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

• , methyl aryl ketones, and DMSO under iron(III) catalysis and using K2S2O8 for its activation [39]. The proposed mechanism is very close to those described above, with the methyl aryl ketone taking part of the reaction in place of the styrene component in the Povarov cyclization. In this case, the imine

• reacts with the enolate of the ketone, which is stabilized by coordination with Fe(III), resulting in the formation of the C–C bond. A further oxidative aromatization process affords compound I. Compared to the protocol developed by Zhang et al. [24], the reaction is less regioselective, as Troger’s base

• which, after MMS formation, this reactive species is subsequently captured by the stabilized Cu(II) enolate of the ketone, to provide an α,β-unsaturated ketone intermediate F. This compound condenses with the aniline component to give an imine G that follows a cyclization and aromatization cascade

Vinylogous functionalization of 4-alkylidene-5-aminopyrazoles with methyl trifluoropyruvates

• Judit Hostalet-Romero,
• Laura Carceller-Ferrer,
• Gonzalo Blay,
• Amparo Sanz-Marco,
• José R. Pedro and
• Carlos Vila

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 533–540, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.41

• 3aa–ca in good yields (47–69%). On the other hand, the reaction with tetrahydro-4H-pyran-4-one (1d) occurred with a significant decrease in yield, dropping to 11%. The yield is also affected by the number of carbon atoms of the starting cyclic ketone 1. In the case of structure 3ea, which involves 2

• -indanone, the decrease in yield is not very pronounced. However, when cyclopentanone (1f) or cycloheptanone (1g) are used, the yields dropped significantly to 5% and 6%, respectively. Next, maintaining cyclohexanone as a cyclic ketone, a series of compounds 3 were synthesized by modifying the 5

• -butyl group is present in the C-3 position of the pyrazole as in the case of substrate 2e, the reaction did not take place, likely due to a considerable increase in steric hindrance. We also attempted to synthesize 4-(alkenyl)-5-aminopyrazoles using an acyclic ketone, such as acetone, but unfortunately

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

• olefins with a wide range of nucleophiles, with many organocatalyzed asymmetric examples highlighted in the literature [23][24]. We have observed that the enantioenriched 1,5-dicarbonyl Michael adducts, synthesized via organocatalyzed reaction of cinnamaldehyde with benzyl phenyl ketone, undergo

• , enantioselectivity increased until a specific time, and after that, the enantiomeric ratio decreased (compare entries 1–3 and 21–23 in Table 1). The interesting result is that the major enantiomer in the enantioenriched mixture is now the opposite of the one obtained when the ketone and the α,β-unsaturated aldehyde

• reacts more quickly than the anti-(3S,4R)-1, forming the enamine E (Scheme 4) that participates in the retro-Michael reaction, producing the starting ketone and the enal and enantio-enriching the reaction mixture in anti-(3S,4R)-1. Subsequently, toluene was chosen as the solvent due to its ability to

Red light excitation: illuminating photocatalysis in a new spectrum

• Lucas Fortier,
• Corentin Lefebvre and
• Norbert Hoffmann

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 296–326, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.22

• has been quantitatively reduced to the corresponding methyl ketone within one hour under red-light irradiation. The optimized reaction conditions proposed by the authors have demonstrated the superiority of thiaporphyrins over conventional metal-based systems like Ru(bpy)3Cl2. When tested, one of the

Molecular diversity of the reactions of MBH carbonates of isatins and various nucleophiles

• Zi-Ying Xiao,
• Jing Sun and
• Chao-Guo Yan

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 286–295, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.21

• an indole motif with a ketone and a γ-lactam moiety occur in numerous natural substances [1][2][3][4]. Isatins have many interesting aspects in organic reactions and potential applications. The versatile reactivity of isatins used both as an electrophiles and nucleophiles and their easy availability

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

• reaction between the anhydride and the amine suggested the subsequent reaction with the ketone to give an imine intermediate XXIV. This latter can undergo intramolecular nucleophilic attack affording the quinazolinone derivative 26 (Scheme 20) [37]. Polysubstituted pyrroles 27 were obtained in a cascade

• radical mechanisms. Synthesis of α-aminonitriles 1. Synthesis of β-amino ketone or β-amino ester derivatives 3. Synthesis of 1-(α-aminoalkyl)-2-naphthol derivatives 4. Synthesis of thioaminals 5. Synthesis of aryl- or amine-containing alkanes 6 and 7. Synthesis of 1-aryl-2-sulfonamidopropanes 8. Synthesis

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

• proposed that the bifunctional thiourea catalyst acts by activating the sulfonyl group of the imine by hydrogen-bonding interactions while at the same time deprotonating the β,γ-unsaturated ketone forming the corresponding dienolate. The latter then participates in the formal IEDADA reaction with the

• patterns and aryl R2 substituents led to the desired products. However, the presence of a cyclopropyl or isopropyl R2 substituent, led to a complex mixture of products (Scheme 15). In the mechanism proposed by the authors, (DHQ)2PHAL XIII provokes the deprotonation of the γ-nitro ketone at the α-position

Multicomponent reactions driving the discovery and optimization of agents targeting central nervous system pathologies

• Lucía Campos-Prieto,
• Aitor García-Rey,
• Eddy Sotelo and
• Ana Mallo-Abreu

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 3151–3173, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.261

• other approaches such as visible light, microwaves, heterogeneous catalysis, and ultrasound [12][13][14][15]. Due to its versatility, one of the most prevalent of these MCRs is the Ugi reaction [16]. This reaction generally combines an isocyanide with an acid, an amine, and an aldehyde or ketone to

• eliminated through microwave-assisted treatment under acidic conditions, resulting in the intramolecular cyclization of the amine onto the ketone derived from glyoxaldehyde (Scheme 14). Vézina-Dawod and co-workers [60] introduced a strategy, which consists of two reactions, for synthesizing highly

• ). Ugi-3CR/deprotection/cyclization strategy: Kröger and colleagues [67] reported a novel synthetic pathway for synthesizing a series of thiazolo- and oxazolo[1,4]benzodiazepine-2,5-diones employing combinatorial MCRs. The first step is the Asinger-4CR, which involves a ketone, α-chloroaldehyde, ammonia

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

• the presence of Cu/TBHP. The cyclohexyl radical C attacks at the α-carbon of α,β-unsaturated ketone D generating a benzylic radical E. Finally, a radical cross-coupling between B and benzylic radical E furnish the formation of cycloalkyl–peroxy product 106. The acid-catalyzed radical additions of

• hydroxyperoxide A (Scheme 38a). The homolytic bond cleavage in B produces the resonance-stabilized ketone radical C and a tert-butoxyl radical D. Radical D abstracts a hydrogen atom from TBHP, forming the tert-butylperoxy radical E. Addition of the ketone radical C to the starting alkene 107 results in the C

• -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

4,6-Diaryl-5,5-difluoro-1,3-dioxanes as chiral dopants for liquid crystal compositions

• Maurice Médebielle,
• Peer Kirsch,
• Jérémy Merad,
• Carolina von Essen,
• Clemens Kühn and
• Andreas Ruhl

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 2940–2945, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.246

• single step by an aldol-Tishchenko reaction [30] starting from commercially available difluoromethyl phenyl ketone [41][42] and an excess of benzaldehyde (4 equiv), under basic conditions (Scheme 3). Diol rac-2 was obtained in a 62% yield after recrystallization from CHCl3 with no need for chromatography

• purification. Ketalization of rac-2 with liquid crystal-like ketone 1 [43] (in toluene) or 2,2-dimethoxypropane 5 (in THF) provided dioxanes rac-3 and rac-4 in 56% and 62% yields, respectively (Scheme 2). Samples of rac-3 and rac-4 were separated by preparative HPLC on a chiral phase. Suitable crystals of all

Recent advances in transition-metal-free arylation reactions involving hypervalent iodine salts

• Ritu Mamgain,
• Kokila Sakthivel and
• Fateh V. Singh

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 2891–2920, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.243

• underscored by the successful conversion of various α,α-difluoromethyl ketone groups into corresponding esters, amides, and difluoromethyl groups [58]. In 2021, Nilova and colleagues outlined an approach for the synthesis of highly hindered 1,2,3,4-tetrasubstituted benzenoid rings 15 using arynes generated

• . The reaction of H2A with the diaryliodonium salt in phosphate buffer resulted in the expected arylated conjugate in an hour with a maximum of 98% conversion, yielding sulfur arylated product in 54% isolated yield after purification by HPLC. Additionally, the functionalization of the ketone with a

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

•  1, entries 10 and 11). With the less polar solvents chloroform and toluene 3a was obtained in 62% and 68% yield, respectively (Table 1, entries 12 and 13). For comparison, the difluoromethylation of ketone 1a with difluorocarbene precursor TMSCF2Br (2) was investigated in solution (Scheme 2). The

• was obtained. Furthermore, most isolated products had only purities of ca. 90% still containing inseparable impurities (as revealed by NMR spectroscopy). In the first series of substrates, acetophenone derivatives with various para-substituents were applied. Similar to methyl tolyl ketone (1a), which

• ketone 1g provided the corresponding product 3g in 56% yield. Difluoromethyl enol ether 3h with three methyl groups was obtained in 56% yield and column chromatography allowed to isolate it in 42% yield. 2-Acetonaphthone was successfully converted to 3i in 66% yield. Besides aryl ketones, arylalkyl

5th International Symposium on Synthesis and Catalysis (ISySyCat2023)

• Anthony J. Burke and
• Elisabete P. Carreiro

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 2704–2707, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.227

• a new family of isatin-based α-acetamide carboxamide oxindole hybrids using the versatile Ugi four-component reaction [18]. Sixteen hybrids were prepared by reacting 5-amino-1-benzyl-3,3-dimethoxyindolin-2-one, benzyl isocyanide, carboxylic acids, and aldehyde/ketone derivatives, catalyzed by ZnF2

Computational design for enantioselective CO₂ capture: asymmetric frustrated Lewis pairs in epoxide transformations

• Maxime Ferrer,
• Iñigo Iribarren,
• Tim Renningholtz,
• Ibon Alkorta and
• Cristina Trujillo

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 2668–2681, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.224

• by Gao et al. for the asymmetric hydrogenation of a ketone is shown [28]. On the right, the catalyst design inspired by the Gao catalyst and the volcano plot results is shown. At the bottom the reaction under study is presented. Free energy reaction profile of the asymmetric coupling between

A review of recent advances in electrochemical and photoelectrochemical late-stage functionalization classified by anodic oxidation, cathodic reduction, and paired electrolysis

• Nian Li,
• Ruzal Sitdikov,
• Ajit Prabhakar Kale,
• Joost Steverlynck,
• Bo Li and
• Magnus Rueping

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 2500–2566, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.214

• of the substrate. The formed radical reacts with t-BuOOH to produce the corresponding ketone, with tert-butanol as a byproduct (Scheme 7). A closely related transformation was developed by Cheng and Xu in 2020 for the electrooxidation of methylarenes to aromatic acetals [15]. With this method

Deuterated reagents in multicomponent reactions to afford deuterium-labeled products

• Kevin Schofield,
• Shayna Maddern,
• Yueteng Zhang,
• Grace E. Mastin,
• Rachel Knight,
• Wei Wang,
• James Galligan and
• Christopher Hulme

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 2270–2279, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.195

• is comprised of reaction of an isonitrile, amine, and aldehyde/ketone, in the presence of phenylphosphinic acid (PPA), to give α-amino amides [35]. Examples of deuterated Ugi-3CR products are represented in Scheme 4. Like the Ugi 4-CR reaction, there was no deuterium scrambling in the Ugi 3-CR. Using

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

• situ-generated acetone imines in a (3 + 3) manner to afford meta-substituted anilines (Scheme 1C) [53][54]. Various EWGs (ester, carbamoyl, ketone, trifluoromethyl) have been successfully employed which motivated us to evaluate other possible EWGs. Results and Discussion Based on the fact, that many

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

• -unsaturated ketone with hydrazine and acetic acid forms a 1-acylpyrazoline, while the chromene moiety and hydrazine form the pyrazole nucleus by ring opening/ring closing cyclocondensation. Upon oxidation with DDQ, the pyrazolylpyrazoline products can be readily converted into the corresponding bispyrazoles

• similar to a Michaelis–Arbuzov reaction, yielding an α,β-unsaturated ketone 97. The domino sequence concludes by cyclocondensation of intermediate 97 with phenylhydrazine, ultimately affording fully substituted pyrazoles 96 after the elimination of dimethyl phosphonate (Scheme 34) [117]. β-Thioalkyl-α,β

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

• regardless of the electronic properties of the substituents on the N-phenyl ring. When dissymmetric diaryl ketone-derived substrates were employed, the C–N bond formation occurred selectively on the most electron rich aromatic ring. According to the proposed mechanism, this dehydrogenative cyclization of

• one, which is consistent with the finding of ketone side-product. In 2018, the group of Zhang established an intramolecular C(sp2)–H functionalization of aldehyde-derived N-(2-pyridinyl)hydrazones 15 to produce 1,2,4-triazolo[4,3-a]pyridines 16 (Scheme 4) [39]. Interestingly, the hydrazone was in situ

• synthesis of pyrazolo[4,3-c]quinoline derivatives 22 from 7-chloro-4-hydrazinoquinolines 20 and aromatic aldehydes 21 (Scheme 5) [40]. In 1992, Chiba and Okimoto reported the electrooxidative cyclization of aldehyde and ketone-derived N-acylhydrazones 23a and 23b to build 1,3,4-oxadiazoles 24a and Δ3-l,3,4

Development of a flow photochemical process for a π-Lewis acidic metal-catalyzed cyclization/radical addition sequence: in situ-generated 2-benzopyrylium as photoredox catalyst and reactive intermediate

• Masahiro Terada,
• Zen Iwasaki,
• Ryohei Yazaki,
• Shigenobu Umemiya and
• Jun Kikuchi

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 1973–1980, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.173

• , instead of a methyl ketone substituent, were investigated (Table 3). First, the reaction was performed with phenyl ketone 1m, but product 3m was obtained in low yield (Table 3, entry 1: 7%). This yield was lower than that obtained in the batch reaction (30%), and because 28% of 1m were recovered, the flow

• derivatives 2. aFlow rate was 6 mL/h and premixing zone was 0.2 mL. Screening of reaction conditions in the flow reaction systema. Scope of substratesa. Sequential transformation of phenyl ketone 1m and aldehydes 1n–ra. Supporting Information Supporting Information File 29: The exploratory investigation

Oxidative fluorination with Selectfluor: A convenient procedure for preparing hypervalent iodine(V) fluorides

• Samuel M. G. Dearman,
• Xiang Li,
• Yang Li,
• Kuldip Singh and
• Alison M. Stuart

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 1785–1793, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.157

• reported before [26][27][28], we developed a new synthetic route which is shown in Scheme 5. In the first step trifluoromethylketone 17 was prepared by a nucleophilic acyl substitution of methyl 2-iodobenzoate 16 with Ruppert’s reagent. Ketone 17 was then reacted with an excess of Ruppert’s reagent and

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

• structure B, which is further destabilized by the neighbouring ketone. A similar resonance hybrid will be formed for molecules substituted in the 4-position, like 6b, explaining the selectivity towards p-quinones. Abstraction of a proton rearomatizes the molecule before another cation is formed in the

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

• -2H-furan-3-one framework at position C-17 [22]. The one-pot procedure involved the condensation of diethyl oxalate with the α-hydroxy ketone moiety of derivatives 28, immediately followed by a cyclization between the 17α-hydroxy group and the carbonyl group of the α-ketoester in 29. Spiro compounds

• . reported the synthesis of spiropyrrolidines at the ketone group of 17α-methyltestosterone (50a), cholest-4-en-3-one (50b), 5α-cholestan-3-one (50c), and 3-MOMO-estrone [34]. To construct the spiro heterocycle, an addition of p-toluenesulfonyl hydrazide to the carbonyl group of compounds 50a–c was carried

• superior results compared to phenyl-substituted compounds. Frank et al. synthesized a series of 16-spiroisoxazolines through a regio- and a highly stereoselective 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition between the double bond of the α,β-unsaturated steroidal ketone 73 and various arylnitrile oxides [45]. The reaction

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

• in unexpected conversions, including the formation of an allylic carbocation at C1, followed by transannular hydride transfer from C8 to afford ketone 20 in 62% yield. With the 5/8/5 tricyclic scaffold 20 in hand, site- and diastereocontrolled C9 hydroxylation of 20 produced a substrate 21 for the

• evolution using site-saturation mutagenesis targeting the putative active sites L110 and Y112, led to the variant MoBsc9 Y112M, which substantially improved the enzymatic conversion into 22, achieving an isolated yield of up to 67%. Diastereoselective reduction of the C8 ketone was then achieved using the

• protocol of Nakada and co-workers [27], enabling the chemo-enzymatic total synthesis of cotylenol (1). Similarly, diastereoselective reduction of the C8 ketone in 20 yielded the biosynthetic intermediate 8 for brassicicenes. Although substrate 8 has a different oxidation state at C8 and lacks the C9

Ring opening of photogenerated azetidinols as a strategy for the synthesis of aminodioxolanes

• Henning Maag,
• Daniel J. Lemcke and
• Johannes M. Wahl

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 1671–1676, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.148

• success. Being conscious about the challenges associated with intermolecular ring openings at four-membered heterocycles, we considered an in situ tethering approach, which has proved an attractive alternative in our recent study on oxetane-ring openings [31]. Therefore, electron-deficient ketone 7 was