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

• cinnamic acid (7) in a deep eutectic solvent of choline chloride/urea (ChCl/urea) to give amides 12 and 13 in moderate yields via triacylated triazine 14 as the active ester (Scheme 5A) [36]. The TCT reagent and ChCl/urea solvent are known for their non-toxicity and low cost, promoting their wide

Harnessing tethered nitreniums for diastereoselective amino-sulfonoxylation of alkenes

• Shyam Sathyamoorthi,
• Appasaheb K. Nirpal,
• Dnyaneshwar A. Gorve and
• Steven P. Kelley

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 947–954, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.78

• diastereoselectivity (Table 4, entry 1). A urea substrate also furnished the expected product in a good yield and with high diastereoselectivity (Table 4, entry 3). With tri-substituted allylic carbamate 35, some amount of expected mesyloxylated product 36 did form, but there was also an isolable amount of a terminal

Unraveling cooperative interactions between complexed ions in dual-host strategy for cesium salt separation

• Zhihua Liu,
• Ya-Zhi Chen,
• Ji Wang,
• Qingling Nie,
• Wei Zhao and
• Biao Wu

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 845–853, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.68

• highly efficient Cs3PO4 extraction. Results and Discussion The tripodal hexaurea receptor L is comprised of a central tren (tris(2-aminoethyl)amine) core and three arms of ortho-phenylene bis(urea) units, which can fold inward to encapsulate an anion inside the cavity through up to 12 hydrogen bonds [30

• ion-dipole interaction of the Li+ cation and carbonyl groups also contribute to the extraction. The negative electrostatic potential (δ−) of O=C is attributed to a high dipole moment of the urea unit (mono(urea): 3.95 D, bis(urea): 7.55 D) [34][35][36], which has been demonstrated to be capable of

• by 1H NMR titrations in DMSO. The resulting complexes after solid–liquid extraction were also characterized by 1H NMR spectroscopy (Figure 3), showing consistent anion binding profiles. By comparing with free hexaurea receptor L, the chemical shifts of the urea units N–H in the obtained complexes are

Sequential two-step, one-pot microwave-assisted Urech synthesis of 5-monosubstituted hydantoins from L-amino acids in water

• Wei-Jin Chang,
• Sook Yee Liew,
• Thomas Kurz and
• Siow-Ping Tan

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 596–600, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.46

• antibacterial [1], antiviral [2], anticancer [3], anti-inflammatory [4], and anticonvulsant [5]. Hydantoins were traditionally accessed from amino acids by conversion to urea derivatives followed by cyclization (Urech reaction) or from carbonyl compounds through the cyanohydrin intermediate (Bucherer–Bergs) [6

• Discussion As the first step of Urech hydantoin synthesis involved the N-carbamylation of amino acids, we carried out the microwave-assisted synthesis of urea derivatives in water, utilizing ʟ-phenylaniline as the representative amino acid. The optimal conditions for the N-carbamylation of ʟ-phenylaniline

• second step was attempted as part of a one-pot synthesis of hydantoins by the addition of concentrated hydrochloric acid followed by microwave irradiation of the reaction mixture at 80 °C for 15 min (Scheme 2). Gratifyingly, the acid-induced intra-cyclization of the urea derivative H1a proceeded smoothly

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

• aldehyde, urea and a 1,3-dicarbonyl compound [26][27]. In these reactions, the use of catalytic Cu(OTf)2 proved to be an excellent triflate surrogate, also revealing a remarkable reuse activity. The first example of a Biginelli reaction carried out with Cu(OTf)2 catalysis was reported by Sudalai and co

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

• palladium on carbon led to free alcohol derivative 72 in a 98% yield. Next, a urea 73 and various thioureas 74–77 were obtained in good yields and with retention of the enantioselectivity, demonstrating the usefulness of the novel methodology for the synthesis of new organocatalysts. In April 2023, Huang

Advances in the use of metal-free tetrapyrrolic macrocycles as catalysts

• Mandeep K. Chahal

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 3085–3112, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.257

• other binding sites required for substrate binding and/or promotion of the catalytic activity. Past studies have shown that modifying the porphyrin core with urea functionalities and amino acid substituents leads to the formation of ureaporphyrins, which significantly enhance sugar binding in non-polar

• solutions [18]. Similarly, Burns and co-workers reported di- and tetra-urea picket porphyrins highlighting, the impact of buried solvent molecules, such as DMSO, on the selectivity, affinity, and stoichiometry of anion binding [19]. Iron complexes of tetra-urea picket porphyrins further demonstrate how

Cyclodextrin-based rotaxanes for polymer materials: challenge on simultaneous realization of inexpensive production and defined structures

• Yosuke Akae

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 3026–3049, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.252

• end-capping reaction. As a pseudorotaxane structure could be decomposed during measurements (e.g., a solution-based NMR measurement), a more stable rotaxane structure is preferred for the analysis. Therefore, we developed a facile [3]rotaxane synthesis method based on a urea end-capping method to

• interactions could fix the rotaxane structure. Such a fundamental systematic study was first possible because of the efficient urea end-capping synthetic method that supported its utility. Notably, other types of rotaxane frameworks have been developed using the pseudo[3]rotaxane-formation or urea end-capping

• considerably studied. However, in a small-molecule system, high-yield synthesis is still not so conventional except with the urea end-capping method. In the next section, the structural regulation system is explored and discussed in terms of its applicability to polymer systems. Structural control of the (poly

Applications of microscopy and small angle scattering techniques for the characterisation of supramolecular gels

• Connor R. M. MacDonald and
• Emily R. Draper

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 2608–2634, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.220

• -assembly process to be easily interpreted, where the rationalisation of such structures may not be achievable with complex indirect imaging techniques. This advantage is epitomised by Jones et al. whose self-assembling urea compounds form helices which can further entangle into a number of significantly

Asymmetric organocatalytic synthesis of chiral homoallylic amines

• Nikolay S. Kondratyev and
• Andrei V. Malkov

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 2349–2377, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.201

• securing the enantioselectivity of the reaction by locking the catalyst in the more active and enantioselective Z-configuration (Figure 2). Further, the authors found that H-bond donors featuring urea, thiourea, and guanidine motifs were either inactive or provided racemic mixtures. Among 3,5-dichloro

• . In the optimisation of the catalyst 78 structure, several important observations were made (Scheme 19). Replacing thiourea (91) as the H-bond donor unit with squaramide (93) or urea (92) did not affect the enantioselectivity of the allylation of the benzaldehyde-derived acetal. On the other hand

Catalysing (organo-)catalysis: Trends in the application of machine learning to enantioselective organocatalysis

• Stefan P. Schmid,
• Leon Schlosser,
• Frank Glorius and
• Kjell Jorner

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 2280–2304, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.196

• substrate scope and enantioselectivity requirements, while accounting for the specifics of a reaction and the requirements of the user. The authors applied their method on 3,003 literature-mined Mannich reactions from 106 publications to find that urea-based catalysts are the most general organocatalysts

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

• presented in Scheme 7 in good yield with no observed deuterium scrambling. The 19th century Biginelli reaction utilizes an arylaldehyde, urea, and acetoacetate component to give 3,4-dihydropyrimidin-2(1H)-ones [46]. Such molecules are widely used as calcium channel blockers and antihypertensive agents

Cell-free protein synthesis with technical additives – expanding the parameter space of in vitro gene expression

• Tabea Bartsch,
• Stephan Lütz and
• Katrin Rosenthal

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 2242–2253, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.192

• influence on the synthesis performance of CFPS. Polymers, DES, and organic solvents were considered to modify the fluid properties. Polymers and deep eutectic solvents (DES) as additives in CFPS Polymers (PEG, methylcellulose (MC), and carboxymethylcellulose (CMC)) and DES (choline chloride/urea, betaine

• . Although the viscosities of pure DES are relatively high (choline chloride/urea 1:2: 1200 mPa·s [28], choline chloride/glycerol 1:2: 300 mPa·s [28], betaine/ethylene glycol 1:3: 65 mPa·s [29]), the effect on viscosity when adding 2–10% to the CFPS system is almost negligible. The concentration of inorganic

• ions in CFPS reactions to which choline chloride was added ranged from 232 to 602 mM, exceeding the cytoplasmic inorganic ion concentration of 300 mM. Osmolarity is also increased by increasing salt concentrations as well. With the addition of 10% choline chloride/urea, the osmolarity of the CFPS

O,S,Se-containing Biginelli products based on cyclic β-ketosulfone and their postfunctionalization

• Kateryna V. Dil and
• Vitalii A. Palchykov

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 2143–2151, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.184

• Biginelli synthesis of dihydropyrimidinones/thiones/selenones via acetic acid or solvent-free Yb(OTf)3-catalyzed tandem reaction of β-ketosulfone (dihydro-2H-thiopyran-3(4H)-one-1,1-dioxide), an appropriate urea, and arylaldehyde has been developed. The reaction proceeds with high chemo- and

• ) are the key methodology to access valuable heterocycles for medicinal chemistry projects. The classical Biginelli reaction (1893) is an acid-catalyzed, three-component reaction between an aldehyde, β-ketoester, and urea that produces 3,4-dihydropyrimidin-2(1H)-ones, also known as DHPMs (Scheme 1A

• 18). Reaction scope We then used optimized reaction conditions from Table 1, entry 16 (method A) and 12 (method B) to further explore the scope of the reaction (Scheme 2). By employing various EWG/EDG-substituted benzaldehydes and urea/thiourea/selenourea we synthesized novel Biginelli products 2a–q

Discovery of antimicrobial peptides clostrisin and cellulosin from Clostridium: insights into their structures, co-localized biosynthetic gene clusters, and antibiotic activity

• Moisés Alejandro Alejo Hernandez,
• Katia Pamela Villavicencio Sánchez,
• Rosendo Sánchez Morales,
• Karla Georgina Hernández-Magro Gil,
• David Silverio Moreno-Gutiérrez,
• Eddie Guillermo Sanchez-Rueda,
• Yanet Teresa-Cruz,
• Brian Choi,
• Armando Hernández Garcia,
• Alba Romero-Rodríguez,
• Oscar Juárez,
• Siseth Martínez-Caballero,
• Mario Figueroa and
• Corina-Diana Ceapă

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 1800–1816, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.159

• mL urea buffer (8 M urea, 100 mM NaH2PO4, 10 mM Tris-base), pH 8.0, frozen at −80 °C, and then thawed at room temperature. The cell lysate was clarified by centrifugation and incubated with 1 mL Ni-NTA resin (Qiagen). The precursor protein was purified using the standard protocol from Qiagen for

• purifying protein from Ni-NTA resin under denaturing conditions with urea. Expression was confirmed through Western blot analysis using the 6xHis epitope tag on a lysate sample (Figure S3A, Supporting Information File 1) for the clostrisin and cellulosin lanthipeptides, and the C39 peptidase domain

Chiral bifunctional sulfide-catalyzed enantioselective bromolactonizations of α- and β-substituted 5-hexenoic acids

• Sao Sumida,
• Ken Okuno,
• Taiki Mori,
• Yasuaki Furuya and
• Seiji Shirakawa

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 1794–1799, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.158

• catalysts. Asymmetric bromolactonizations of model substrate 2a with amide- and urea-type chiral bifunctional sulfides (S)-5 and 6, known to be effective for other asymmetric halocyclizations [32][33][34][35], resulted in δ-valerolactone product 3a with low enantioselectivities (50:50 and 56:44 er

Challenge N- versus O-six-membered annulation: FeCl₃-catalyzed synthesis of heterocyclic N,O-aminals

• Giacomo Mari,
• Lucia De Crescentini,
• Gianfranco Favi,
• Fabio Mantellini,
• Diego Olivieri and
• Stefania Santeusanio

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 1412–1420, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.123

• ), whose sequential acylation process by iso(thio)cyanates 3a–h gives rise to the asymmetric (thio)urea derivatives (intermediate II). The spontaneous nucleophilic attack of the (thio)amide nitrogen on the terminal methyl ester function at C-4 of the starting azo-ene system provides a regioselective

Carbonylative synthesis and functionalization of indoles

• Alex De Salvo,
• Raffaella Mancuso and
• Xiao-Feng Wu

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 973–1000, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.87

• ) and the corresponding urea derivatives as byproducts. In the middle of the same year, Wu’s group succeeded in using N-(2-bromobenzoyl)indoles in the reaction with alcohols and anilines to achieve a Pd-catalyzed diasteroselective carbonylative cyclodearomatization [62]. The synthesis proceeded best

Switchable molecular tweezers: design and applications

• Pablo Msellem,
• Maksym Dekthiarenko,
• Nihal Hadj Seyd and
• Guillaume Vives

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 504–539, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.45

• that enables monitoring by circular dichroism. Upon the addition of Ca(II), a large increase in the binding affinity for halide ions was observed due to the folding of the receptor in a helicoidal form that enabled cooperative interaction with both urea moieties. More flexible coordination responsive

• also developed tweezers 35 with a semi-rigid 1,4-diphenyl-1,3-butadiyne spacer containing two urea units linked to the aromatic rings and Zn–porphyrin functional units (Figure 19b) [77]. The arms have a free rotation around the rigid diethylene backbone and thus the system is natively in equilibrium

• between a cis and a trans-conformation. By the addition of an anion, the tweezers are locked in a closed form thanks to the H-bond formed with both urea moieties. The authors reported the closing of the tweezers using chiral carboxylates associated with circular dichroism (CD) response. In the presence of

Ligand effects, solvent cooperation, and large kinetic solvent deuterium isotope effects in gold(I)-catalyzed intramolecular alkene hydroamination

• Ruichen Lan,
• Brock Yager,
• Yoonsun Jee,
• Cynthia S. Day and
• Amanda C. Jones

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 479–496, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.43

• faster with more Lewis basic urea substrates, (3) mixed solvents are uniquely able to enhance rates, with protic methanol and DCM identified as the best combination, and (4) kinetic isotope effects are variable depending on the concentration of protons in solution with small deuterium KIE’s at low

• recently developed series of bisbiphenylphosphine ligands, RP(o-biphenyl)2 (R = OPh, Ph, t-Bu) [36][37]. When urea alkene 1a (0.1 M, CD2Cl2) was treated with 1 mol % LAuOTf, where L = PhOP(o-biphenyl)2 (4a), PhP(o-biphenyl)2 (4b), t-BuP(o-biphenyl)2 (4c), the fastest rate to form 3a was observed with the

• % conversion after 24 h, estimated t1/2 = 96 h, kobs = 1.4 × 10−6 s−1). With 55 μL MeOH in DCM, the relative rates for each substrate are 3,850:50:1 with urea 1a > carbamate 1b > benzamide 1c. The analogous toluene sulfonamide substrate 1d did not react on measurable timescales at room temperature (no product

Green and sustainable approaches for the Friedel–Crafts reaction between aldehydes and indoles

• Periklis X. Kolagkis,
• Eirini M. Galathri and
• Christoforos G. Kokotos

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 379–426, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.36

Elucidating the glycan-binding specificity and structure of Cucumis melo agglutinin, a new R-type lectin

• Jon Lundstrøm,
• Emilie Gillon,
• Valérie Chazalet,
• Nicole Kerekes,
• Antonio Di Maio,
• Ten Feizi,
• Yan Liu,
• Annabelle Varrot and
• Daniel Bojar

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 306–320, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.31

• the following changes: Purification was carried out by exploiting gravity using 1 mL of Ni Sepharose High Performance resin (Cytiva, #17.5268.01) and an Econo-Pac® Chromatography Column (Bio-Rad, #7321010). Buffer A was exchanged to buffer B (20 mM Tris-HCl pH 8.0, 500 mM NaCl, 500 mM urea, and 5 mM

Perspectives on push–pull chromophores derived from click-type [2 + 2] cycloaddition–retroelectrocyclization reactions of electron-rich alkynes and electron-deficient alkenes

• Michio Yamada

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 125–154, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.13

• ]. In addition to anilino groups, a myriad of donor entities, including urea-substituted phenyl groups [18][19], carbazoles [20], phenothiazines [21][22], thiophenes [23][24][25][26], tetrathiafulvalenes (TTFs) [27], extended TTFs [28], ferrocenes [27][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41

• intramolecular motion within the propeller core of TPE, which promoted nonradiative decay [140]. A subgroup of compounds that exhibit exceptional luminescence in solution includes 73, 74, and 75, each containing urea-substituted phenyl groups (Figure 7) [18][19]. When excited at 380 nm, these compounds show

Synthesis of 5-arylidenerhodanines in L-proline-based deep eutectic solvent

• Stéphanie Hesse

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 1537–1544, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.110

• obstacle to their use as solvent in syntheses. Acidity and alkalinity of DES may also have a significant impact in designing organic reactions. In 2003, Abbott described a DES formed by combination of choline chloride (ChCl) and urea in a 1:2 ratio with a melting point of 12 °C [15]. This DES was further

• melting point of 17 °C which is more acidic and less viscous than ChCl/urea [18][19] (Table 1). In addition, proline-based natural deep eutectic solvents (NaDES) were also studied and it was shown that they presented higher viscosity values than the ChCl-based NaDES, suggesting that the HBA used for the

• Knoevenagel condensation of rhodanine with different aldehydes [3]. The reactions were performed in ChCl/urea (1:2) at 90 °C, without needing a catalyst and the products were obtained in low to good yields (10–78%). On another hand, ʟ-proline is well known as an organocatalyst and its use in aldol and

Synthesis of imidazo[4,5-e][1,3]thiazino[2,3-c][1,2,4]triazines via a base-induced rearrangement of functionalized imidazo[4,5-e]thiazolo[2,3-c][1,2,4]triazines

• Dmitry B. Vinogradov,
• Alexei N. Izmest’ev,
• Angelina N. Kravchenko,
• Yuri A. Strelenko and
• Galina A. Gazieva

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 1047–1054, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.80

• carbonyl groups of the urea fragment are observed (Figure 4). Values of spin–spin interaction constants 3JCH equal to 5.3–6.0 Hz indicate the cis-orientation of the vinyl proton and the carbonyl (for 4a, blue) or the carboxyl group (for 5a, red) relative to the double bond [24][25][26]. The values of spin