Recent advances in total synthesis of illisimonin A

• Juan Huang and
• Ming Yang

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 2571–2583, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.199

• into the pentacyclic diene intermediate 93 via a two-step sequence. Subsequent [4 + 2] cycloaddition of 93 with singlet oxygen yielded an unstable endoperoxide adduct 94, which rearranged to diketone 95. A five-step sequence, featuring an intramolecular aldol reaction to assemble the pentacyclic core

Total syntheses of highly oxidative Ryania diterpenoids facilitated by innovations in synthetic strategies

• Zhi-Qi Cao,
• Jin-Bao Qiao and
• Yu-Ming Zhao

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 2553–2570, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.198

• . This work not only demonstrates the efficacy of the titanium-mediated intramolecular alkyne-1,3-diketone coupling but also provides a novel strategic approach for synthesizing natural products within this structural class. The synthesis commenced from commercially available compound 83. Sequential

Transformation of the cyclohexane ring to the cyclopentane fragment of biologically active compounds

• Natalya Akhmetdinova,
• Ilgiz Biktagirov and
• Liliya Kh. Faizullina

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 2416–2446, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.185

• allylic oxidation using H2SeO3-dioxane system to form the C30 aldehyde 47, or by the ozonolytic cleavage of the double bond between C20 and C29 to produce 20-methyl-3-ethyldiketone 48 [36]. Intramolecular nitrile–anionic cyclization of ketone 46 or diketone 48 under conditions of basic catalysis proceeded

• available (+)-sclareolide (101) as starting compound, from which key alcohol 102 was synthesized in 7 steps. Selective mesylation of the secondary alcohol in 102 followed by semipinacol rearrangement catalyzed by t-BuOK afforded diketone 104 as a pair of epimers at C12 in a 1:1 ratio, with 70% overall yield

Recent advances in Norrish–Yang cyclization and dicarbonyl photoredox reactions for natural product synthesis

• Peng-Xi Luo,
• Jin-Xuan Yang,
• Shao-Min Fu and
• Bo Liu

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 2315–2333, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.177

• transformation of 10 via sequential Wittig reaction, dihydroxylation, and Swern oxidation generated 1,2-diketone 12, thus setting the stage for the Norrish–Yang reaction. Finally, irradiation of 12 with a compact fluorescent lamp (CFL) completed (+)-cyclobutastellettolide B (13) as the sole product in 95% yield

Pathway economy in cyclization of 1,n-enynes

• Hezhen Han,
• Wenjie Mao,
• Bin Lin,
• Maosheng Cheng,
• Lu Yang and
• Yongxiang Liu

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 2260–2282, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.173

• 1,3-acyloxy migration, 6-exo-trig cyclization, and 1,5-acyl migration proceeded, affording δ-diketone-substituted cis-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine derivatives 75 (Scheme 16, path a). The phosphine-ligated catalysts promoted an alternative pathway cascade involving 1,3-acyloxy migration, 6-exo-trig

The application of desymmetric enantioselective reduction of cyclic 1,3-dicarbonyl compounds in the total synthesis of terpenoid and alkaloid natural products

• Dong-Xing Tan and
• Fu-She Han

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 2085–2102, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.164

• reduction of diketone 28 for preparing alcohol 30 under the CBS conditions [8] with (S)-29 as the catalyst (Scheme 1) [14]. Notably, this reaction could be performed on multiple gram scales with satisfactory yield (72%) and ee value (92%). Protection of the alcohol group in 30 with TBSCl followed by

• secondary alcohol to a ketone allowed for rapid construction of bicyclic ketone 34 in high overall yield. The oxidative dehydrogenation of 34 gave α,β-unsaturated bicyclic ketone 35 smoothly. Sequential A-ring construction and functional group modifications of 35 produced the diketone 36. Subsequently, 36

• , by employing the same procedures for the synthesis of (−)-cyrneine A (7), the synthesis of (+)-allocyathin B2 (8) could also be achieved smoothly from 52 by utilizing diketone 53 as the intermediate. The diverse syntheses of these terpenoids enabled by the desymmetric enantioselective reduction of

Asymmetric total synthesis of tricyclic prostaglandin D2 metabolite methyl ester via oxidative radical cyclization

• Miao Xiao,
• Liuyang Pu,
• Qiaoli Shang,
• Lei Zhu and
• Jun Huang

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 1964–1972, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.152

• afforded the corresponding alcohol 18 in 89% yield with excellent enantioselectivity (98% ee) [25]. The hydroxy group in 18 was then protected via treatment with TBSCl in the presence of Et3N in CH2Cl2, yielding β-keto ester 15 in 52% yield. With diketone 15 in hand, we subsequently investigated the

• ester 4. Optimization of conditions to convert diketone 15 into cyclopentanone 14.a Supporting Information Supporting Information File 42: Experimental procedures, characterization data and copies of 1H and 13C NMR spectra. Acknowledgements We thank Prof. Zhen Yang (Peking University) for helpful

Enantioselective desymmetrization strategy of prochiral 1,3-diols in natural product synthesis

• Lihua Wei,
• Rui Yang,
• Zhifeng Shi and
• Zhiqiang Ma

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 1932–1963, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.151

• between 80 and 81 gave diester 82. Through a ten-step sequence including an aza-Michael reaction, diester 82 was converted into diketone 83, which was further transformed into (−)-petrosin (84) via RCM reaction and hydrogenation. For the synthesis of (+)-petrosin (86) (Scheme 13b), a similar strategy was

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 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

• cyclopentane ring, dihydroxylation, and oxidation of the diol to a diketone, produced intermediate 25 in its enol form. From this common intermediate, regioselective etherification at the less hindered position formed an enol ether. Final reduction of both the amide and the ketone using alane completed the

Three-component reactions of conjugated dienes, CH acids and formaldehyde under diffusion mixing conditions

• Dmitry E. Shybanov,
• Maxim E. Kukushkin,
• Eugene V. Babaev,
• Nikolai V. Zyk and
• Elena K. Beloglazkina

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 262–269, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.18

• Interaction of 1,3-diketone 1 with formaldehyde First, we investigated the ability of formaldehyde to interact with 1,3-diketone 1 using the diffusion mixing technique. For this purpose, we carried out a series of reactions in a very simple device consisting of a large vial with formalin, inside which we

• %, respectively, when carrying out the reaction in chloroform or methanol over two days (Table 1, entries 3 and 7). In turn, in a system of two vials with diameters of 3.7 and 7.5 cm, and with a loading of diketone 1 that was five times greater, more than two thirds of the starting compound reacted within 24 h

• (Table 1, entries 11 and 13). Apparently, an increase in the surface area of the reaction solution promoted more efficient absorption of CH2O molecules, which accelerated the condensation reaction. The reaction of formaldehyde and diketone 1 in chloroform and acetonitrile predominantly led to diketo

Recent advances in electrochemical copper catalysis for modern organic synthesis

• Yemin Kim and
• Won Jun Jang

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 155–178, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.9

• anodic oxidation of chloride ions, thus replacing stoichiometric chemical oxidants. This catalytic electrochemical chlorination method is suitable for β-ketoesters 68 with electron-withdrawing or electron-donating groups on aryl substituents, as well as for β-diketone, and β-ketoamides. In 2020, Fang

Surprising acidity for the methylene of 1,3-indenocorannulenes?

• Shi Liu,
• Märt Lõkov,
• Sofja Tshepelevitsh,
• Ivo Leito,
• Kim K. Baldridge and
• Jay S. Siegel

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 3144–3150, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.260

• compounds tend to deprotonate to form highly stable anions. The air stability of TBF conforms to that model. In contrast, although the dianion of BFC can be generated with tert-butoxide under inert atmosphere, in the presence of water it quenches and exposed to oxygen it oxidizes to form the diketone

Mechanochemical difluoromethylations of ketones

• Jinbo Ke,
• Pit van Bonn and
• Carsten Bolm

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 2799–2805, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.235

• ketones reacted well too. Accordingly, 3j was obtained in 42% yield. Enone 1k gave 3k in 51% yield, and after isolation by column chromatography the product was obtained in 13% yield. Difluoromethyl enol ether 3l was formed from diketone 1l in 25% yield. Finally, conversions of the two cyclic ketones 1m

Heterocycle-guided synthesis of m-hetarylanilines via three-component benzannulation

• Andrey R. Galeev,
• Maksim V. Dmitriev,
• Alexander S. Novikov and
• Andrey N. Maslivets

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 2208–2216, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.188

• -diketones has been developed. The electron-withdrawing power of the heterocyclic substituent (which can be estimated on the basis of calculated Hammett constants) in the 1,3-diketone plays a pivotal role in the studied reaction. The series of meta-hetarylanilines prepared (21–85% isolated yield

• ) demonstrates the synthetic utility of the developed method. Keywords: aniline; benzannulation; condensation; 1,3-diketone; Hammett constants; terphenyl; Introduction The aniline moiety is omnipresent in the synthetic chemistry with applications ranging from building blocks to catalysis [1][2][3][4]. Among

• interrupted Kröhnke reaction (Scheme 1B) [51][52]. The main step of this process is an intermolecular cyclization of the formed 1,5-diketone followed by aromatization. Previously we have shown that 1,3-diketones bearing an electron-withdrawing group (EWG) adjacent to one of the carbonyls readily react with in

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

• approach was also used to synthesize pyrazoles since the intermediary-formed diketone 18 forms the corresponding pyrazoles 17 in a Knorr reaction with 2-hydrazinyl-4-phenylthiazoles 15 in a one-pot process (Scheme 4) [52]. Piperidine was used as a catalyst for the Knoevenagel condensation. Remarkably

Synthesis of polycyclic aromatic quinones by continuous flow electrochemical oxidation: anodic methoxylation of polycyclic aromatic phenols (PAPs)

• Hiwot M. Tiruye,
• Solon Economopoulos and
• Kåre B. Jørgensen

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 1746–1757, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.153

• aromatic hydrocarbons; Introduction Quinones and their derivatives are applied in various fields such as chemical, environmental, and pharmaceutical industries [1][2][3][4]. Their cyclic diketone structures can easily transform into intramolecular unsaturated structures, and their distinct physical

Kinetically stabilized 1,3-diarylisobenzofurans and the possibility of preparing large, persistent isoacenofurans with unusually small HOMO–LUMO gaps

• Qian Liu and
• Glen P. Miller

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 1099–1110, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.97

• congestion to the highly reactive 1,3-carbons on the furan ring. Thus, phthaloyl chloride was reacted with mesitylene or 1,3,5-triethylbenzene to produce the corresponding diketones 21 and 22. Each diketone was in turn reacted with zinc metal in glacial acetic acid [9] to afford the corresponding 1,3

• substituents, respectively, were also attempted but without success. In these cases, the sterically congesting ortho isopropyl and tert-butyl groups stymie the Friedel–Crafts acylation step leading to diketone (Scheme 1). Experimental and computational studies of 1,3-diarylisoacenofurans Purified

Structure–property relationships in dicyanopyrazinoquinoxalines and their hydrogen-bonding-capable dihydropyrazinoquinoxalinedione derivatives

• Tural N. Akhmedov,
• Ajeet Kumar,
• Daken J. Starkenburg,
• Kyle J. Chesney,
• Khalil A. Abboud,
• Novruz G. Akhmedov,
• Jiangeng Xue and
• Ronald K. Castellano

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 1037–1052, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.92

• high reactivity of intermediate 7a (Scheme 4). After optimizing the successful synthesis of alkoxylated and diketone derivatives of 7a, we were intrigued to investigate whether other dicyanopyrazinoquinoxaline derivatives could undergo a similar transformation. To assess the efficacy of the reaction

(Bio)isosteres of ortho- and meta-substituted benzenes

• H. Erik Diepers and
• Johannes C. L. Walker

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 859–890, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.78

• ), deprotection, decarboxylation, oxidation, nitrogen extrusion (to cyclobutadiene) and Diels–Alder reaction yielded annulated tricycle 164. Further intramolecular [2 + 2] cycloaddition formed cubane precursor 165. From diketone 165, 1,3-cubane 166 was obtained by Favorskii ring contraction followed by

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

• agents offers an alternative fluorination route, for example, the reactions of MeCN solutions of 1,3-diketones with electrophilic fluorinating agents such as Selectfluor eventually give the corresponding 2,2-difluoro-1,3-diketone derivatives [12]. Monofluorination of the 1,3-diketone substrates is rapid

• , but the second fluorination step occurs only after reaction for several days. In the solid phase, mechanical milling of the diketone substrate with solid Selectfluor in the presence of sodium carbonate [13][14], and reaction of ketones with a strong base and an N–F reagent give rise to the

• corresponding 2,2-difluoroketones [15]. In related kinetic studies concerning the electrophilic 2-fluorination of 1,3-diketones with Selectfluor [16][17], we demonstrated that the rate-determining step for difluorination was enolization of the intermediate 2-fluoro-1,3-diketone. Monofluorination of 1,3

Synthesis of π-conjugated polycyclic compounds by late-stage extrusion of chalcogen fragments

• Aissam Okba,
• Pablo Simón Marqués,
• Kyohei Matsuo,
• Naoki Aratani,
• Hiroko Yamada,
• Gwénaël Rapenne and
• Claire Kammerer

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 287–305, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.30

• bidimensional structures such as starphenes [34] from custom-made stable and soluble precursors. Interestingly, extrusion of CO from mono- or α-diketone precursors has also been achieved on metallic surfaces under ultra-high vacuum (UHV) conditions upon thermal annealing, photoirradiation or activation by the

1-Butyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate as suitable solvent for BF₃: the case of alkyne hydration. Chemistry vs electrochemistry

• Marta David,
• Elisa Galli,
• Richard C. D. Brown,
• Marta Feroci,
• Fabrizio Vetica and
• Martina Bortolami

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 1966–1981, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.147

• alkyne group, in low yield (39%), with the majority of the starting alkyne being recovered (46%) (see Table S2, Supporting Information File 1). Increasing the amount of electrogenerated BF3 by applying 4 F/mol and extending the reaction time (5 h) reversed the selectivity in favour of the diketone 2jj

Synthesis of tetrahydrofuro[3,2-c]pyridines via Pictet–Spengler reaction

• Elena Y. Mendogralo and
• Maxim G. Uchuskin

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 991–997, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.74

• of some of the products was investigated and selected synthetic transformations of the obtained tetrahydrofuro[3,2-c]pyridines were shown. Keywords: acid hydrolysis; 1,4-diketone; tetrahydrofuro[3,2-c]pyridines; Paal–Knorr reaction; Pictet–Spengler reaction; Introduction Hydrogenated furo[3,2-c

• hydrolysis of 4a was observed in most cases in trace amounts; an exception is entry 18 (Table 1), in which the 1,4-diketone 5a was isolated in 10% yield. With the optimized reaction conditions in hand, we investigated the scope of the developed tetrahydrofuro[3,2-c]pyridine synthesis. We found that a wide

• optimized reaction conditions, in addition to the desired tetrahydrofuro[3,2-c]pyridine (4h), led to the major formation of the corresponding 1,4-diketone 5h. This unexpected formation of 3-(2-oxopropyl)piperidin-4-one (5h) led us to the idea that the tandem sequence Pictet–Spengler cyclization/furan acid

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

• was not given for the different coupling constants between diester 1a and diketone 1b’. In the 13C NMR spectrum of diester 1a, two separate signals of carbonyl groups were observed at 163.2 and 163.3 ppm, indicating that the two ester functionalities were not equivalent. Moreover, the spectrum of

• acyl group are unknown, except for a derivative of cyclic diketone [20][21]. Although diacetyl derivative 13 has been reported in some studies [12][13][19], we corrected its structure to dihydrofuran 8. This is the first report of the synthesis of acylated nitrocyclopropanes 1. After the conjugate