Formaldehyde surrogates in multicomponent reactions

• Cecilia I. Attorresi,
• Javier A. Ramírez and
• Bernhard Westermann

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 564–595, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.45

• –Alder reaction between an imine and an alkene (Scheme 6). Very successfully, the multicomponent version of the Povarov reaction using aldehydes, anilines, and alkenes has been explored in a three-component cascade reaction to quinolines [28][29][30][31] (Scheme 6). Furthermore, protocols have been

• various substitution patterns in the aromatic ring, allowing a high variety of quinolines of general structure I and II. In a related work, quinolines of structure I (Scheme 8) could be obtained by similar reaction pathways. Jadhav et al. proposed a three-component cascade reaction between anilines

• all of these authors confirmed, after analyzing the position of the deuterium atoms in the final compound, that the methylene unit incorporated into the heterocycle came from DMSO. In the case of pyrazole synthesis, Guo et al. proposed a three-component cascade reaction of enaminones, hydrazines, and

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

• organocatalytic synthesis of 2-cyclohexen-1-ones via a Michael/Michael/retro-Michael cascade reaction [31]. Our research has shown that the Jørgensen–Hayashi catalyst [32][33] is a highly promising organocatalyst, facilitating enantioselective Michael addition reactions with high yields and excellent levels of

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

• -fluorobenzene (see Scheme 2 and Supporting Information File 1 for details). Copper(I)-catalyzed three-component coupling reaction of alkyne 8, THIQ 9, and benzaldehyde, proceeded with exquisite control of regioselectivity to afford 10 in an excellent yield of 92% [43][44][45][46]. This efficient cascade

• 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

Cu(OTf)₂-catalyzed multicomponent reactions

• Sara Colombo,
• Camilla Loro,
• Egle M. Beccalli,
• Gianluigi Broggini and
• Marta Papis

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 122–145, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.7

• directly to the alkene, then reacts with the nucleophile to afford product 7. The regioselective 1,2-difunctionalization of allyl alcohol has been developed as a three-component cascade reaction using arenes and sulfonamides as nucleophiles to achieve arylation/hydroamination processes. The reaction

• cascade reaction for the preparation of α-alkoxy-N-alkyltriazoles 44 that was developed starting from aliphatic aldehydes, alcohols, TMSN3 as azide source and alkynes (Scheme 33) [52]. The reaction occurs under mild conditions in acetonitrile at room temperature but is inhibited when using aromatic

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 final step of the reaction, ring opening by the C–C bond cleavage yields the desired product 203. The first phosphoric acid C39-catalyzed asymmetric cycloaddition–elimination cascade reaction of 2-naphthol or phenol enamide derivatives 204 with azonaphthalenes 205 was done by Xu et al. in 2021

Synthesis of acenaphthylene-fused heteroarenes and polyoxygenated benzo[j]fluoranthenes via a Pd-catalyzed Suzuki–Miyaura/C–H arylation cascade

• Merve Yence,
• Dilgam Ahmadli,
• Damla Surmeli,
• Umut Mert Karacaoğlu,
• Sujit Pal and
• Yunus Emre Türkmen

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 3290–3298, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.273

• )-catalyzed [2 + 2 + 2] cycloaddition reactions with 1,8-dialkynylnaphthalenes to access azafluoranthenes and 2-pyridone-fused naphthalenes [27]. In 2017, we reported a Pd-catalyzed cascade reaction that involves a sequential Suzuki–Miyaura cross-coupling and a subsequent intramolecular C–H arylation between

• methodology, the previously known naphthalene dibromide 14 was prepared in two steps from 1,8-DHN (19) [56] serving as the second coupling partner. The Pd-catalyzed cascade reaction between 14 and 22 afforded the targeted benzo[j]fluoranthene 18 in 52% yield. Overall, the synthesis of 18, which was used as

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

• -isothiocyanatooxindole. Cinchona-derived thiourea-catalyzed stereoselective (3 + 2)/(4 + 2) cascade reaction of α,β-unsaturated imines and 3-isothiocyanatooxindole. Enantioselective bifunctional squaramide-catalyzed formal [4 + 2] cycloaddition of malononitrile with benzofuran-derived azadienes. Bifunctional squaramide

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

• (R = EWG-C6H4, E = PhS and PhTe) in moderate to high yields [30]. Very few examples of intermolecular cascade reactions with imidoyl radicals as key intermediates have been reported. The intermolecular cascade reaction of diselenide, electron-deficient acetylene, and isocyanide under photoirradiation

From perfluoroalkyl aryl sulfoxides to ortho thioethers

• Yang Li,
• Guillaume Dagousset,
• Emmanuel Magnier and
• Bruce Pégot

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 2108–2113, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.181

• study, many research groups described a strategy for ortho-C–H functionalization of aryl sulfoxides with various nucleophiles via a cascade reaction of interrupted Pummerer reaction/sigmatropic rearrangement (Scheme 1a) [6][7][8][9][10][11]. A large range of nucleophiles, such as phenols [12][13][14][15

Diastereoselective synthesis of highly substituted cyclohexanones and tetrahydrochromene-4-ones via conjugate addition of curcumins to arylidenemalonates

• Deepa Nair,
• Abhishek Tiwari,
• Banamali Laha and
• Irishi N. N. Namboothiri

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 2016–2023, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.177

• substrates in the cascade reaction of curcumins employing a biphasic solvent system for the synthesis of highly functionalized cyclohexanones and tetrahydrochromenes. In view of the above, we report herein cascade double and triple Michael reactions of curcumins with arylidenemalonates in the presence of a

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

• /domino reaction, one-pot stepwise synthesis and multicomponent reaction. In the one-pot cascade reaction, the complexity of heterocycles was achieved due to the presence of functional groups formed in the GBB reaction which allow further reactions to occur. In the case of one-pot stepwise synthesis, the

• into pentacycles 67. The same products were obtained when CoBr2 was used as external oxidant in the one-pot cascade reaction (Scheme 24, conditions b). No substantial improvement in the yields of 67 and 69 was observed when the synthesis was carried out in two steps, performing the GBB reaction under

• provide the ammonium 77. The intermediate 77 underwent Steven rearrangement to give a bridged polyheterocycle 78 in 28% yield. Unlike the previous examples, Jeong et al. [60] developed a cascade reaction by installing the additional ring prior to the GBB reaction (Scheme 26). The bifunctional 2-(2

Syntheses and medicinal chemistry of spiro heterocyclic steroids

• Laura L. Romero-Hernández,
• Ana Isabel Ahuja-Casarín,
• Penélope Merino-Montiel,
• Sara Montiel-Smith,
• José Luis Vega-Báez and
• Jesús Sandoval-Ramírez

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 1713–1745, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.152

• reported the formation of an α,α-dicyanoalkene from dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) and its efficient transformation to dienamides 15 in a single step via a cascade reaction [15][16]. The construction of the β-lactam ring involved a cascade 4-endo N-cyclization/aerobic oxidation sequence in presence of

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

• tylactone (4), the combination of two large PKS modules with synthetic substrate mimics facilitated the multistep cascade reaction including carbon chain extension, installation of chiral centers, and macrolactonization in one pot (Scheme 7 and Scheme 8). Moreover, the "site- and stereoselective late-stage

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

• in the Full Research Paper by Nath and co-workers. The newly synthesized porphyrin derivatives displayed significant red-shifted absorption and emission compared to simple meso-tetraarylporphyrins [14]. The Carlone group reports an Enders-type triple cascade reaction toward cyclohexenals, using

Copper-catalyzed multicomponent reaction of β-trifluoromethyl β-diazo esters enabling the synthesis of β-trifluoromethyl N,N-diacyl-β-amino esters

• Youlong Du,
• Haibo Mei,
• Ata Makarem,
• Ramin Javahershenas,
• Vadim A. Soloshonok and
• Jianlin Han

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 212–219, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.21

• example, Wan and co-workers developed a cascade reaction of α-diazo esters, nitriles, and carboxylic acids via the generation of nitrile ylides and Mumm rearrangement affording unsymmetric diacyl α-amino acid esters as products (Scheme 1a) [39]. In 2017, Zhang, Hu, and co-workers developed a Cu-catalyzed

• . Conclusion In summary, a series of new β-trifluoromethyl β-diazo esters have been designed, which are applied for the first time in a cascade reaction through an interrupted esterification with nitrile ylides as the key intermediates under copper-catalysis conditions. Varieties of unsymmetric trifluoromethyl

Visible-light-induced radical cascade cyclization: a catalyst-free synthetic approach to trifluoromethylated heterocycles

• Chuan Yang,
• Wei Shi,
• Jian Tian,
• Lin Guo,
• Yating Zhao and
• Wujiong Xia

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 118–124, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.12

• enables a rapid access to heterocycles containing a trifluoromethyl group. Keywords: cascade reaction; indole derivatives; photocatalysis; radical chain process; trifluoromethylation; Introduction Dihydropyrido[1,2-a]indolone (DHPI) skeletons are commonly found in natural products and pharmaceutical

• usually occur under mild conditions, they typically require expensive metal-based photocatalysts or structurally complex organic dyes [18]. Therefore, the development of a photoinduced cascade reaction without the need of additional catalysts or additives remains highly desirable [19]. The introduction of

• derivatives. UV–vis spectra of substrates; [1a] 0.33 M, [2a] 0.11 M. Selected works for the construction of dihydropyrido[1,2-a]indolones and current methodology. Substrate scope of the cascade reaction. Radical trapping experiment. Plausible reaction mechanism. Optimization of reaction conditions.a

Cycloaddition reactions of heterocyclic azides with 2-cyanoacetamidines as a new route to C,N-diheteroarylcarbamidines

• Pavel S. Silaichev,
• Tetyana V. Beryozkina,
• Vsevolod V. Melekhin,
• Valeriy O. Filimonov,
• Andrey N. Maslivets,
• Vladimir G. Ilkin,
• Wim Dehaen and
• Vasiliy A. Bakulev

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 17–24, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.3

• , entries 2‒7) showed that the use of 100 mol % of DBU is optimal for the selective synthesis of triazole 3a in high yield (Table 1, entries 4 and 5). A study of the reaction medium revealed that common organic solvents are highly efficient for this cascade reaction (Table 1, entries 1‒11). Among the

Functional characterisation of twelve terpene synthases from actinobacteria

• Anuj K. Chhalodia,
• Houchao Xu,
• Georges B. Tabekoueng,
• Binbin Gu,
• Kizerbo A. Taizoumbe,
• Lukas Lauterbach and
• Jeroen S. Dickschat

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 1386–1398, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.100

• either through diphosphate abstraction (for type I terpene synthases) or protonation of the substrate (type II terpene synthases). The resulting cationic species can then react in a cascade reaction via a series of cationic intermediates involving cyclisations, hydride or proton shifts, and skeletal

Acetaldehyde in the Enders triple cascade reaction via acetaldehyde dimethyl acetal

• Alessandro Brusa,
• Debora Iapadre,
• Maria Edith Casacchia,
• Alessio Carioscia,
• Giuliana Giorgianni,
• Giandomenico Magagnano,
• Fabio Pesciaioli and
• Armando Carlone

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 1243–1250, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.92

• organic synthesis to build complex scaffolds starting from simple starting materials. The Enders three-component cascade reaction was a cornerstone in the field and a plethora of organocatalyzed cascade reactions followed. However, acetaldehyde was not shown as a successful reaction partner, probably

• because of its high reactivity. Herein, we report the Enders-type cascade reaction using acetaldehyde dimethyl acetal, as a masked form of acetaldehyde. This strategy directly converts acetaldehyde, nitroalkenes and enals into stereochemically dense cyclohexenals in good yield and excellent

• enantioselectivity. Keywords: acetaldehyde; acetaldehyde dimethyl acetal; cascade reaction; multicomponent reaction; organocatalysis; Introduction Multicomponent reactions (MCRs) are chemical processes that involve three or more compounds, in which the product contains all the atoms of the reagents, except for

Selective construction of dispiro[indoline-3,2'-quinoline-3',3''-indoline] and dispiro[indoline-3,2'-pyrrole-3',3''-indoline] via three-component reaction

• Ziying Xiao,
• Fengshun Xu,
• Jing Sun and
• Chao-Guo Yan

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 1234–1242, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.91

• substituent. A plausible reaction mechanism is proposed to explain the formation of the different spirooxindoles. Keywords: cascade reaction; dimedone; isatin; 3-methyleneoxindole; multicomponent reaction; spirooxindole; Introduction Spirooxindole is one important privileged structural skeleton and is found

Photoredox catalysis harvesting multiple photon or electrochemical energies

• Mattia Lepori,
• Simon Schmid and
• Joshua P. Barham

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 1055–1145, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.81

• partners. The scope of the protocol was further expanded to a radical cyclization/aminocarbonylation cascade reaction yielding the bis-carbonylated α-keto amide 26h in 31% yield. 2.1.2 C(sp3)–X activation: The generation of alkyl radicals using alkyl halides as precursors proves very challenging due their

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

• . The products 16 were achieved with excellent enantioselectivites which were attributed to an attractive interaction between the indole ring and the anthracene substituent of the catalyst’s framework (Scheme 5) [29]. In 2018, Piersanti and co-workers developed a phosphoric acid-catalyzed cascade

• reaction proceeding through aza-Friedel–Crafts reaction and lactonization steps. Main focus of this article was to demonstrate a racemic process between α-naphthol or phenol derivatives and in situ-generated N-acetyl ketimine from methyl 2-acetamidoacrylate (18) in the course of preparing 3-NHAc

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

• Alessio Regni Francesca Bartoccini Giovanni Piersanti Department of Biomolecular Sciences, University of Urbino, Carlo Bo Piazza Rinascimento 6, 61029 Urbino, PU, Italy 10.3762/bjoc.19.70 Abstract An unusual photoredox-catalyzed radical decarboxylative cyclization cascade reaction of γ,γ

• different classes of ergot alkaloids. (b) and (c) Strategies for the photoredox-catalyzed radical decarboxylative cyclization cascade reaction of DMAT derivatives (this work). Proposed reaction mechanism for photoredox-catalyzed radical decarboxylative cyclization. Proposed reaction mechanism for photoredox

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

• structurally different Michael acceptors were successfully applied. Their work also included a 3 mmol scale-up (62%, 87% ee, dr >20:1) and various derivatizations of the Mannich products. Furthermore, they have also attempted a multi-electrophile cascade reaction, which harnesses the nucleophilic nature of the

Synthesis and reactivity of azole-based iodazinium salts

• Thomas J. Kuczmera,
• Annalena Dietz,
• Andreas Boelke and
• Boris J. Nachtsheim

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 317–324, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.27

• both C–I bonds giving the iodinated N-arylbenzimidazoles 6a and 6b as a mixture with 54% and 25% yield [37]. A ring opening/closing cascade reaction with elemental sulfur resulted in the formation of the imidazo[4,5,1-kl]phenothiazine (7a) in 47% yield. The corresponding phenoselenazine 7b and the