Application of N-heterocyclic carbene–Cu(I) complexes as catalysts in organic synthesis: a review

• Nosheen Beig,
• Varsha Goyal and
• Raj K. Bansal

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 1408–1442, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.102

• selective method for the synthesis of a wide range of organic compounds [55][56]. Organometallic reagents, such as organolithium, organomagnesium, and organozinc reagents are commonly used in conjugate addition reactions. 2.2.1 Reaction with Grignard reagents: Organomagnesium reagents, such as Grignard

Transition-metal-catalyzed domino reactions of strained bicyclic alkenes

• Austin Pounder,
• Eric Neufeld,
• Peter Myler and
• William Tam

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 487–540, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.38

• ]-sigmatropic rearrangement of the diazabicycle 47 to form the allylic carbazate intermediate 51. Nucleophilic attack of an organomagnesium, or organocuprate, in an anti SN2’ fashion on 52 furnish the final ring-opened product 49. The authors note the use of a carbamate protecting group was crucial for the

Total synthesis of insect sex pheromones: recent improvements based on iron-mediated cross-coupling chemistry

• Eric Gayon,
• Guillaume Lefèvre,
• Olivier Guerret,
• Adrien Tintar and
• Pablo Chourreu

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 158–166, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.15

• could afford satisfying coupling yields by a suitable variation of the nature of the leaving group. In 2008, Cahiez reported an iron-catalyzed alkenylation of organomagnesium reagents with enol phosphates as electrophiles, instead of alkenyl halides [19]. In this case, when reactive enol phosphates

Modular synthesis of 2-furyl carbinols from 3-benzyldimethylsilylfurfural platforms relying on oxygen-assisted C–Si bond functionalization

• Sebastien Curpanen,
• Per Reichert,
• Gabriele Lupidi,
• Giovanni Poli,
• Julie Oble and
• Alejandro Perez-Luna

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2022, 18, 1256–1263, doi:10.3762/bjoc.18.131

• biomass-derived furfural and 5-methylfurfural, are converted into 3-silylated 2-furyl carbinols upon condensation with organomagnesium or organolithium reagents. The hydroxy unit of the carbinol adducts can be exploited to promote C3(sp2)–Si bond functionalization through intramolecular activation. Two

Recent advances in the syntheses of anthracene derivatives

• Giovanni S. Baviera and
• Paulo M. Donate

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2021, 17, 2028–2050, doi:10.3762/bjoc.17.131

• -bifunctional organomagnesium alkoxide reagent 107, which converted esters into di- and monofunctionalized anthracenes (Scheme 25) [59]. They prepared this reagent by deprotonation–magnesiation of compound 106. Then, the treatment of aromatic esters with 107 produced dialkoxide 108, which could be easily

• anthracenes from a bifunctional organomagnesium alkoxide. Palladium-catalyzed tandem C–H activation/bis-cyclization of propargylic carbonates. Ruthenium-catalyzed C–H arylation of acetophenone derivatives with arenediboronates. Pd-catalyzed intramolecular cyclization of (Z,Z)-p-styrylstilbene derivatives

A comprehensive review of flow chemistry techniques tailored to the flavours and fragrances industries

• Guido Gambacorta,
• James S. Sharley and
• Ian R. Baxendale

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2021, 17, 1181–1312, doi:10.3762/bjoc.17.90

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

• ]. Other regio- and stereoisomeric 2-pyrrolidones 80 were also prepared by a stereoselective tandem Barbier process of 79 with alkyl and aryl bromide [100]. The process was performed in this case under Barbier reaction conditions. Namely, the formation of the nucleophile (organomagnesium reagent) is

• process. After addition of the organomagnesium reagent to the imine 79, cyclization involving the magnesium amide and the ester occurred without the need of an extra cyclization step to give, after N-Boc protection, 4-hydroxy-5-substituted pyrrolidin-2-ones 90, with relative trans-configuration (Scheme 24

• aliphatic and aromatic organomagnesium compounds. Based on X-ray crystallographic analyses, the relative configurations of the products 127 were unambiguously assigned as trans-form. The stereocontrol was governed by the stereogenic center bearing the OTBS group at α-position of the imine, showing no

Disposable cartridge concept for the on-demand synthesis of turbo Grignards, Knochel–Hauser amides, and magnesium alkoxides

• Mateo Berton,
• Kevin Sheehan,
• Andrea Adamo and
• D. Tyler McQuade

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 1343–1356, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.115

• batch-to-batch variability. Tubular reactors of solid reagents combined with solution-phase reagents enable the continuous-flow preparation of organomagnesium reagents. The use of stratified packed-bed columns of magnesium metal and lithium chloride for the synthesis of highly concentrated turbo

• fresh organomagnesium reagents on a discovery scale and will do so independent from the operator’s experience in flow and/or organometallic chemistry. Keywords: Knochel–Hauser base; lithium chloride; magnesium; on-demand; packed-bed reactors; plug and flow reactor; synthesizer; turbo Grignard reagent

• columns of solid reagents and product receptacle. These components are deployed in a low-cost machine with a design amenable for the automated lab-scale generation of organomagnesium reagents on demand (Figure 1). Organomagnesium compounds are omnipresent reagents that serve as nucleophiles and bases

Architecture and synthesis of P,N-heterocyclic phosphine ligands

• Wisdom A. Munzeiwa,
• Bernard Omondi and
• Vincent O. Nyamori

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 362–383, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.35

• ] also used the Grignard route to synthesize phosphine ligands that are stable to oxidation as described in Scheme 2. The organomagnesium intermediate 11 produced from 2-(N-piperidyl)bromobenzene (10) was trapped with appropriate halo-phosphine reagents to generate derivatives 12. The 2-(N-piperidyl

Copper-catalyzed enantioselective conjugate addition of organometallic reagents to challenging Michael acceptors

• Delphine Pichon,
• Jennifer Morvan,
• Christophe Crévisy and
• Marc Mauduit

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 212–232, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.24

• CuBr∙SMe2/(R,S)-Josiphos (L9). However, the catalytic system was poorly selective toward sterically hindered organomagnesium nucleophiles (15–25% ee). The synthetic versatility of the thioester function was illustrated in the synthesis of (−)-lardolure (26% overall yield over 12 steps) via a relevant

Functionalization of 4-bromobenzo[c][2,7]naphthyridine via regioselective direct ring metalation. A novel approach to analogues of pyridoacridine alkaloids

• Benedikt C. Melzer,
• Alois Plodek and
• Franz Bracher

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2019, 15, 2304–2310, doi:10.3762/bjoc.15.222

• bromo substituent of the appropriate substrates 20a or 20b should converted into the respective organomagnesium product by bromine–magnesium exchange. In an expected subsequent Parham-type ring-closing reaction [33] the nucleophilic carbon at position 4 should trap the ester (or nitrile) group to lead

Cobalt-catalyzed nucleophilic addition of the allylic C(sp³)–H bond of simple alkenes to ketones

• Tsuyoshi Mita,
• Masashi Uchiyama,
• Kenichi Michigami and
• Yoshihiro Sato

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2018, 14, 2012–2017, doi:10.3762/bjoc.14.176

• that thermal cleavage of allylic C(sp3)–H bonds is possible without using highly basic organolithium or organomagnesium reagents (Grignard reagents) that react with ketones rather than deprotonating the allylic C(sp3)–H bonds. Based on the observed perfect branch selectivity, we propose the catalytic

Heterogeneous acidic catalysts for the tetrahydropyranylation of alcohols and phenols in green ethereal solvents

• Ugo Azzena,
• Massimo Carraro,
• Gloria Modugno,
• Luisa Pisano and
• Luigi Urtis

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2018, 14, 1655–1659, doi:10.3762/bjoc.14.141

• involving highly polar nucleophilic reagents such as organolithium and organomagnesium compounds or aluminium hydrides, tetrahydropyranylation reactions are usually run in hydrocarbons, chloroalkanes or dipolar aprotic solvents [1][2][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15], thus affording a paradigmatic example of

Three-component coupling of aryl iodides, allenes, and aldehydes catalyzed by a Co/Cr-hybrid catalyst

• Kimihiro Komeyama,
• Shunsuke Sakiyama,
• Kento Iwashita,
• Itaru Osaka and
• Ken Takaki

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2018, 14, 1413–1420, doi:10.3762/bjoc.14.118

• organolithium, organomagnesium, organozinc, and organochromium A, to facilitate addition reactions of appropriate carbon electrophiles such as aldehydes (Scheme 1, top) [1]. In contrast, π-electrophilic carbon-connected late transition metals B facilitate the carbometalation of carbon–carbon multiple bonds

Conjugated nitrosoalkenes as Michael acceptors in carbon–carbon bond forming reactions: a review and perspective

• Yaroslav D. Boyko,
• Valentin S. Dorokhov,
• Alexey Yu. Sukhorukov and
• Sema L. Ioffe

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2017, 13, 2214–2234, doi:10.3762/bjoc.13.220

• -nitrosoalkenes were reported so far. Among the first, Ohno and co-workers studied the addition of Grignard reagents to α-chlorooximes derived from cyclic ketones [23]. In their experiments, 2 equivalents of organomagnesium compound were used with one equivalent needed to transform α-chlorooximes into

• erythronolide B, this result indicates that the organocopper compounds undergo conjugate addition to nitrosoalkenes in much more selective manner as compared to organolithium and organomagnesium reagents. Later on, Weinreb and co-workers demonstrated that organocopper reagents smoothly react with α-chlorooximes

Synthesis of substituted Z-styrenes by Hiyama-type coupling of oxasilacycloalkenes: application to the synthesis of a 1-benzoxocane

• James R. Vyvyan,
• Courtney A. Engles,
• Scott L. Bray,
• Erik D. Wold,
• Christopher L. Porter and
• Mikhail O. Konev

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2017, 13, 2122–2127, doi:10.3762/bjoc.13.209

• ]. Developed somewhat later than the aforementioned methods and the couplings of organomagnesium and organotin reagents was the cross-coupling of silanes, pioneered by Hiyama [3][4] and siloxanes [5]. This versatile method has been extensively reviewed [6][7][8]. The cross-coupling of alkenyl silanols [9][10

A novel approach to oxoisoaporphine alkaloids via regioselective metalation of alkoxy isoquinolines

• Benedikt C. Melzer and
• Franz Bracher

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2017, 13, 1564–1571, doi:10.3762/bjoc.13.156

• were inspired by Knochel’s reports on the direct metalation of isoquinoline [22] and 6,7-dimethoxyisoquinoline [23] as well as by our own results for the metalation of various alkoxyisoquinolines [13] at C-1 with the Knochel–Hauser base TMPMgCl·LiCl. Transmetalation of the intermediate organomagnesium

Comparing blends and blocks: Synthesis of partially fluorinated diblock polythiophene copolymers to investigate the thermal stability of optical and morphological properties

• Pierre Boufflet,
• Sebastian Wood,
• Jessica Wade,
• Zhuping Fei,
• Ji-Seon Kim and
• Martin Heeney

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2016, 12, 2150–2163, doi:10.3762/bjoc.12.205

• organomagnesium reagent prepared from 2-bromo-5-iodo-3-alkylthiophene [28]. The reason for the large discrepancy between the feed ratio and the true block lengths in P3OT-b-F-P3OT 2:1 may be attributed to unexpected chain termination during the growth of the P3OT block. This theory is consistent with the large

Recent advances in copper-catalyzed asymmetric coupling reactions

• Fengtao Zhou and
• Qian Cai

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2015, 11, 2600–2615, doi:10.3762/bjoc.11.280

• other metals (Pd, Mo, and Ir), copper-catalyzed allylic substitution reactions allow the use of nonstabilized nucleophiles including organomagnesium, organoaluminum, organozinc and organoborane reagents. Moreover, copper-catalyzed allylic substitution reactions usually proceed with high SN2

Diastereoselective and enantioselective conjugate addition reactions utilizing α,β-unsaturated amides and lactams

• Katherine M. Byrd

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2015, 11, 530–562, doi:10.3762/bjoc.11.60

• is not observed when malonates are used as nucleophiles. It has now been well established that “soft” nucleophiles prefer a 1,4-attack whereas “hard” nucleophiles such as organomagnesium and lithium reagents prefer a 1,2-attack. Within the past couple of decades, there has been a focus on the

Palladium-catalysed cross-coupling reaction of ultra-stabilised 2-aryl-1,3-dihydro-1H-benzo[d]1,3,2-diazaborole compounds with aryl bromides: A direct protocol for the preparation of unsymmetrical biaryls

• Siphamandla Sithebe and
• Ross S. Robinson

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2014, 10, 1107–1113, doi:10.3762/bjoc.10.109

• an organomagnesium intermediate with trialkylborate solution followed by complexation with o-phenylenediamine (8) in a single pot (Scheme 1). Following this procedure, the desired products were obtained in excellent yields (81–93%) (Scheme 1). Suzuki–Miyaura cross-coupling reaction To find optimal

Synthesis of novel derivatives of 5-hydroxymethylcytosine and 5-formylcytosine as tools for epigenetics

• Anna Chentsova,
• Era Kapourani and
• Athanassios Giannis

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2014, 10, 7–11, doi:10.3762/bjoc.10.2

• ’-deoxycytidine) as a starting material for the envisioned transformations (Scheme 2). To the best of our knowledge, the addition of organometallic compounds (organolithium and organomagnesium, etc.) to aldehyde 1 is not described in the literature. Compound 1 was readily converted to 5hmC analogues 2a–e by

A practical synthesis of long-chain iso-fatty acids (iso-C₁₂–C₁₉) and related natural products

• Mark B. Richardson and
• Spencer J. Williams

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2013, 9, 1807–1812, doi:10.3762/bjoc.9.210

• ][45][46], organomagnesium (sp2–sp3) [47], or organocopper (sp3–sp3) [48][49] cross-couplings; or (2) bidirectional extension of a central thiophene C4-fragment [50]. Two fundamentally different approaches worth special mention are the synthesis of the iso-C14 acid 3 by direct hydro-isopropylation of

Recent advances in transition-metal-catalyzed intermolecular carbomagnesiation and carbozincation

• Kei Murakami and
• Hideki Yorimitsu

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2013, 9, 278–302, doi:10.3762/bjoc.9.34

• reactions are efficient and direct routes to prepare complex and stereodefined organomagnesium and organozinc reagents. However, carbon–carbon unsaturated bonds are generally unreactive toward organomagnesium and organozinc reagents. Thus, transition metals were employed to accomplish the carbometalation

• , organomagnesium and organozinc reagents have been widely employed for organic synthesis due to their versatile reactivity and availability. The most popular method for preparing organomagnesium and organozinc reagents still has to be the classical Grignard method [1], starting from magnesium or zinc metal and

• organic halides [2][3][4][5][6][7]. Although the direct insertion route is efficient and versatile, stereocontrolled synthesis of organomagnesium or organozinc reagents, especially of alkenyl or alkyl derivatives, is always difficult since the metal insertion process inevitably passes through radical

Evaluation of a chiral cubane-based Schiff base ligand in asymmetric catalysis reactions

• Kyle F. Biegasiewicz,
• Michelle L. Ingalsbe,
• Jeffrey D. St. Denis,
• James L. Gleason,
• Junming Ho,
• Michelle L. Coote,
• G. Paul Savage and
• Ronny Priefer

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2012, 8, 1814–1818, doi:10.3762/bjoc.8.207

• in obtaining high stereoselectivity, and thus we decided to switch to Michael addition with organomagnesium and organozinc reagents. Since the copper source that produced the highest ee value with the cyclopropanation above was Cu(I) triflate tetrakisacetonitrile, we decided to initially focus on