Recent advances in synthetic approaches for bioactive cinnamic acid derivatives

• Betty A. Kustiana,
• Galuh Widiyarti and
• Teni Ernawati

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 1031–1086, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.85

• with nucleophilic cinnamonitrile 149 to give benzocyclooctene 150 via iodonium intermediate 151 (Scheme 46) [86]. 2.2 Oxidative acylations Cinnamic ester or amide preparation could also be achieved by oxidizing cinnamyl alcohol, aldehyde, imine, and ketone as an alternative to the traditional O/N

• Co/Cu nanoparticle-co-decorated nitrogen-doped carbon catalyst (CoCu@NCn) which was used to catalyze the oxidative esterification of cinnamyl alcohol (157) without the need of a base additive (Scheme 51B) [26]. 2.2.2 Aldehyde/ketone oxidation: By employing non-precious transition metals, Wei and co

• and a catalytic amount of Bu4NI to synthesize bisamide 178. The reaction proceeds through intermediates 179–181 (Scheme 57) [100]. In addition, the method has been successfully scaled up to a gram scale. Han and co-workers (2021) converted ketone 182 into methyl cinnamate (44) catalyzed by Zn(II

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

• aldol condensation of 5 provided the tetracyclic α,β-unsaturated enone 6 in 57% yield. Subsequent catalytic hydrogenation using Pd/C conditions delivered the hydrogen to the alkene from the less hindered face, producing ketone 7 with high diastereoselectivity. Final reduction of both the amide and

• ketone groups completed the total synthesis of (−)-dihydrolycopodine, which could then be further oxidized to (−)-lycopodine. The entire synthetic route hinges upon the development of a sterically congested aza-Prins cyclization, enabled by the presence of the enamide and its neighboring alkyne. Building

• the reduction of amide-generated ketone 12 after a subsequent Dess–Martin oxidation. Upon treatment of 12 with Co(acac)2 and PhSiH3 in iPrOH at 80 °C, the Mukaiyama hydration of enamide delivered hemiaminal 13. Despite the incorrect configuration of the newly formed hydroxy group, it is considered

Studies on the syntheses of β-carboline alkaloids brevicarine and brevicolline

• Benedek Batizi,
• Patrik Pollák,
• András Dancsó,
• Péter Keglevich,
• Gyula Simig,
• Balázs Volk and
• Mátyás Milen

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 955–963, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.79

• ammonium derivative 14 with the potassium salt of compound 15 resulted in the ring-opened derivative 16. Removal of the benzylthiocarbonyl moiety, then Beckmann rearrangement of the oxime obtained from ketone 17 and subsequent cyclization gave β-carboline derivative 18, which was dehydrogenated and

A convergent synthetic approach to the tetracyclic core framework of khayanolide-type limonoids

• Zhiyang Zhang,
• Jialei Hu,
• Hanfeng Ding,
• Li Zhang and
• Peirong Rao

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 926–934, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.75

• bicyclic ketone 21, which was prepared from (+)-Hajos–Parrish ketone in 49% yield over two steps (Scheme 3) [40][41][42][43]. Ensuring silyl enol etherification of the ketone at C29 coupled with IBX-mediated Nicolaou oxidation [44] furnished the corresponding enone in 72% yield (90% brsm). The methyl group

• reactivity of those two alcohols toward oxidation allowed for the selective conversion of desired alcohol to ketone 24 using PCC, producing a 50% overall yield, while the recovered undesired alcohol could be reverted to 21 by Swern oxidation. Direct enol triflation (Et3N/Tf2O, NaH/PhNTf2, DTBMP/Tf2O, etc

Cu–Bpin-mediated dimerization of 4,4-dichloro-2-butenoic acid derivatives enables the synthesis of densely functionalized cyclopropanes

• Patricia Gómez-Roibás,
• Andrea Chaves-Pouso and
• Martín Fañanás-Mastral

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 877–883, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.71

• transformation could be efficiently applied to the dimerization of other 4,4-dichloro-2-butenoates and 4,4-dichloro-2-butenamides. The corresponding products 8 and 9 were obtained in good yield and excellent diastereoselectivity (Scheme 2). In sharp contrast, the use of gem-dichlorides bearing a ketone group did

4-(1-Methylamino)ethylidene-1,5-disubstituted pyrrolidine-2,3-diones: synthesis, anti-inflammatory effect and in silico approaches

• Nguyen Tran Nguyen,
• Vo Viet Dai,
• Luc Van Meervelt,
• Do Thi Thao and
• Nguyen Minh Thong

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 817–829, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.65

• -hybridized carbon atom directly bonded to the nitrogen atom of the secondary amino group of compound 5a. In the structure of each pyrrolidine-2,3-dione derivative 3a–e, there is an α,β-unsaturated ketone moiety in which the π systems of the C=C and C=O bonds could overlap each other to yield an extended

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