Rh(III)-catalyzed chelation-assisted C–H activation/annulation of 2-arylimidazolines with cyclic diazo-1,3-dicarbonyl compounds: a novel approach to tetracyclic annulated derivatives of 2,3-dihydroimidazo[2,1-a]isoquinoline

• Ivan Lyutin,
• Grigory Kantin,
• Olga Bakulina and
• Dmitry Dar'in

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2026, 22, 997–1003, doi:10.3762/bjoc.22.78

• obtaining structurally related 5,6-disubstituted 2,3-dihydroimidazo[2,1-a]isoquinolines 4 (Figure 1c) fused with an additional ring via a Rh(III)-catalyzed chelation-assisted C–H activation/annulation with diazo compounds. 2-Arylimidazolines 2 and various substituted cyclic 1,3-dicarbonyl diazo compounds 3

• -a]isoquinoline core. Results and Discussion All necessary substrates for the developed approach were easily accessed via standard procedures: diazo compounds 3 were obtained [24] using the Regitz diazo transfer for corresponding commercially available 1,3-dicarbonyl compounds with arylsulfonyl

• , as we were unable to find any published successful examples of Rh(III)-catalyzed chelation-assisted C–H activation/annulation with diazo compounds when such heterocyclic substrates were used as CH-components. Substitution at position 4 of the imidazoline ring with a methyl group resulted in the

Cascade transformation of 2-(diazoacetyl)-2H-azirines to 2-aroyl-3-hydroxy-1H-pyrroles via condensation with aromatic aldehydes

• Timur O. Zanakhov,
• Ekaterina E. Galenko,
• Mikhail S. Novikov and
• Alexander F. Khlebnikov

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2026, 22, 897–904, doi:10.3762/bjoc.22.70

• [4.1.0]heptan-5-one derivative. The acid-catalyzed transformation of which leads to 2-aroyl-3-hydroxy-1H-pyrroles. Keywords: azirines; condensation; cyclization; diazo compounds; pyrroles; Introduction Diazo compounds play a significant role in the synthesis of heterocyclic compounds, which explains

• the ever-growing structural diversity of such molecules and the variety of their transformation pathways [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10]. Azirinyl-substituted diazo compounds, which we have recently introduced into the heterocyclic synthesis arsenal [11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19], are

• ][18], and heterocyclic hybrids [11][19]. However, the diversity of known azirinyl-substituted diazo compounds is currently limited to diazo ketones [11][12][13][15], 2-(diazoacetyl)-2H-azirines, α-diazo-β-ketoesters [14][16][17][18][19], and alkyl 2-diazo-3-oxo-3-(2H-azirin-2-yl)propanoates

Site-specific labelling of native peptides and proteins: chemical and enzymatic strategies

• Antonio Angelastro,
• Jonathan Bargh,
• Subhajit Guria,
• Victor Laserna and
• Louis Luk

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2026, 22, 857–881, doi:10.3762/bjoc.22.67

• thiophosphorodichloridate reagents 25, as shown with hexahistidine-tagged proteins (Scheme 9d) [94]. Aspartate and glutamate, while weakly nucleophilic, can undergo O-alkylation via diazo compounds 26 (Scheme 9e) [95][96]. Arginine, traditionally difficult to modify due to its high pKa values, can be targeted with

Synthesis of heterocycles based on azomethine ylides from α-amino acids (or amines) and carbonyl compounds

• Ekaterina V. Berezhnaya,
• Alexander I. Ponyaev,
• Vitali M. Boitsov and
• Alexander V. Stepakov

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2026, 22, 705–741, doi:10.3762/bjoc.22.55

• aromatic ring, as well as heterosubstituted alkenes and polyenes, are also known [30][31][32]. The review [33] examines the reactions of 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition of cyclopropenes with various dipoles, such as diazo compounds, azides, azomethine imines, nitrones, azomethine ylides, carbonyl ylides, etc. At

Arene activation via π-bond localization: concepts and opportunities

• Paul Meiners,
• Julian J. Melder and
• Tobias Morack

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2026, 22, 257–273, doi:10.3762/bjoc.22.19

• η3-benzyl intermediates from aryl halides in combination with diazo compounds (Scheme 7B) [89][90]. Oxidative addition of the halide to palladium is followed by carbene formation, and facile migratory insertion to generate the η3-benzyl complex. In analogy to Bao’s protocol, this intermediate then

An Fe(II)-catalyzed synthesis of spiro[indoline-3,2'-pyrrolidine] derivatives

• Elizaveta V. Gradova,
• Nikita A. Ozhegov,
• Roman O. Shcherbakov,
• Alexander G. Tkachenko,
• Larisa Y. Nesterova,
• Elena Y. Mendogralo and
• Maxim G. Uchuskin

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 2383–2388, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.183

• cyclization. Subsequently Zhong et al. reported a catalytic asymmetric variant, affording spirooxindoles in high yields with excellent enantioselectivity [8]. An alternative approach employing vinyl azides involves a Rh(II)-catalyzed olefination of diazo compounds, followed by annulation with vinyl azides to

Rhodium-catalysed connective synthesis of diverse reactive probes bearing S(VI) electrophilic warheads

• Scott Rice,
• Julian Chesti,
• William R. T. Mosedale,
• Megan H. Wright,
• Stephen P. Marsden,
• Terry K. Smith and
• Adam Nelson

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 1924–1931, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.150

• from diazo compounds 1, 2 and 3) against T. brucei in 96-well plate format (final concentrations: ≈2–50 μM). Four sulfonyl fluorides were found to have promising activity: 2-5 (EC50: 9.38 ± 0.06 μM); 2-6 (EC50: 6.81 ± 0.07 μM); 2-14 (EC50: 9.26 ± 0.06 μM) and 2-15a (EC50: 11.9 ± 0.2 μM). It is notable

Oxetanes: formation, reactivity and total syntheses of natural products

• Peter Gabko,
• Martin Kalník and
• Maroš Bella

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 1324–1373, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.101

Recent advances in controllable/divergent synthesis

• Jilei Cao,
• Leiyang Bai and
• Xuefeng Jiang

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 890–914, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.73

• successfully applied in the synthesis of complex natural products, pharmaceuticals, and functional materials, often streamlining multistep sequences and minimizing protecting-group strategies [50][51]. In 2016, Li and co-workers developed divergent coupling conditions for iminamides 77 with receptor-type diazo

• compounds 78 or 79 under ruthenium catalysis, generating indoles 81 and 3H-indoles 80, respectively (Scheme 21) [52]. α-Diazo-β-ketoesters form indoles by cleaving the C(N₂)–C(acyl) bond, while diazomalonates form 3H-indoles through C–N-bond cleavage. Mechanistically, the cyclometalation of iminamides

Direct trifluoroethylation of carbonyl sulfoxonium ylides using hypervalent iodine compounds

• Radell Echemendía,
• Carlee A. Montgomery,
• Fabio Cuzzucoli,
• Antonio C. B. Burtoloso and
• Graham K. Murphy

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 3182–3190, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.263

• the ethyl or ethoxy groups and therefore it is very attractive for applications in medicinal chemistry and related areas [10][11][12][13]. α-Carbonyl sulfoxonium ylides are well recognized as more stable and more easily handled surrogates of diazo compounds [14][15]. They have also emerged as

Advances in radical peroxidation with hydroperoxides

• Oleg V. Bityukov,
• Pavel Yu. Serdyuchenko,
• Andrey S. Kirillov,
• Gennady I. Nikishin,
• Vera A. Vil’ and
• Alexander O. Terent’ev

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 2959–3006, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.249

• -centered radical F, which recombines with the tert-butylperoxy radical E to form product 109. The various γ-peroxy esters 115 were synthesized from alkenes 113, diazo compounds 114 and TBHP in the presence of Cu(NO3)2 (Scheme 39) [96]. The diazo compounds 114 act as the source of the ketone moiety. The

Multicomponent syntheses of pyrazoles via (3 + 2)-cyclocondensation and (3 + 2)-cycloaddition key steps

• Ignaz Betcke,
• Alissa C. Götzinger,
• Maryna M. Kornet and
• Thomas J. J. Müller

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 2024–2077, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.178

• reactions in heterocycle synthesis [163][164] and certainly also for substituted pyrazoles. Four classes of 1,3-dipoles are considered as synthetic equivalents for the CN2 synthon: diazo compounds [165], nitrilimines [166], sydnones [167], and azomethinimines [168]. These intermediates undergo (3 + 2

• in situ preparation of diazo compounds, as the substances are difficult to handle and toxic [170]. Approaches such as nitrogen transfer with tosylhydrazones, use of the Bestmann–Ohira reagent, or transformation of primary amines or azides, among others, represent viable and practical options. Diazo

• preparation of these pyrazoles involves the cycloaddition of diazo compounds generated in situ with (Z)-2-arylidene-2H-benzofuran-3-ones. This reaction yields intermediate spiropyrazolines, which react undergo 1,3-prototropic rearrangement to form the corresponding pyrazoles [175]. Aggarwal's method was also

Harnessing the versatility of hydrazones through electrosynthetic oxidative transformations

• Aurélie Claraz

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 1988–2004, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.175

• access to diazo compounds as either synthetic intermediates or products. A special attention is paid to the reaction mechanism with the aim to encourage further development in this field. Keywords: C–H functionalization; diazo compound; electrosynthesis; hydrazone; nitrogen-containing heterocycle

• the electrochemical oxidative transformations of hydrazones. It is organized in four main parts: (i) synthesis of azacycles, (ii) synthesis of functionalized hydrazones through C(sp2)–H functionalization of aldehyde-derived hydrazones, (iii) access to diazo compounds, and (iv) synthesis of

• (Scheme 26) [76]. Electrochemical access to diazo compounds Diazo compounds are highly useful synthetic reagents in organic chemistry. For instance, they are regularly utilized as 1,3-dipoles in cycloaddition reactions or as precursor of carbenes under thermal, photochemical, and catalytic transition

Manganese-catalyzed C–C and C–N bond formation with alcohols via borrowing hydrogen or hydrogen auto-transfer

• Mohd Farhan Ansari,
• Atul Kumar Maurya,
• Abhishek Kumar and
• Saravanakumar Elangovan

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 1111–1166, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.98

• hydroxy groups and it did not need a prior synthesis of molecularly defined manganese complexes. Recently, Balaraman’s group introduced a new method for N-alkylation with diazo compounds as an amine source and alcohols as alkylating agents via a tandem process using a manganese(I)-PNP pincer complex [47

Palladium-catalyzed three-component radical-polar crossover carboamination of 1,3-dienes or allenes with diazo esters and amines

• Geng-Xin Liu,
• Xiao-Ting Jie,
• Ge-Jun Niu,
• Li-Sheng Yang,
• Xing-Lin Li,
• Jian Luo and
• Wen-Hao Hu

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 661–671, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.59

• electrophilic trapping of onium ylides generated from metal carbenes with nucleophiles, providing an ingenious difunctionalization strategy for diazo compounds to access structurally complex and diverse molecules (Scheme 1b, top) [28][29]. In recent years, radical-mediated MCRs with diazo compounds have become

• reaction of diazo compounds mediated by visible light has been reported by the group of Gevorgyan, which achieves the monofunctionalization of alkenes [52]. Inspired by these collective studies, we considered diazo compounds could be a competent activated alkyl halide equivalent to overcome the synthetic

• limitation of the photoinduced palladium-catalyzed carboamination reactions and the radical-mediated difunctionalization of alkenes with diazo compounds. We envisioned an interesting MCR strategy with mild conditions to access unsaturated γ- and ε-AA derivatives via a π-allyl Pd radical-polar crossover

Entry to new spiroheterocycles via tandem Rh(II)-catalyzed O–H insertion/base-promoted cyclization involving diazoarylidene succinimides

• Alexander Yanovich,
• Anastasia Vepreva,
• Ksenia Malkova,
• Grigory Kantin and
• Dmitry Dar’in

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 561–569, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.48

• towards spirocyclic scaffolds as a goal of great value [6][7][8][9]. A rich synthetic platform for the design of various types of spiroheterocycles is provided by cyclic diazo compounds [10]. Recently, we and others have demonstrated the efficient use of diazoarylidene succinimides (DAS, 1) in the

Synthesis of 2,2-difluoro-1,3-diketone and 2,2-difluoro-1,3-ketoester derivatives using fluorine gas

• Alexander S. Hampton,
• David R. W. Hodgson,
• Graham McDougald,
• Linhua Wang and
• Graham Sandford

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 460–469, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.41

• of diazo compounds using F2 [37] is the only report of a useful synthetic procedure to selectively prepare a difluoromethylene containing product using F2 but, in these cases, CFCs, now banned under the Montreal protocol, were used as the reaction medium. Here, we demonstrate that the addition of

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

• challenging. On the other hand, several interesting transformations of nitrile ylides from diazo compounds have been developed in the past years [31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38]. In particular, acylglycine esters could be easily constructed with ester-containing diazo compounds as the starting materials. For

• esters, which enriches the studied content of fluoroalkyl diazo compounds. Results and Discussion Due to the instability of β-carbonyl diazo compounds and the occurrence of possible side reactions [58][59][60][61], screening of reaction conditions to optimize this conversion and inhibit the occurrence of

• . Stirring was continued at room temperature for 2.5 h and the solvent was removed in vacuum. Products 4 were purified on a TLC plate of 20 cm × 20 cm using petroleum ether/ethyl acetate 7:1 (v/v) as eluent. Mumm-type rearrangement of diazo compounds. Substrate scope study of this Cu-catalyzed reaction

Identification of the p-coumaric acid biosynthetic gene cluster in Kutzneria albida: insights into the diazotization-dependent deamination pathway

• Seiji Kawai,
• Akito Yamada,
• Yohei Katsuyama and
• Yasuo Ohnishi

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 1–11, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.1

• diazotization catalyzed by CmaA6 was much higher than that of AvaA6; almost 100% of 3-ACA and 3-AAA were converted to corresponding aromatic diazo compounds 4 and 8, respectively (Figure 3C). Kinetic analysis of AvaA7 catalyzing denitrification of 3-DAA The high conversion efficiency of 3-AAA (7) to 3-DAA (8

N-Boc-α-diazo glutarimide as efficient reagent for assembling N-heterocycle-glutarimide diads via Rh(II)-catalyzed N–H insertion reaction

• Grigory Kantin,
• Pavel Golubev,
• Alexander Sapegin,
• Alexander Bunev and
• Dmitry Dar’in

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 1841–1848, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.136

• acknowledged to be effective in introducing substituents to the nitrogen atoms of NH-heterocycles by means of carbene insertion into the N–H bond upon catalytic or photolytic decomposition of diazo compounds [25]. Furthermore, the reaction of N-heterocycles containing multiple non-equivalent nitrogen atoms

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

• traditional heating methods. In the meanwhile, Qiu and Xu et al. reported the coupling reaction between diazo compounds 163 and N-sulfenylsuccinimides 1 under catalyst-, base-, and additive-free conditions (Scheme 71) [101]. The reaction proceeded via a radical pathway, in which a free carbene was generated

• HCl-promoted 1,2-thiofunctionalization of aromatic alkenes. Coupling reaction of diazo compounds with N-sulfenylsuccinimides. Multicomponent reactions of disulfides with isocyanides and other nucleophiles. α-Sulfenylation and β-sulfenylation of α,β-unsaturated carbonyl compounds.

First synthesis of acylated nitrocyclopropanes

• Kento Iwai,
• Rikiya Kamidate,
• Khimiya Wada,
• Haruyasu Asahara and
• Nagatoshi Nishiwaki

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 892–900, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.67

• ). These structural features enable the construction of a five-membered ring upon treatment with alkenes [9], diazo compounds (reaction g) [10], and nitriles [11]. Several approaches are available for the synthesis of cyclopropanedicarboxylates 1a, which consist of three steps: 1) conjugate addition, 2

Access to cyclopropanes with geminal trifluoromethyl and difluoromethylphosphonate groups

• Ita Hajdin,
• Romana Pajkert,
• Mira Keßler,
• Jianlin Han,
• Haibo Mei and
• Gerd-Volker Röschenthaler

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 541–549, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.39

• good to very good yields. Keywords: alkenes; cyclopropanation; diazo compounds; difluoromethylphosphonate; DFT calculations; Introduction Cyclopropanes constitute a fascinating class of organic compounds due to their unique structure and bond properties [1]. However, their synthetic utility is

• fluorinated diazo compounds might be rationalized by their low accessibility and high volatility [44]. As a part of our continuing investigations in fluorinated carbene chemistry [45][46][47][48][49], we hypothesized that the synthesis of cyclopropanes with geminal trifluoromethyl and

Practical synthesis of isocoumarins via Rh(III)-catalyzed C–H activation/annulation cascade

• Qian-Ci Gao,
• Yi-Fei Li,
• Jun Xuan and
• Xiao-Qiang Hu

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 100–106, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.10

• ]. Compared with highly sensitive diazo compounds, iodonium ylides are known to show ready availability and good stability [29][30]. Our group has recently demonstrated that iodonium ylides can be used as carbene precursors in the Rh-catalyzed [4 + 2] cyclization of pyrazolidinones [31]. During the

A facile approach to spiro[dihydrofuran-2,3'-oxindoles] via formal [4 + 1] annulation reaction of fused 1H-pyrrole-2,3-diones with diazooxindoles

• Pavel A. Topanov,
• Anna A. Maslivets,
• Maksim V. Dmitriev,
• Irina V. Mashevskaya,
• Yurii V. Shklyaev and
• Andrey N. Maslivets

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2022, 18, 1532–1538, doi:10.3762/bjoc.18.162

• room temperature, therefore, these conditions were taken as a standard for further reactions. Next, the reagent scope of the reaction was explored by involving diazooxindoles 2a–d into the reaction with FPD 1a (Table 2). Compared to substrate 2a, the presence of substituents in diazo compounds 2b–d led

• . Benzoxazine, quinoxaline, and morpholine FPDs were successfully involved into the reaction, with the modification of diazo compounds decreasing the reaction yield. The reaction time of the cycloaddition was found to be independent on substituents in the aroyl moiety of FPDs 1. The described reaction is the

• first example of a catalyst-free formal [4 + 1] cycloaddition reaction of enones and complex diazo compounds. The synthesized compounds 3 have a pharmaceutically interesting fungal metabolites-like structure with a spiro[dihydrofuran-2,3'-oxindole] moiety. Selected examples of biologically active