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

• the azodicarboxylate as crucial to forming hydrogen bonds with the organocatalyst. Benzylation of this nitrogen or substitution of just one of the carboxylate groups led to no product being observed. A series of naphthylindoles 71 was tested for potential biological activity and showed promising

Emerging trends in the optimization of organic synthesis through high-throughput tools and machine learning

• Pablo Quijano Velasco,
• Kedar Hippalgaonkar and
• Balamurugan Ramalingam

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 10–38, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.3

• chemical reaction was first reported by Schweidtmann et al. [81]. In this study, the multiobjective Bayesian optimization (MOBO) was used to optimize an SNAr reaction (Table 2, entry 1) and an N-benzylation reaction (Table 2, entry 2) using an automated flow reactor. The objectives of the optimization were

• to maximize the space–time yield (STY) while minimizing either the E-factor of the SNAr reaction or the impurity concentration of the N-benzylation reaction. For both reactions, there were four variables to optimize, including metrics for reaction time, reagent concentration, and temperature. After

• an initial sampling of 20 experimental conditions by LHS, the choice of reaction conditions was left to the TSEMO algorithm, optimizing the SNAr within a total of 48 iterations and the N-benzylation reaction within a total of 58 iterations. Both optimizations resulted in the discovery of a dense

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

• precursors. The base-mediated reaction of 5-chloroanthranilic acid (8a) with chloroacetic acid afforded 8b (Scheme 5) [20]. Acetylation and base-mediated cyclization gave indoxyl 9a which was transformed to indigo 1c by oxidative dimerization. Benzylation finally afforded 1d. 4,6-Benzylidenation of ᴅ

• ). Dehydrogenation of the latter with DDQ afforded the anomerically pure indol-N-glycoside β-26a which upon benzylation and methylation gave products β-27a and β-27b, respectively. Iodination gave products β-28a and β-28b, however, due to the basic reaction conditions (I2, NaOH, DMF), ether rather than ester

• -glycosides Sassatelli et al. reported the synthesis of isoindigo-N-glycosides β-57a–c by reaction of benzyl-protected isatin-N-glycosides β-56a–c with oxindole (55) (Scheme 35) [53][54][55]. Deprotection by BBr3 afforded β-58a–c. Isatins 56 were prepared by glycosylation of indoline, benzylation, and

Benzylic C(sp³)–H fluorination

• Alexander P. Atkins,
• Alice C. Dean and
• Alastair J. J. Lennox

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 1527–1547, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.137

• showed they were able to scale-up and selectively fluorinate the ibuprofen methyl ester at the methylene group to produce over 2 g of product 12. The utility of the benzyl fluoride products as strategic intermediates for benzylation of electron-rich arenes was demonstrated by the authors (Figure 41B

Tandem Hock and Friedel–Crafts reactions allowing an expedient synthesis of a cyclolignan-type scaffold

• Viktoria A. Ikonnikova,
• Cristina Cheibas,
• Oscar Gayraud,
• Alexandra E. Bosnidou,
• Nicolas Casaretto,
• Gilles Frison and
• Bastien Nay

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 162–169, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.15

• extend the scope of this tandem reaction sequence towards analogous skeletons, we explored the effect of various substituents on the aromatic cycles. The successive prenylation and then diversity-oriented benzylation (n = 1 for substrates 11a–n) of diethyl malonate (10) afforded a variety of new

Synthesis of ether lipids: natural compounds and analogues

• Marco Antônio G. B. Gomes,
• Alicia Bauduin,
• Chloé Le Roux,
• Romain Fouinneteau,
• Wilfried Berthe,
• Mathieu Berchel,
• Hélène Couthon and
• Paul-Alain Jaffrès

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 1299–1369, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.96

• [61]. A first hemi-synthesis was reported by Demopoulos et al. [56] and by Blank et al. [62] and two formal syntheses were reported by Benveniste et al. [63][64]. The second formal synthesis starts from the glycerol ether lipid 2.1 that reacted with trityl chloride to yield 2.2. Then, the benzylation

• benzylation produced 4.13. Then, the deprotection of the primary alcohol in acidic conditions allows introducing the phosphocholine polar head group by using POCl3 and the choline tosylate salt as reagents to yield 4.14. Finally, the debenzylation of the secondary alcohol and its acylation produce PAF 4.15. b

• mild conditions the benzylation of the alcohol function to yield 7.3. Then, the removing of the tosyl group required a two-step sequence. First, 7.3 reacted with cesium acetate and then the resulting ester was reduced with LiAlH4 to produce 7.4 with control of its stereochemistry. Very recently, a new

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

• ). In 2015, a palladium-catalyzed cross dehydrogenative coupling of pyridine N-oxides with toluene for the regioselective arylation and benzylation of pyridine N-oxide was reported by Khan and co-workers [92] (Scheme 23). The authors have shown toluene 117 when used as benzyl and aryl source remained

• N-oxide 119b was formed during benzylation of 2-ethylpyridine N-oxide. A possible mechanism has also been reported (Scheme 23b). Electrophilic palladation at the C2-position of pyridine N-oxide 9 provides intermediate 120. The radical intermediate 121 is generated in situ by H-atom abstraction from

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

• -mediated epimerization. Guénée et al. described the allylation, benzylation, and propargylation of magnesium enolates. These enolates were generated by a Cu-NHC-catalyzed conjugate addition of Grignard reagents to β-substituted cyclic enones (70) (Scheme 19) [51]. Fox and co-workers developed an intriguing

Synthesis, α-mannosidase inhibition studies and molecular modeling of 1,4-imino-ᴅ-lyxitols and their C-5-altered N-arylalkyl derivatives

• Martin Kalník,
• Sergej Šesták,
• Juraj Kóňa,
• Maroš Bella and
• Monika Poláková

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 282–293, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.24

• iminosugars can be achieved by an alkylation of the endocyclic nitrogen. This reduces their high hydrophilicity which in turn may have a positive impact on the interactions with the hydrophobic pocket of the GMII active site. For example, N-benzylation of DIM afforded a slightly more potent GMII inhibitor

Redox-active molecules as organocatalysts for selective oxidative transformations – an unperceived organocatalysis field

• Elena R. Lopat’eva,
• Igor B. Krylov,
• Dmitry A. Lapshin and
• Alexander O. Terent’ev

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2022, 18, 1672–1695, doi:10.3762/bjoc.18.179

• application scope, robustness, and selectivity [74]. Recently, an electrochemical NHPI/PINO-mediated benzylic iodination was achieved using lutidine or 2,6-di-tert-butylpyridine as bases with low nucleophilicity [89] (Scheme 10). When pyridine was used instead 2,6-disubstituted pyridines its N-benzylation by

• of ethylbenzene and CH-fluorination of aldehydes catalyzed by N-hydroxybenzimidazoles, precursors of corresponding N-oxyl radicals. Mixed hetero-/homogeneous TiO2/N-hydroxyimide photocatalysis in the selective benzylic oxidation. Electrochemical benzylic iodination and benzylation of pyridine by

A study of the DIBAL-promoted selective debenzylation of α-cyclodextrin protected with two different benzyl groups

• Naser-Abdul Yousefi,
• Morten L. Zimmermann and
• Mikael Bols

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2022, 18, 1553–1559, doi:10.3762/bjoc.18.165

• cleavage [16] or from 1 by selective protection of the primary OH groups with tert-butyldimethylsilyl groups, followed by benzylation and desilylation [17][18]. We used both methods to prepare 6: The acetolysis method is convenient when perbenzyl α-cyclodextrin (2) is at hand but requires very strict

Efficient synthesis of aziridinecyclooctanediol and 3-aminocyclooctanetriol

• Emine Salamci and
• Ayse Kilic Lafzi

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2022, 18, 1539–1543, doi:10.3762/bjoc.18.163

• cyclooctene endoperoxide, prepared by photooxygenation of cis,cis-1,3-cyclooctadiene, with zinc gave a cyclooctenediol and then benzylation of the hydroxy group yielded dibenzylated cyclooctene. Oxidation of the latter compound by OsO4/NMO followed by mesylation of the hydroxy group provided bis(benzyloxy

1,4,6,10-Tetraazaadamantanes (TAADs) with N-amino groups: synthesis and formation of boron chelates and host–guest complexes

• Artem N. Semakin,
• Ivan S. Golovanov,
• Yulia V. Nelyubina and
• Alexey Yu. Sukhorukov

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2022, 18, 1424–1434, doi:10.3762/bjoc.18.148

• tetraazaadamantane cage, quaternization of the tertiary bridge-head nitrogen in Boc-protected TAADs 4c, 4e, 6a, and 8a was performed by benzylation [21][40] (Scheme 5). The obtained N-benzyl salts were quantitatively converted into corresponding deprotected TAADs 19–21 by reflux in water (Scheme 5, blue

New synthesis of a late-stage tetracyclic key intermediate of lumateperone

• Mátyás Milen,
• Bálint Nyulasi,
• Tamás Nagy,
• Gyula Simig and
• Balázs Volk

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2022, 18, 653–659, doi:10.3762/bjoc.18.66

• compound 26 was recovered instead of the expected product 23. So we were forced to go on a longer new way to key intermediate (±)-9a. Quinoxaline (24), the price of which is ca. 3% of that of 3,4-dihydroquinoxalin-2(1H)-one (2), remained our starting compound [20][21][22][23] (Scheme 5). N-Benzylation of

Base-free enantioselective S_N2 alkylation of 2-oxindoles via bifunctional phase-transfer catalysis

• Mili Litvajova,
• Emiliano Sorrentino,
• Brendan Twamley and
• Stephen J. Connon

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2021, 17, 2287–2294, doi:10.3762/bjoc.17.146

• investigation by evaluating, as a model alkylation, the phase-transfer-catalysed benzylation of substrate 5 under ‘classical’ basic reaction conditions using cinchona alkaloid-based catalysts capable of hydrogen-bonding as a control element [33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40]. As expected, the ester group α to the

• investigating the effects of different solvents, bases and buffer systems, in preliminary experiments we were not able to prevent the non-catalysed benzylation of substrate 5; nevertheless, the enantioselective alkylation of 5 with benzyl bromide in the presence of a phase-transfer catalyst was attempted. This

Transition-metal-free intramolecular Friedel–Crafts reaction by alkene activation: A method for the synthesis of some novel xanthene derivatives

• Tülay Yıldız,
• İrem Baştaş and
• Hatice Başpınar Küçük

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2021, 17, 2203–2208, doi:10.3762/bjoc.17.142

• of their important biological and fluorescent uses. To summarize the main syntheses of these studies: in particular, transition metal-catalyzed cascade benzylation–cyclization [17], cyclization of polycyclic aryl triflate esters [18], reaction of β-naphthol and aldehydes [19][20] or inter- or

Progress and challenges in the synthesis of sequence controlled polysaccharides

• Giulio Fittolani,
• Theodore Tyrikos-Ergas,
• Denisa Vargová,
• Manishkumar A. Chaube and
• Martina Delbianco

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2021, 17, 1981–2025, doi:10.3762/bjoc.17.129

Synthesis of multiply fluorinated N-acetyl-D-glucosamine and D-galactosamine analogs via the corresponding deoxyfluorinated glucosazide and galactosazide phenyl thioglycosides

• Vojtěch Hamala,
• Lucie Červenková Šťastná,
• Martin Kurfiřt,
• Petra Cuřínová,
• Martin Dračínský and
• Jindřich Karban

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2021, 17, 1086–1095, doi:10.3762/bjoc.17.85

• thioglycosides was sluggish and incomplete. Protecting the primary hydroxy group at C6 by O-benzylation (Scheme 3, compounds 27–31) was essential before treatment with thioacetic acid; otherwise, an O6-acetylated byproduct was formed. Acetylation of the anomeric hydroxy group occurred only to a very limited

• . Conversion of 1,6-anhydro derivatives into thioglycosides, and a possible mechanism for the formation of C-furanosides by ring contraction. Deoxyfluorination and O-benzylation of thioglycosides and thioaglycone migration. Thioglycoside hydrolysis. Synthesis of the target compounds by azide/acetamide

Stereoselective synthesis and transformation of pinane-based 2-amino-1,3-diols

• Ákos Bajtel,
• Mounir Raji,
• Matti Haukka,
• Ferenc Fülöp and
• Zsolt Szakonyi

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2021, 17, 983–990, doi:10.3762/bjoc.17.80

• ). The LAH reduction of oxazolidine 17 gave N-benzyl-N-methyl analogue 18 which, alternatively, was prepared directly from 2-oxazolidinone 9 via N-benzylation followed by LAH reduction in 2 steps. When compound 13 was reacted with phenylisothiocyanate, thiourea 20 was obtained, which underwent a

Total synthesis of decarboxyaltenusin

• Lucas Warmuth,
• Aaron Weiß,
• Marco Reinhardt,
• Anna Meschkov,
• Ute Schepers and
• Joachim Podlech

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2021, 17, 224–228, doi:10.3762/bjoc.17.22

• the product with 55% yield. The O-benzylation of phenol 8 furnishing the bromide 9b was accomplished with virtually quantitative yield. Suzuki coupling of the benzyl-protected compounds 6b and 9b led to biaryl 10b with 89% yield; it was deprotected with palladium on charcoal under eight bar hydrogen

Progress in the total synthesis of inthomycins

• Bidyut Kumar Senapati

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2021, 17, 58–82, doi:10.3762/bjoc.17.7

• C ((+)-3) and inthomycin C ((−)-3) using Hatakeyama’s enynol intermediate 82b (Scheme 15) [66]. The synthesis commenced with the benzylation of (R)-pantolactone 108a to produce (+)-109a in 85% yield. Next, treatment of (+)-109a with N,O-dimethylhydroxylamine hydrochloride, and an excess of MeMgBr

Recent developments in enantioselective photocatalysis

• Callum Prentice,
• James Morrisson,
• Andrew D. Smith and
• Eli Zysman-Colman

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 2363–2441, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.197

• carboxylic acids 155 with alkenes 156. A low yielding benzylation reaction was required for determination of enantioselectivities and a large excess of alkene was required for the reaction. The reaction is proposed to proceed via hydrogen-bonded complex 157, that lowers the triplet energy of the carboxylic

Access to highly substituted oxazoles by the reaction of α-azidochalcone with potassium thiocyanate

• Mysore Bhyrappa Harisha,
• Pandi Dhanalakshmi,
• Rajendran Suresh,
• Raju Ranjith Kumar and
• Shanmugam Muthusubramanian

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 2108–2118, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.178

• also obtained from 3m. S-Methylation of 3m was achieved in 91% yield with methyl iodide in the presence of NaH/THF and the S-benzylation has been carried out by a similar procedure (Scheme 5). To derive the mechanism of the reaction, a few control experiments have been executed (Scheme 6). Initially

Selective preparation of tetrasubstituted fluoroalkenes by fluorine-directed oxetane ring-opening reactions

• Clément Q. Fontenelle,
• Thibault Thierry,
• Romain Laporte,
• Emmanuel Pfund and
• Thierry Lequeux

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 1936–1946, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.160

• Smiles rearrangement occurred leading to fluoroethylene and benzothiazolone. Therefore, its benzylation was explored under acidic conditions with benzyl trichloroacetimidate (1.5 equiv) and a catalytic amount of trifluoromethanesulfonic acid. This gave benzyl ether 7 as a 2.5:1 mixture with N

Synthesis of Streptococcus pneumoniae serotype 9V oligosaccharide antigens

• Sharavathi G. Parameswarappa,
• Claney L. Pereira and
• Peter H. Seeberger

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 1693–1699, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.140

• mannosamine was obtained from 33, that in turn was a product of the benzylation of 32. Cleavage of the benzylidene group in 33 yielded 34 that was selectively acetylated at the primary alcohol at low temperature to obtain 35 [30]. The subsequent removal of the benzyl groups using hydrogenation with Pd/C in an