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

• Cinnamic acid derivatives represent a significant class of biologically active compounds exhibiting a broad spectrum of activities, such as antifungal, antidengue, antimetastatic, antimicrobial, antibacterial, and anticancer properties. Their preparation has attracted considerable attention due to their

• flavor, fragrance, and therapeutic activities (Figure 1). Several reported activities of cinnamic acid include antibacterial and antifungal properties [1][2][3][4], antidengue [5], antimetastatic [6], neuroprotective synergy and angiogenesis effects [7], antileishmaniasis [8], anticancer [9], thromboxane

Synthesis of pyrrolo[3,2-d]pyrimidine-2,4(3H)-diones by domino C–N coupling/hydroamination reactions

• Ruben Manuel Figueira de Abreu,
• Robin Tiedemann,
• Peter Ehlers and
• Peter Langer

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 1010–1017, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.82

• leukaemia, and TAK-285 (H) is a promising HER2/EGFR inhibitor which has been tested in a phase 1 trial on humans as an anticancer agent (Figure 1) [16]. Given the significance of deazapurines as biologically active lead compounds [22], we developed a new methodology for the synthesis of uracil-based

A convergent synthetic approach to the tetracyclic core framework of khayanolide-type limonoids

• Zhiyang Zhang,
• Jialei Hu,
• Hanfeng Ding,
• Li Zhang and
• Peirong Rao

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 926–934, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.75

• subfamilies: ring intact limonoids, ring-seco limonoids, rearranged limonoids and N-containing limonoids (Figure 1). Moreover, these molecules exhibit a remarkable pharmacological portfolio encompassing anticancer, antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, and insect antifeedant activities [7][8][9], positioning them

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

• anesthesia [14]. The imidazo[4,5-d][1,3]diazepine core is present in pentostatin and coformycin, which are naturally occurring N-nucleoside inhibitors of adenosine deaminase, known for their antibiotic and anticancer properties [15][16][17]. These examples highlight the importance of developing novel

Recent advances in the electrochemical synthesis of organophosphorus compounds

• Babak Kaboudin,
• Milad Behroozi,
• Sepideh Sadighi and
• Fatemeh Asgharzadeh

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 770–797, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.61

• products, which also exhibit enhanced anticancer activity. The reaction was carried out in an undivided cell where the anode was reticulated vitreous carbon (RVC), and the cathode was platinum. Mechanistic studies revealed that Cp2Fe plays the main role in the reaction, and the reaction did not proceed

Acyclic cucurbit[n]uril bearing alkyl sulfate ionic groups

• Christian Akakpo,
• Peter Y. Zavalij and
• Lyle Isaacs

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 717–726, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.55

• biomedical applications including as a solubilizing excipient for anticancer agents and as an in vivo sequestrant to reverse the biological activity of neuromuscular blocking agents, anesthetics, and drugs of abuse (e.g., methamphetamine and fentanyl) [54][55][56][57][58][59][60]. As a result of their

Photocatalyzed elaboration of antibody-based bioconjugates

• Marine Le Stum,
• Eugénie Romero and
• Gary A. Molander

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 616–629, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.49

• , systemic cancer chemotherapies often involve combinations of drugs. Combination regimens improve treatment outcomes by producing synergistic anticancer effects and slowing the development of drug-resistant cell populations. Researchers aim to replicate combination regimens by developing techniques for

Sequential two-step, one-pot microwave-assisted Urech synthesis of 5-monosubstituted hydantoins from L-amino acids in water

• Wei-Jin Chang,
• Sook Yee Liew,
• Thomas Kurz and
• Siow-Ping Tan

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 596–600, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.46

• Pharmaceutical and Medicinal Chemistry, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, 40225 Düsseldorf, Germany 10.3762/bjoc.21.46 Abstract The hydantoin scaffold is renowned for its wide-ranging biological activities, including antibacterial, antiviral, anticancer, anti-inflammatory, and anticonvulsant effects. In

• antibacterial [1], antiviral [2], anticancer [3], anti-inflammatory [4], and anticonvulsant [5]. Hydantoins were traditionally accessed from amino acids by conversion to urea derivatives followed by cyclization (Urech reaction) or from carbonyl compounds through the cyanohydrin intermediate (Bucherer–Bergs) [6

Synthesis, structure, ionochromic and cytotoxic properties of new 2-(indolin-2-yl)-1,3-tropolones

• Yurii A. Sayapin,
• Eugeny A. Gusakov,
• Inna O. Tupaeva,
• Alexander D. Dubonosov,
• Igor V. Dorogan,
• Valery V. Tkachev,
• Anna S. Goncharova,
• Gennady V. Shilov,
• Natalia S. Kuznetsova,
• Svetlana Y. Filippova,
• Tatyana A. Krasnikova,
• Yanis A. Boumber,
• Alexey Y. Maksimov,
• Sergey M. Aldoshin and
• Vladimir I. Minkin

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 358–368, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.26

• [16][17]. Indole derivatives, including those with conjugated aromatic and alicyclic rings, are of considerable interest because of their diverse biological activities (antibacterial, antimicrobial, anticancer, antidiabetic, etc.) [18][19][20][21][22]. For this reason, the synthetic goal of this work

• MTT assay was used to determine the anticancer activity of compound 7a against these cultures (Figure 6). The viability test is an important method to determine which new compounds are able to target cancer cells. The results of this test (IC50 value ± 95% confidence interval) allow us to evaluate the

• possibility of carrying out subsequent stages of research and selecting promising compounds for the further development of anticancer drugs [30]. The study showed that the IC50 inhibitory concentration of 2-(1,1-dimethyl-1H-benzo[e]indolin-2-yl)-5,6,7-trichloro-1,3-tropolone (7a) against the A431 skin cancer

Synthesis, characterization, antimicrobial, cytotoxic and carbonic anhydrase inhibition activities of multifunctional pyrazolo-1,2-benzothiazine acetamides

• Ayesha Saeed,
• Shahana Ehsan,
• Muhammad Zia-ur-Rehman,
• Erin M. Marshall,
• Sandra Loesgen,
• Abdus Saleem,
• Simone Giovannuzzi and
• Claudiu T. Supuran

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 348–357, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.25

• assays [36] (Figure 1A). In continuation of this work, these derivatives have also been investigated for their remarkable anti-HIV-1 activity [37] (Figure 1B). The same research group reported the synthesis of acetamide derivatives of pyrazolo-1,2-benzothiazines as anticancer drugs using a borane-THF

Synthesis of new condensed naphthoquinone, pyran and pyrimidine furancarboxylates

• Kirill A. Gomonov,
• Vasilii V. Pelipko,
• Igor A. Litvinov,
• Ilya A. Pilipenko,
• Anna M. Stepanova,
• Nikolai A. Lapatin,
• Ruslan I. Baichurin and
• Sergei V. Makarenko

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 340–347, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.24

• heterocyclic structures leads to the production of new types of heterocyclic compounds with practical useful properties [1][2][3][4][5][6]. Representatives of the naphthofuran series exhibit anticancer [7] and antiinfectious activity [8]. Anticancer properties have also been found in representatives of the

Antibiofilm and cytotoxic metabolites from the entomopathogenic fungus Samsoniella aurantia

• Rita Toshe,
• Syeda J. Khalid,
• Blondelle Matio Kemkuignou,
• Esteban Charria-Girón,
• Paul Eckhardt,
• Birthe Sandargo,
• Kunlapat Nuchthien,
• J. Jennifer Luangsa-ard,
• Till Opatz,
• Hedda Schrey,
• Sherif S. Ebada and
• Marc Stadler

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 327–339, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.23

• anticancer properties [6]. With concerns about biofilm formation and resistance escalating in the medical field, entomopathogenic fungi have emerged as a promising source of novel bioactive compounds [5]. Our recent exploration of B. neobassiana highlighted this growing interest, affording one tetramic acid

Dioxazolones as electrophilic amide sources in copper-catalyzed and -mediated transformations

• Seungmin Lee,
• Minsuk Kim,
• Hyewon Han and
• Jongwoo Son

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 200–216, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.12

• secondary amines via an N-acyl nitrene intermediate [77]. Amidines, found in biologically active compounds, have been widely investigated in medicinal chemistry due to their potent antiviral, antibacterial, anticancer, and other therapeutic properties [78][79][80][81]. As shown in Scheme 4, dioxazolones

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

• that some of the derivatives exhibit strong anticancer activity against Hela and MCF-7 cell lines. In early 2021, Mei, Lu and co-worker reported a chiral phosphoric acid-catalyzed asymmetric [4 + 2] cycloaddition of aurone-derived 1-azadienes 11 and 3-vinylindoles 61 (Scheme 23). This methodology

Ceratinadin G, a new psammaplysin derivative possessing a cyano group from a sponge of the genus Pseudoceratina

• Shin-ichiro Kurimoto,
• Kouta Inoue,
• Taito Ohno and
• Takaaki Kubota

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 3215–3220, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.267

• derivatives exhibit a range of bioactivities, including antibacterial, anticancer, antimalarial, and antiviral effects. Since the discovery of the first psammaplysin derivative, psammaplysin A [4][5], these alkaloids have been recognized as challenging targets for total synthesis. The absolute configuration

Hypervalent iodine-mediated intramolecular alkene halocyclisation

• Charu Bansal,
• Oliver Ruggles,
• Albert C. Rowett and
• Alastair J. J. Lennox

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 3113–3133, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.258

• cost effective and selective, one-pot transformation. Pharmaceutical uses for bio-active cyclic molecules accessible by I(III) reagents are plentiful; anticancer drugs can be formed from the basis of pyrrolo[2,3-b]indoles 1 [3][4], 2-oxazolines 2 [5][6], dihydrofuran 3 [7][8], and spirocyclic scaffolds

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

• applied in various fields, including organometallic catalysis, dye-sensitized solar cells, sensing, artificial olfactory systems, photodynamic therapy (PDT), anticancer drugs, biochemical probes, and electrochemical devices. Relevant examples of these two pyrrolic macrocycles as metal-free organocatalysts

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

• representative studies include antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, selective inhibitor of COX-2 [34], and anti-HIV activity [35]. In this context, even though indole is considered a privileged scaffold present in some anticancer agents [36], a few examples of methanesulfonylindoles are studied as

• potential in anticancer drug design. However, it should be taken into account that the sulfonyl group can radically change the pharmacokinetic properties of a drug, so the effect it may have on its ADMET properties should be determined in an additional study. Conclusion A novel synthetic strategy has been

Chemical structure metagenomics of microbial natural products: surveying nonribosomal peptides and beyond

• Thomas Ma and
• John Chu

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 3050–3060, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.253

• molecules were screened for various bioactivities and led to the discovery of new antibiotics, antifungals, as well as anticancer compounds (Figure 4). Importantly, the underlying mechanism of bacterial growth suppression has been identified for several Syn-BNP antibiotics, which includes both general mode

Synthesis of pyrrole-fused dibenzoxazepine/dibenzothiazepine/triazolobenzodiazepine derivatives via isocyanide-based multicomponent reactions

• Marzieh Norouzi,
• Mohammad Taghi Nazeri,
• Ahmad Shaabani and
• Behrouz Notash

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 2870–2882, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.241

• compounds with antibiotic, antiviral, and anticancer properties that are found in many drugs and natural products [1][2][3][4][5][6]. Pyrroles' biological properties manifest when they are fused to other heterocycles [7][8][9][10][11][12]. Among them, seven-membered heterocycles of the benzodiazepine

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

• anticancer activity of these compounds. Keywords: cancerostatic activity; carbohydrates; heterocycles; N-glycosides; indirubin; Introduction Indigo (1a), known for more than 6000 years and originally produced from indigo plants in India, represents a famous traditional blue pigment which was an expensive

• -rhamnosides α-17a and α-17c, respectively (Scheme 14) [23]. Water solubility plays an important role with regard to the pharmacological activity. It was previously shown that the water solubility and anticancer activity of non-glycosylated indirubins can be improved by conversion of the keto to an oxime group

• good activities were observed for both α-17a and β-17a. It is important to note that the anticancer activity of all indirubin-N-glycosides, in particular of rhamnosides α-17a and β-17a, was considerably higher as compared to the activities of previously reported non-glycosylated indirubins [23][24]. A

Synthesis of benzo[f]quinazoline-1,3(2H,4H)-diones

• Ruben Manuel Figueira de Abreu,
• Peter Ehlers and
• Peter Langer

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 2708–2719, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.228

• several drugs that are still important and often used. Examples include 5-fluorouracil and brivudine. 5-Fluoruracil is an important anticancer drug, while brivudine is considered to be one of the most effective antiviral drugs against the HSV-1 virus [4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18

Transition-metal-free decarbonylation–oxidation of 3-arylbenzofuran-2(3H)-ones: access to 2-hydroxybenzophenones

• Bhaskar B. Dhotare,
• Seema V. Kanojia,
• Chahna K. Sakhiya,
• Amey Wadawale and
• Dibakar Goswami

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 2655–2667, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.223

• anticancer effects [1]. Amongst these, 2-hydroxybenzophenones are regarded as one of the most important classes of compounds owing to their varied bioactivities, including calcium channel blockers, anti-influenza drugs, anti-HAV drugs, and antispasmodic agents (Figure 1) [2]. Along with that, oxybenzone, a 2

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

• (simeprevir, ritonavir, cobicistat), and other types of biological activities [15][16][17][18][19]. Besides, among the registered sulfur-containing drugs, 19% contain a thiazole ring, and 15% contain a thioether group [20]. Oxadiazole fragments are found in the structures of anticancer drugs (zibotentan

Tandem diazotization/cyclization approach for the synthesis of a fused 1,2,3-triazinone-furazan/furoxan heterocyclic system

• Yuri A. Sidunets,
• Valeriya G. Melekhina and
• Leonid L. Fershtat

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 2342–2348, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.200

• , anticancer, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory, antihypertensive, antipsychotic, anxiolytic and in other pharmaceuticals [3][4][5]. Therefore, considering the diversity of biological properties, development of reliable approaches for the synthesis of new nitrogen heterocyclic systems is a highly urgent goal

• various diseases [17][18][19][20]. Therefore, due to their NO-releasing abilities, furoxan derivatives also demonstrate anticancer, antiplatelet, antiviral and antiparasitic properties [21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32]. Another valuable nitrogen heterocyclic scaffold in medicinal chemistry