Transition-metal-catalyzed C–H bond activation as a sustainable strategy for the synthesis of fluorinated molecules: an overview

• Louis Monsigny,
• Floriane Doche and
• Tatiana Besset

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 448–473, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.35

• largely underexplored to date. Furthermore, the development of enantioselective transformations allowing the synthesis of enantioenriched fluorine-containing compounds by transition-metal-catalyzed C–H bond activation will have a significant impact as for instance an access to pharmaceutically relevant

Combretastatins D series and analogues: from isolation, synthetic challenges and biological activities

• Jorge de Lima Neto and
• Paulo Henrique Menezes

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 399–427, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.31

• combretastatin D-1 (1) in 23% overall yield after 16 steps. Later, the same authors performed the enantioselective synthesis of 1 in an attempt to review its absolute configuration [41]. Thus, acetylation of compound 2 followed by the use of Jacobsen’s catalyst [42] to perform the epoxidation of the double bond

• synthesis of combretastatin D-2 (2) by Rychnovsky and Hwang [36]. Divergent synthesis of (±)-1 form combretastatin D-2 (2) by Rychnovsky and Hwang [36]. Enantioselective synthesis of 1 by Rychnovsky and Hwang employing Jacobsen catalyst [41]. Synthesis of fragment 57 by Couladouros and co-workers [43][45

Group 13 exchange and transborylation in catalysis

• Dominic R. Willcox and
• Stephen P. Thomas

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 325–348, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.28

• a B‒O/B‒H transborylation in catalysis was the catalytic Midland reduction of propargylic ketones developed by Thomas to give enantioenriched propargylic alcohols (Scheme 10) [74]. The reaction was proposed to occur by enantioselective reduction of the propargylic ketone 42 by myrtanyl borane 43 to

• to give aldol-type products 61. Thomas reported the borane-catalysed diastereo- and enantioselective allylation of ketones with allenes and HBpin to give diastereo- and enantioenriched allylic alcohols, after workup (Scheme 15) [78]. The mechanism was investigated by single-turnover experiments and

• first example of Al‒O/B‒H exchange in catalysis was reported by Woodward, in the enantioselective catalytic hydroboration of ketones with HBcat as the terminal reductant (Scheme 23) [103]. A mixture of 1,1′-bi-2-naphthol (BINOL), 1,1'-binaphthalene-2,2'-dithiol (DTBH2), or 2-hydroxy-2'-mercapto-1,1

Strategies to access the [5-8] bicyclic core encountered in the sesquiterpene, diterpene and sesterterpene series

• Cécile Alleman,
• Charlène Gadais,
• Laurent Legentil and
• François-Hugues Porée

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 245–281, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.23

• -workers reported in 2011 the first enantioselective total synthesis of (+)-ophiobolin A (8), involving a RCM approach to form the central eight-membered ring [24]. In this way, their total synthesis involved the enantioselective preparation of the C-D spiro bicyclic ring system 33 in 21 steps from diester

• instead of 100 °C) to avoid C-7 epimerization, and two equivalents of the Pd complex. The cycloadduct 129 was obtained in very high yield and could be converted to cotylenin A (130) in 5 steps. This work constituted an enantioselective total synthesis of cotylenin A (130) (Scheme 25). 3.2 Intramolecular

Germacrene B – a central intermediate in sesquiterpene biosynthesis

• Houchao Xu and
• Jeroen S. Dickschat

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 186–203, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.18

• [112][113][114][115][116], no enantioselective synthesis is available. Full 1H and 13C NMR data of 53 (including 14 carbon signals) have been published [113]. The guaiane sesquiterpenes that are potentially derived from cationic intermediates L1–L4 are summarised in Scheme 16A. trans-β-Guaiene (54) can

Identification and determination of the absolute configuration of amorph-4-en-10β-ol, a cadinol-type sesquiterpene from the scent glands of the African reed frog Hyperolius cinnamomeoventris

• Angelique Ladwig,
• Markus Kroll and
• Stefan Schulz

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 167–175, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.16

• chromatography; enantioselective synthesis; GC/MS; semiochemicals; Introduction Hyperolius cinnamomeoventris (Figure 1) is one of the largest species of reed frogs (Hyperoliidae), which are commonly found in Africa, south of the Sahara. Males of the Hyperoliidae possess a characteristic yellow gular patch on

• , such a synthetic approach would shorten the synthesis from eight to four steps and allow access to both enantiomers of the compounds 12–14. The synthesis started with an enantioselective Michael addition of aldehyde 1 to methyl vinyl ketone (15) catalyzed by (S)-Jørgensen’s organocatalyst S-16, to

• absolute configuration of the sesquiterpene A was elucidated by enantioselective gas chromatography. The enantiomers of the alcohols could be separated on a Hydrodex β-6TBDM phase (Figure 5). This allowed to determine the absolute configuration of the sesquiterpene A. A coinjection of a gland extract with

Catalytic aza-Nazarov cyclization reactions to access α-methylene-γ-lactam heterocycles

• Bilge Banu Yagci,
• Selin Ezgi Donmez,
• Onur Şahin and
• Yunus Emre Türkmen

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 66–77, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.6

• enantioselective organocatalytic aza-Nazarov cyclization affording six-membered heterocycles after a ring expansion of the cyclization products [22]. Rasapalli and co-workers recently developed an efficient aza-Nazarov cyclization of quinazolinonyl enones promoted by TfOH or MsOH (methanesulfonic acid) for the

Synthetic study toward tridachiapyrone B

• Morgan Cormier,
• Florian Hernvann and
• Michaël De Paolis

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2022, 18, 1741–1748, doi:10.3762/bjoc.18.183

• -pyrone by desymmetrization of α,α’-dimethoxy-γ-pyrone 2 through the addition of hindered nucleophiles to construct the vicinal quaternary carbon. In a subsequent and potentially enantioselective desymmetrization step, compound 5 would be converted into trichiachiapyrone B by 1,4-addition of the side

• chain to the 2,5-cyclohexadienone scaffold. Avoiding heat and light sensitive tetraenes, the convergent plan would also give the opportunity to assess an enantioselective synthesis of the targets, noting that the C14 epimeric product, isotridachiapyrone B, has also been isolated by Schmitz. Results and

• motif. Drawing from this work, future studies will be focused on an enantioselective access to the target. Routes to crispatene, photodeoxytridachione, aureothin, and tridachiapyrone B. Desymmetrization of 2. Addition of lithiocyclopentadiene to pyrone 2. Plan to reach 2,5-cyclohexadienone 5

Total synthesis of grayanane natural products

• Nicolas Fay,
• Rémi Blieck,
• Cyrille Kouklovsky and
• Aurélien de la Torre

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2022, 18, 1707–1719, doi:10.3762/bjoc.18.181

• . Moreover, the same group reported a related approach for the synthesis of various diterpenoids including rhodomollanol, an abeo-grayanane natural product [32][33]. Luo’s synthesis of grayanotoxin III, principinol E and rhodomollein XX In 2022, Luo et al. described an efficient and enantioselective

• to be tackled. A highly enantioselective synthesis is still desirable, as the only synthesis offering >90% ee relies on the combination of chiral ligands and chiral auxiliary. Moreover, to date only 6 natural products from the grayanane family were synthesized, out of the more than 160 compounds

• known to date. Thus, we anticipate that in the future, organic chemists will keep focusing on highly enantioselective, efficient and flexible synthetic strategies towards grayanane natural products. General structure of grayanane natural products. Grayanane biosynthesis. Matsumoto’s relay approach

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

• involving enantioselective organocatalysis were also reviewed [28]. Taking into account the good coverage of organophotoredox-catalysis in these reviews we decided to focus on another, less systematized subclass of processes catalyzed by redox-active molecules in the ground state (Scheme 1, type III). There

• are a number of reviews on specific groups of redox-organocatalyzed oxidative transformations [43][44][45][46][47][48][49][50][51][52][53][54][55][56] and organocatalyzed enantioselective radical reactions were recently discussed [57]. However, the field remains not overviewed in general and it is not

• , the acidic and basic sites of the catalyst are suggested to be involved in the activation of only hydrogen peroxide within a well-defined and deep chiral cavity. The enantioselective approach of sulfide to H2O2 is ensured by the sterically demanding structure of the catalyst. It should also be noted

Design, synthesis, and evaluation of chiral thiophosphorus acids as organocatalysts

• Karen R. Winters and
• Jean-Luc Montchamp

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2022, 18, 1471–1478, doi:10.3762/bjoc.18.154

• a chiral pocket or environment for enantioselective transformations within the proximity of the acidic proton and phosphoryl oxygen. Additionally, the choice of phosphoric acid diesters also provides a bifunctional catalyst containing both an acidic and basic site (Figure 1). Despite the proven

• enantioselective catalyst. On the other hand, their successful completions attest to the inexpensive and scalable requirements we had set. Indole scaffolds The synthesis of racemic tryptophol CPA 1 is shown in Scheme 2. Commercially available tryptophol (5, 225 $/mol) was N-arylated into 6 via copper-catalyzed

• , however, that the enantiomeric excess increases with an increase in bond length separation between the phosphorus and the R group. From the reaction evaluation we found that dual activation might be required from the catalyst in certain enantioselective reactions. Thus, CPA platforms that reintroduce a

Oxa-Michael-initiated cascade reactions of levoglucosenone

• Julian Klepp,
• Thomas Bousfield,
• Hugh Cummins,
• Sarah V. A.-M. Legendre,
• Jason E. Camp and
• Ben W. Greatrex

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2022, 18, 1457–1462, doi:10.3762/bjoc.18.151

• chemistry; levoglucosenone; oxa-Michael reaction; Introduction (−)-Levoglucosenone (1) is formed from the acid-catalyzed pyrolysis of cellulose along with minor amounts of furfural and 5-methylfurfural [1][2][3]. It has emerged as a promising starting material for enantioselective synthesis from materials

Mechanochemical synthesis of unsymmetrical salens for the preparation of Co–salen complexes and their evaluation as catalysts for the synthesis of α-aryloxy alcohols via asymmetric phenolic kinetic resolution of terminal epoxides

• Shengli Zuo,
• Shuxiang Zheng,
• Jianjun Liu and
• Ang Zuo

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2022, 18, 1416–1423, doi:10.3762/bjoc.18.147

• as an enantioselective catalyst for the asymmetric ring opening of terminal epoxides by phenols. A library of α-aryloxy alcohols 3 was thereafter synthesized in good yield and high ee using 2f via the phenolic KR of epichlorohydrin. Keywords: α-aryloxy alcohols; chiral Co–salen; HKR

• enantioselective synthesis in modern chemistry turns out to be accumulatively essential for the preparation of chiral drugs, which is a huge growing market in the future. Indeed, the asymmetric ring opening of terminal epoxides is one of the most important strategies for synthesizing drug-like building blocks and

• key organic intermediates in the drug discovery and process chemistry [4][5][6]. Chiral metal–salen complexes were designed for catalyzing reaction processes that resulted in good yield, high regioselective and enantioselective control for the asymmetric ring opening of terminal epoxides. Various

Preparation of an advanced intermediate for the synthesis of leustroducsins and phoslactomycins by heterocycloaddition

• Anaïs Rousseau,
• Guillaume Vincent and
• Cyrille Kouklovsky

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2022, 18, 1385–1395, doi:10.3762/bjoc.18.143

• preparation and the coupling of three main fragments (Figure 2): the lactone fragment 3, the central fragment 4 and the cyclohexane fragment 5. We have previously described the enantioselective synthesis of the lactone fragment 3 [18]; we now disclose the synthesis of the oxazinone 4 and attempts for coupling

Enantioselective total synthesis of putative dihydrorosefuran, a monoterpene with an unique 2,5-dihydrofuran structure

• Irene Torres-García,
• Josefa L. López-Martínez,
• Rocío López-Domene,
• Manuel Muñoz-Dorado,
• Ignacio Rodríguez-García and
• Miriam Álvarez-Corral

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2022, 18, 1264–1269, doi:10.3762/bjoc.18.132

Vicinal ketoesters – key intermediates in the total synthesis of natural products

• Marc Paul Beller and
• Ulrich Koert

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2022, 18, 1236–1248, doi:10.3762/bjoc.18.129

• dehydration of the resulting hydrate through short-patch distillation gave the desired vic-tricarbonyl compound 102. 3. α,β-Diketoesters as key intermediates Preussochromone E and F In a short and enantioselective total synthesis of preussochromone E (110) and F (109), Koert et al. used the complex vic

• ]. Enantioselective aldol reaction using an α-ketoester in the synthesis of (−)-irofulven (87) [29]. Allylboration of a mesoxalic acid ester in the synthesis of (+)-awajanomycin (92) [30][31]. Condensation of a diamine with mesoxolate in the synthesis of (−)-aplaminal (96) [32]. Synthesis of mesoxalic ester amide 102

Derivatives of benzo-1,4-thiazine-3-carboxylic acid and the corresponding amino acid conjugates

• Péter Kisszékelyi,
• Tibor Peňaška,
• Klára Stankovianska,
• Mária Mečiarová and
• Radovan Šebesta

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2022, 18, 1195–1202, doi:10.3762/bjoc.18.124

• isolated. Moreover, the coupling of benzothiazines with amino acids was realized. In doing so, an enantioselective synthesis of the nonproteinogenic amino acid 2-amino-3-propylhexanoic acid was accomplished. Keywords: amino acid; benzothiazine; oxidative dimerization; peptide coupling; stereoselective

Synthesis of tryptophan-dehydrobutyrine diketopiperazine and biological activity of hangtaimycin and its co-metabolites

• Houchao Xu,
• Anne Wochele,
• Minghe Luo,
• Gregor Schnakenburg,
• Yuhui Sun,
• Heike Brötz-Oesterhelt and
• Jeroen S. Dickschat

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2022, 18, 1159–1165, doi:10.3762/bjoc.18.120

• hangtaimycin, TDD and the hangtaimycin degradation product HTM222 are given. Keywords: antibiotics; enantioselective synthesis; peptides; racemisation; Streptomyces; Introduction Hangtaimycin (1, Scheme 1) was first isolated from Streptomyces spectabilis and shown to possess weak antimicrobial activity

Molecular diversity of the base-promoted reaction of phenacylmalononitriles with dialkyl but-2-ynedioates

• Hui Zheng,
• Ying Han,
• Jing Sun and
• Chao-Guo Yan

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2022, 18, 991–998, doi:10.3762/bjoc.18.99

• furnished a chiral thiosquaramide-catalyzed tandem Michael–Henry reaction of phenacylmalononitriles and nitroolefins for the enantioselective synthesis of cyclopent-3-ene-1-carboxamides [32] (reaction 2 in Scheme 1). Mohanan and co-workers reported a PBu3-catalyzed [3 + 2] annulation of

The stereochemical course of 2-methylisoborneol biosynthesis

• Binbin Gu,
• Anwei Hou and
• Jeroen S. Dickschat

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2022, 18, 818–824, doi:10.3762/bjoc.18.82

• 2-methylisoborneol from (S)-2-Me-LPP may be explained by isomerization to 2-Me-GPP and then to (R)-2-Me-LPP. Keywords: biosynthesis; enantioselective synthesis; enzyme mechanisms; gas chromatography; terpenoids; Introduction After its first discovery from Streptomyces [1][2], it has been

• )-2-Me-LPP is the true pathway intermediate towards compound 1. For this purpose, both enantiomers of 2-Me-LPP were synthesized and enzymatically converted by 2MIBS. Here we report on the enantioselective synthesis of (R)- and (S)-2-Me-LPP and the results from the incubation experiments with 2MIBS

• . Results and Discussion Enantioselective synthesis of 2-methyllinalyl diphosphate The synthesis of (R)- and (S)-2-Me-LPP started with the Horner–Wadsworth–Emmons reaction [34][35] of sulcatone (2) with triethyl 2-phosphonopropionate to obtain ethyl 2-methylgeranate (3) as a mixture of the E and Z

Synthesis of bis-spirocyclic derivatives of 3-azabicyclo[3.1.0]hexane via cyclopropene cycloadditions to the stable azomethine ylide derived from Ruhemann's purple

• Alexander S. Filatov,
• Olesya V. Khoroshilova,
• Anna G. Larina,
• Vitali M. Boitsov and
• Alexander V. Stepakov

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2022, 18, 769–780, doi:10.3762/bjoc.18.77

• cyclopropenes with azomethine ylides from ninhydrin were also successfully carried out in a multicomponent fashion [23]. Mention should also be made of the recent advances in developing enantioselective approaches to the synthesis of 3-azabicyclo[3.1.0]hexane derivatives. Deng and co-workers reported the first

• asymmetric 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition of azomethine ylides and cyclopropenes catalyzed by a chiral Cu-(CH3CN)4BF4/Ph-Phosferrox complex for the construction of 3-azabicyclo[3.1.0]hexane derivatives [25]. Another concise enantioselective approach towards 3-azabicyclo[3.1.0]hexanes is based on a Cp*Ir-catalyzed

Heteroleptic metallosupramolecular aggregates/complexation for supramolecular catalysis

• Prodip Howlader and
• Michael Schmittel

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2022, 18, 597–630, doi:10.3762/bjoc.18.62

• illustrates the opportunities in running enantioselective catalysis in mixed-ligand frameworks. Instead of constructing supramolecular catalysts by functionalization of the linker units, a different approach can be adopted where a catalytically active molecule is encapsulated inside a confined space, as

BINOL as a chiral element in mechanically interlocked molecules

• Matthias Krajnc and
• Jochen Niemeyer

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2022, 18, 508–523, doi:10.3762/bjoc.18.53

• noncovalent interactions between the subcomponents, MIMs have established themselves as an important subdiscipline of supramolecular chemistry. The introduction of chirality into MIMs is of high interest in order to develop applications in which the chirality can be exploited, e.g., in enantioselective

• -workers, with a strong focus on using rotaxanes with halogen-bond (XB) donors that act as binding sites for anionic guest molecules [23]. In 2017, Beer and co-workers reported the synthesis of the BINOL-containing chiral [2]rotaxanes 64 and their application for enantioselective anion recognition [63

• desymmetrization reaction of meso-1,2-diols with rotaxane (R)-42. Synthesis of Niemeyer´s axially chiral [2]catenane (S,S)-47. Results for the enantioselective transfer hydrogenation of 2-phenylquinoline with catalysts (S,S)-47, (S)-48, and (S)-49. Synthesis of Niemeyer´s chiral [2]rotaxanes (S)-56/57. Results for

The asymmetric Henry reaction as synthetic tool for the preparation of the drugs linezolid and rivaroxaban

• Martin Vrbický,
• Karel Macek,
• Jaroslav Pochobradský,
• Jan Svoboda,
• Miloš Sedlák and
• Pavel Drabina

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2022, 18, 438–445, doi:10.3762/bjoc.18.46

• of these drugs was studied in detail. Highly enantioselective catalysts were tested in the key step of the synthetic procedure, i.e., the asymmetric Henry reaction, under different reaction conditions, using several starting aldehydes. The corresponding nitroaldols as chiral intermediates in the

• syntheses of these drugs were obtained in high yields and enantiomeric excesses of up to 91% ee. Keywords: asymmetric Henry reaction; enantioselective catalysis; linezolid; oxazolidine-2-one derivatives; rivaroxaban; Introduction Oxazolidine-2-one derivatives represent an important branch of

• published papers confirmed that the application of the asymmetric Henry reaction represents a promising alternative route for the feasible production of these compounds. Nevertheless, the studies provided only preliminary results, because they included only one enantioselective catalyst in the preparation

Menadione: a platform and a target to valuable compounds synthesis

• Acácio S. de Souza,
• Ruan Carlos B. Ribeiro,
• Dora C. S. Costa,
• Fernanda P. Pauli,
• David R. Pinho,
• Matheus G. de Moraes,
• Fernando de C. da Silva,
• Luana da S. M. Forezi and
• Vitor F. Ferreira

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2022, 18, 381–419, doi:10.3762/bjoc.18.43

• anomeric hydroperoxides (HPO) to obtain epoxides 40 with moderate ees (Scheme 11B) [100][101]. Bunge and co-workers used the enantiomerically pure dihydroperoxide 41 in the DBU-mediated epoxidation of menadione (10) for the enantioselective synthesis of epoxide 42 (92% yield and 45–66% ee) (Scheme 11C

• method proved to be effective at recovering approximately 95% of the enantiopure alcohol 47. This allowed the alcohol’s effective reconversion to hydroperoxide 46 and proved to be a useful method for the enantioselective epoxidation of menadione (10) (Scheme 13). Pericyclic reactions The Diels–Alder

• materials allow for the synthesis of more complex molecules such as natural products. Within this scope, the menadione (10) molecule has been explored as substrate for this versatile reaction. Ryu and co-workers described an enantioselective and structurally selective Diels–Alder reaction for the synthesis