Regioselective formal hydrocyanation of allenes: synthesis of β,γ-unsaturated nitriles with α-all-carbon quaternary centers

• Seeun Lim,
• Teresa Kim and
• Yunmi Lee

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 800–806, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.63

• Seeun Lim Teresa Kim Yunmi Lee Department of Chemistry, Kwangwoon University, Seoul 01897, Republic of Korea 10.3762/bjoc.21.63 Abstract This study introduces a highly selective hydrocyanation method based on copper-catalyzed hydroalumination of allenes with diisobutylaluminum hydride, followed

• catalysis; hydrocyanation; regioselectivity; tosyl cyanide; Introduction Acyclic nitriles that incorporate α-all-carbon quaternary centers are highly valuable structural motifs typically found in natural products, biologically active compounds, and synthetic pharmaceuticals [1][2][3][4][5]. These compounds

• with diverse functional groups [12][13][14]. Consequently, the development of selective and predictable strategies for the introduction of cyano groups into quaternary carbon frameworks has become necessary in organic synthesis. The transition-metal-catalyzed hydrocyanation of carbon–carbon double

New advances in asymmetric organocatalysis II

• Radovan Šebesta

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 766–769, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.60

• . Therefore, my team reviewed the recent progress in organocatalytic syntheses of axially chiral compounds [28]. The final article within this thematic issue was contributed by Tsogoeva, Harder, and co-workers. They developed and mechanistically studied the hydrocyanation of hydrazones. This interesting

Development and mechanistic studies of calcium–BINOL phosphate-catalyzed hydrocyanation of hydrazones

• Carola Tortora,
• Christian A. Fischer,
• Sascha Kohlbauer,
• Alexandru Zamfir,
• Gerd M. Ballmann,
• Jürgen Pahl,
• Sjoerd Harder and
• Svetlana B. Tsogoeva

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 755–765, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.59

• hydrocyanation of hydrazones, catalyzed by a calcium–BINOL phosphate complex, has been studied for the first time both experimentally and computationally with DFT methods. A full catalytic cycle for the enantioselective synthesis of α-hydrazinonitriles is proposed based on insights gained from DFT calculations

• hydrocyanation via a calcium isocyanide complex, whereas the rate-limiting step is that which recovers the calcium catalyst and replaces the TMS-bound product from the catalyst. While our experimental data demonstrate enantioselectivity values as high as 89% under certain conditions, the overall

• enantioselectivity achieved with the calcium catalyst remains modest, mainly due to competing pathways for the Z- and E-hydrazone isomers leading to opposite enantiomers. The experimental results confirm these computational proposals. Keywords: asymmetric synthesis; calcium–BINOL phosphate catalysis; hydrocyanation

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

• intermediate 82 undergoes enantiodetermining reductive elimination to deliver the chiral phosphinoylcyanation products 81 and regenerate the Cu(I) species. The Lin group developed an electrochemical approach for the asymmetric hydrocyanation of olefins, facilitated by a Cu/Co dual electrocatalytic system

• -arylenamines and annulation. Scheme and proposed mechanism for Cu-catalyzed electrochemical halogenation. Scheme and proposed mechanism for Cu-catalyzed asymmetric cyanophosphinoylation of vinylarenes. Scheme and proposed mechanism for Cu/Co dual-catalyzed asymmetric hydrocyanation of alkenes. Scheme and

Electrophotochemical metal-catalyzed synthesis of alkylnitriles from simple aliphatic carboxylic acids

• Yukang Wang,
• Yan Yao and
• Niankai Fu

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 1497–1503, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.133

• intermediates in organic synthesis for the construction of all-carbon-substituted quaternary centers (Figure 1A). However, conventional methods for the synthesis of tertiary alkylnitriles such as direct functionalization of alkylnitriles [10] and hydrocyanation of alkenes [11][12][13][14] are typically hindered

Advancements in hydrochlorination of alkenes

• Daniel S. Müller

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 787–814, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.72

• solvent (e.g., alkene 133). Another unexpected finding was that styrenes, previously described by Carreira in hydrohydrazination [81] and hydrocyanation reactions [82], failed to undergo the hydrochlorination reaction. Notably, the synthesis of compound 100 was reported on a 50 mmol scale in Organic

Trifluoromethylated hydrazones and acylhydrazones as potent nitrogen-containing fluorinated building blocks

• Zhang Dongxu

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 1741–1754, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.127

• oxidation/cyclization with NXS or Cu(OAc)2. Notably, some of the resultant CF3-substituted 1,6-dihydropyridazines exhibited aggregation-induced emission [102][103] (Scheme 16). The hydrocyanation of acylhydrazones is an important method for the preparation of α-hyrazino acids. Hu et al. reported a Lewis

• acid-catalyzed hydrocyanation of trifluoromethylated acylhydrazones, in which the product was the precursor for the preparation of chiral fluorinated amino acids [104] (Scheme 17a). Meanwhile, Hu et al. provided a novel and efficient process for the synthesis of polysubstituted 3-trifluoromethyl-1,2,4

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

• . Alkoxide-promoted hydroboration of heterocycles and the proposed mechanism. Borane-catalysed reduction of indoles and the proposed mechanism. H-B-9-BBN-catalysed hydrocyanation of enones and the proposed mechanism. Borane-catalysed hydroboration of nitriles and the proposed mechanism. Myrtanylborane

N-tert-Butanesulfinyl imines in the asymmetric synthesis of nitrogen-containing heterocycles

• Joseane A. Mendes,
• Paulo R. R. Costa,
• Miguel Yus,
• Francisco Foubelo and
• Camilla D. Buarque

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2021, 17, 1096–1140, doi:10.3762/bjoc.17.86

• -hydroxypipecolic acid 145 was reported recently by Zhang and Sun. Compound 145 is an intermediate for the synthesis of β-lactamase inhibitors. A key step in this synthesis was the hydrocyanation of chiral sulfinyl imine 141, prepared from commercially available and inexpensive ʟ-glyceraldehyde acetal, with

Proton transfers in the Strecker reaction revealed by DFT calculations

• Shinichi Yamabe,
• Guixiang Zeng,
• Wei Guan and
• Shigeyoshi Sakaki

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2014, 10, 1765–1774, doi:10.3762/bjoc.10.184

• Strecker reactions have been reported to gain high enantioselectivity of the hydrocyanation reaction of imines [7][8][9][10][11][12]. However, the origin of the enantioselectivity in the asymmetric Strecker reactions has not been clarified. To our knowledge, the elementary processes of the whole Strecker

• first reaction stage of the Strecker reaction [10][11][12][13][14][15][16], i.e. the hydrocyanation of imines (or protonated imines + CN−) to aminonitriles. In those works, how the nucleophile CN− is generated has not been examined. Because HCN is a very weak acid with a dissociation constant of Ka