]. With our ongoing interest of establishing new methods for the asymmetric synthesis of nonproteinogenic tryptophan derivatives as well as their associated indole alkaloid natural products [60][61][62][63

Intermediates and shunt products of massiliachelin biosynthesis in Massilia sp. NR 4-1

• Till Steinmetz,
• Blaise Kimbadi Lombe and
• Markus Nett

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 909–917, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.69

• ], the cyclic guanidine alkaloid massinidine [17], and the siderophore massiliachelin [18]. An antiSMASH analysis [19] of the genome of Massilia sp. NR 4-1 revealed the presence of additional biosynthetic gene clusters, including another putative metallophore gene cluster (ACZ75_RS05545–ACZ75_RS06020

Facile access to 3-sulfonylquinolines via Knoevenagel condensation/aza-Wittig reaction cascade involving ortho-azidobenzaldehydes and β-ketosulfonamides and sulfones

• Ksenia Malkova,
• Andrey Bubyrev,
• Stanislav Kalinin and
• Dmitry Dar’in

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 800–807, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.60

• occurrence among natural products [1] and is a key structural component of several pharmaceuticals, agrochemicals, dyestuffs, and materials. Particularly, the well-known antimalarial alkaloid quinine isolated from Cinchona bark comprises a quinoline core (Figure 1a) [2]. Moreover, numerous quinoline