Chemoenzymatic synthesis of the cardenolide rhodexin A and its aglycone sarmentogenin

• Fuzhen Song,
• Mengmeng Zheng,
• Dongkai Wang,
• Xudong Qu and
• Qianghui Zhou

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 2637–2644, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.204

• glycosylation. To our delight, as shown in Scheme 3B, with TMSOTf as the promoter, the glycosylation between 11 and 14 proceeded smoothly in a stereospecific manner, delivering the key intermediate 15 in 98% yield. Subsequently, treating 15 under Mn(acac)2-catalyzed Mukaiyama hydration conditions yielded the

Ni-promoted reductive cyclization cascade enables a total synthesis of (+)-aglacin B

• Si-Chen Yao,
• Jing-Si Cao,
• Jian Xiao,
• Ya-Wen Wang and
• Yu Peng

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 2548–2552, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.197

• followed by reaction with CH(OMe)3 afforded acetal 17, which was then subjected to a CH2Cl2 solution of TMSOTf and iPr2NEt. A mixture of enol methyl ethers 18 were thus produced by an elimination reaction. Eventually, a site-selective bromination of the double bond over the electron-rich benzene rings with

Transformation of the cyclohexane ring to the cyclopentane fragment of biologically active compounds

• Natalya Akhmetdinova,
• Ilgiz Biktagirov and
• Liliya Kh. Faizullina

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 2416–2446, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.185

• reagent 118 using trifluoromethanesulfonic acid (TfOH) or TMSOTf as Lewis acids. The authors suggested that the reaction proceeded via the formation of an intermediate 119 followed by reaction with an alcohol nucleophile and a 1,2-carbon migration to produce a cyclopentane derivative 120 with a yield of

• of α,β-epoxy ketone 197 using Lewis acids (Sc(OTf)3, TMSOTf, SnCl4, Yb(OTf)3, BF3·Et2O, BF3·CH3CO2H, BF3·THF, BF3·Bu2O) as a catalyst and different solvents (DCE, DCM, THF, CHCl3) has been described in [88]. By varying the temperature, solvent, and catalyst, optimal conditions were found for time

• hydroxyketone 207 using the Diels–Alder reaction and the ring contraction reaction of epoxyketone 208. After treatment with TMSOTf in dichloromethane at −78 °C, epoxyketone 208 was subjected to selective cleavage of the epoxide, followed by а 1,2-shift of the carbonyl group and the formation of the ring

Recent advances in Norrish–Yang cyclization and dicarbonyl photoredox reactions for natural product synthesis

• Peng-Xi Luo,
• Jin-Xuan Yang,
• Shao-Min Fu and
• Bo Liu

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 2315–2333, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.177

• EG3 (99) via TMSOTf/Et3N-mediated β-elimination of methanol followed by desilylation. Finally, stereoselective epoxidation and reductive opening of the oxirane ring enabled the total synthesis of preussomerin EG2 (98) from preussomerin EG1 (97) in 88% yield over two steps. In this synthesis, the

The application of desymmetric enantioselective reduction of cyclic 1,3-dicarbonyl compounds in the total synthesis of terpenoid and alkaloid natural products

• Dong-Xing Tan and
• Fu-She Han

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 2085–2102, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.164

• hydroxyketone 86 in 60% yield with 92% ee and 8.4:1 dr. A secondary hydroxy-directed Grignard reagent addition of 86 followed by selective protection, generated alcohol ester 87. After one recrystallization, the ee value of 87 could be increased to 99%. Subsequently, TMSOTf-promoted transacetalation and in situ

Bioinspired total syntheses of natural products: a personal adventure

• Zhengyi Qin,
• Yuting Yang,
• Nuran Yan,
• Xinyu Liang,
• Zhiyu Zhang,
• Yaxuan Duan,
• Huilin Li and
• Xuegong She

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 2048–2061, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.160

• reduction of ketone using SmI2 and propionaldehyde provided 15 diastereoselectively. Friedel–Crafts cyclization using trimethyl orthoformate and TMSOTf provided the cyclic acetal moiety to be oxidized with PDC, delivering the isocoumarin skeleton in 16. Chemoselective removal of the ester with the lactone

Approaches to stereoselective 1,1'-glycosylation

• Daniele Zucchetta and
• Alla Zamyatina

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 1700–1718, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.133

• configuration has been explained by the formation of a picolinium adduct, resulting from the trapping of the acidic by-product TMSOTf by the pyridine moiety of the picoloyl group during glycosylation [69]. The resulting intermediate, a picolinium-stabilized TMS-glycoside, exhibits high configurational stability

• and K. pneumoniae [74][75]. The application of variably protected 3-azido-3-deoxy-glucose-derived donor 72 and lactol acceptor 73, both allegedly armed due to the presence of multiple electron-donating bulky substituents, did not lead to product formation in the TMSOTf-promoted glycosylation reaction

• reduced reaction temperatures (−20 to −60 °C), N-phenyl trifluoroacetimidate (PTFA) donors are sufficiently stable to be used in glycosylation reactions at 0 °C or ambient temperature, while remaining reactive enough to glycosylate conformationally hindered nucleophiles in the presence of catalytic TMSOTf

Structural analysis of stereoselective galactose pyruvylation toward the synthesis of bacterial capsular polysaccharides

• Tsun-Yi Chiang,
• Mei-Huei Lin,
• Chun-Wei Chang,
• Jinq-Chyi Lee and
• Cheng-Chung Wang

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 1671–1677, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.131

• β-selectivity due to the neighboring group effect [41][48][49][50]. Subsequently, treatment with triethylsilane (Et₃SiH) and trimethylsilyl trifluoromethanesulfonate (TMSOTf) led to the opening of the benzylidene ring and removal of the TMS group, yielding compound 14, which can serve as an acceptor

Chemical synthesis of glycan motifs from the antitumor agent PI-88 through an orthogonal one-pot glycosylation strategy

• Shaokang Yang,
• Xingchun Sun,
• Hanyingzi Fan and
• Guozhi Xiao

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 1587–1594, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.122

• in mannosyl PVB 8 (1.0 equiv) in the presence of TMSOTf as catalyst proceeded smoothly at 0 °C to room temperature, affording the α-Man-(1→3)-Man PVB disaccharide. The further coupling of the above PVB disaccharide with the poorly reactive 2-OH in mannoside 9 (0.9 equiv) under activation with NIS and

• TMSOTf at 0 °C to room temperature, successfully furnished the desired α-Man-(1→3)-α-Man-(1→3)-α-Man trisaccharide 10 in 87% yield in a one pot manner. Removal of TBDPS group in 10 with 70% HF·pyridine and subsequent phosphitylation of the resulting free alcohol with phosphoramidite 11 provided the

• Cbz groups) failed to efficiently produce trisaccharide 1. The synthesis of monophosphorylated tetrasaccharide 2 was next investigated (Scheme 2B). TMSOTf was used to activate Man PTFAI 5 (1.1 equiv) in the presence of mannosyl ABz 7 (1.0 equiv) at 0 °C to room temperature, readily producing the α-Man

The effect of neighbouring group participation and possible long range remote group participation in O-glycosylation

• Rituparna Das and
• Balaram Mukhopadhyay

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 369–406, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.27

Recent advances in organocatalytic atroposelective reactions

• Henrich Szabados and
• Radovan Šebesta

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 55–121, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.6

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

• trifluoromethanesulfonate (TMSOTf). This synthesis was conducted in a mixture of 2,2,2-trifluoroethanol (TFE) and dichloromethane [78]. The synthesized naproxen-containing diaryliodonium salt 67 was further used to modify the aromatic ring of naproxen methyl ester 68 (Scheme 27). Various functionalization reactions which

N-Glycosides of indigo, indirubin, and isoindigo: blue, red, and yellow sugars and their cancerostatic activity

• Peter Langer

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 2840–2869, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.240

• tumors PRCL PC3M and RXF 631L) with IC50 values of about 2.8 mg mL−1 and IC70 values of >3 mg mL−1. In 2005, our group developed a synthesis of indigo-N-glycosides (Scheme 3) [19]. The TMSOTf-mediated reaction of readily available N-benzylindigo (1b) with tri-O-pivaloyl-α-ʟ-rhamnosyl trichloroacetimidate

A facile three-component route to powerful 5-aryldeazaalloxazine photocatalysts

• Ivana Weisheitelová,
• Radek Cibulka,
• Marek Sikorski and
• Tetiana Pavlovska

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 1831–1838, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.161

• was significantly enhanced when refluxing in DMF with a catalytic amount of AlCl3 compared to the reaction in clear DMF (Table 1, entries 7–9). Other Lewis acids were not as effective, except for a combination of DMSO/TMSOTf (Table 1, entry 4). The application of AcOH/PPA for the synthesis of 5

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

Domino reactions of chromones with activated carbonyl compounds

• Peter Langer

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 1256–1269, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.108

• chromones requires the action of trimethylsilyl trifluoromethanesulfonate (TMSOTf) which is a relatively expensive reagent. In future studies, especially the chemistry of 3-methoxalyl- and 3-nitrochromones should be further explored. In case of the methoxalyl derivatives, so far not many synthetic

Synthesis of 1,4-azaphosphinine nucleosides and evaluation as inhibitors of human cytidine deaminase and APOBEC3A

• Maksim V. Kvach,
• Stefan Harjes,
• Harikrishnan M. Kurup,
• Geoffrey B. Jameson,
• Elena Harjes and
• Vyacheslav V. Filichev

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 1088–1098, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.96

• , t-BuOK), with Hoffer’s chlorosugar (13) in the presence or absence of Lewis acid (TMSOTf, SnCl4) did not result in formation of a reasonable amount of appropriate nucleoside (Scheme 2). Nucleobase 12 could not be converted to the corresponding silylated derivative by using HMDS, TMSCl or a

• , providing a linear nucleoside 17 as a mixture of two anomers, which were successfully separated on a silica gel column. Finally, cyclisation of a linear nucleoside was accomplished in the presence of a catalytic amount of the Lewis acid TMSOTf in 64% yield. Unfortunately, cyclisation was accompanied by

• ) H2, Pd/C, CH2Cl2, rt, 3 h; b) chloroacetyl chloride, Et3N, 0 °C, overnight, 38% yield; iii) 10, HMDS, DCE, 90 °C, 24 h, 32% yield; iv) TMSOTf, ACN, 40 °C, 2.5 h, 64% yield. i) H2, 5% Pd/CaCO3/3% Pb, Et3N, CH2Cl2, rt, 1.5 h, 34% and 21% yield for α- and β-anomer of 18, respectively; ii) H2, 10% Pd/C

Optimizations of lipid II synthesis: an essential glycolipid precursor in bacterial cell wall synthesis and a validated antibiotic target

• Milandip Karak,
• Cian R. Cloonan,
• Brad R. Baker,
• Rachel V. K. Cochrane and
• Stephen A. Cochrane

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 220–227, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.22

• reaction (Table 1, entries 6, 8, and 9). A slight improvement in the yield of 3a was observed when switching from TMSOTf to TfOH as the activator (Table 1, entry 5 vs entry 10). However, substituting TMSOTf with BF3·OEt2 did not yield any target product 3a (Table 1, entry 3 vs entry 12). In our

N-Sulfenylsuccinimide/phthalimide: an alternative sulfenylating reagent in organic transformations

• Fatemeh Doraghi,
• Seyedeh Pegah Aledavoud,
• Mehdi Ghanbarlou,
• Bagher Larijani and
• Mohammad Mahdavi

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 1471–1502, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.106

• , and TMSOTf resulted in good chemical yields. In the transformation, the selectivity of the endo or exo cyclization depended on the atom number of the chain between alkene and arene, leading to the formation of 6-, 7-, or 8-membered rings. In addition to N-(thio)phthalimides, benzenesulfenyl chloride

• sulfide molecules 137 (Scheme 58) [90]. The Lewis basicity nature of PhSePh as a catalyst and the presence of Lewis acid TMSOTf improved the chemical yields. It is interesting to note that the reaction carried out at a lower temperature because of the high reactivity of allene 136. When the reaction was

• cyclization transformation involving activation of the electrophilic sulfur reagent by PhSePh with the assistance of TMSOTf to form transition state I. Intermediate II formed through capturing of sulfonium by selenium. Then, II reacted with 136 to give regioselective cyclic thiiranium ion III. Nucleophilic

Synthesis of ether lipids: natural compounds and analogues

• Marco Antônio G. B. Gomes,
• Alicia Bauduin,
• Chloé Le Roux,
• Romain Fouinneteau,
• Wilfried Berthe,
• Mathieu Berchel,
• Hélène Couthon and
• Paul-Alain Jaffrès

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 1299–1369, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.96

Enolates ambushed – asymmetric tandem conjugate addition and subsequent enolate trapping with conventional and less traditional electrophiles

• Péter Kisszékelyi and
• Radovan Šebesta

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 593–634, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.44

• TMSOTf) promoted trapping gave the aldol adducts 4 in good to excellent diastereoselectivity (up to a single diastereomer), but the yields were relatively low (25–44%). To overcome this limitation, the authors used TMSOTf to prepare and isolate the corresponding silyl enol ethers, which were later

• unsaturated amides, the trapping worked also with alkenylheterocycles 103. Interestingly, the corresponding aza-enolates could be generated by two sets of experimental conditions where ACA was promoted either by BF3·OEt2 or TMSOTf (Scheme 27A). Based on the recent Harutyunyan discovery of ACA to unsaturated

Catalytic aza-Nazarov cyclization reactions to access α-methylene-γ-lactam heterocycles

• Bilge Banu Yagci,
• Selin Ezgi Donmez,
• Onur Şahin and
• Yunus Emre Türkmen

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 66–77, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.6

• using acyl chloride 6b with an isobutyl side chain is its low volatility in contrast to the highly volatile compound 6a. The aza-Nazarov product 7b was isolated in 61% yield with 20 mol % of AgOTf at 80 °C (Table 1, entry 5). The use of TMSOTf as a Si-based Lewis acid catalyst with 20 mol % loading

Combining the best of both worlds: radical-based divergent total synthesis

• Kyriaki Gennaiou,
• Antonios Kelesidis,
• Maria Kourgiantaki and
• Alexandros L. Zografos

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 1–26, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.1

• produce aporphine natural products, while the use of PIDA or PIFA in the presence of BF3·OEt or TMSOTf in wet CH3CN allows to diverge the synthesis to morphinandienone natural products (e.g., 181, Scheme 15). The flow reaction was performed in a reaction coil at room temperature. Two reaction loops were

Total synthesis of grayanane natural products

• Nicolas Fay,
• Rémi Blieck,
• Cyrille Kouklovsky and
• Aurélien de la Torre

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2022, 18, 1707–1719, doi:10.3762/bjoc.18.181

• optimization showed that chiral squaramide 47 developed by Jacobsen’s group significantly accelerated the Mukaiyama reaction compared to TMSOTf or TiCl4 thanks to chiral hydrogen bond-donor effect [35]. After Sakurai cyclization promoted by EtAlCl2, the desired product 48 was obtained with the required

Chemical and chemoenzymatic routes to bridged homoarabinofuranosylpyrimidines: Bicyclic AZT analogues

• Sandeep Kumar,
• Jyotirmoy Maity,
• Banty Kumar,
• Sumit Kumar and
• Ashok K. Prasad

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2022, 18, 95–101, doi:10.3762/bjoc.18.10

• (trimethylsilyl)acetamide (BSA) and trimethylsilyl trifluoromethanesulfonate (TMSOTf) afforded nucleosides 13a,b. Further, deacetylation of the triacetylated azidoallofuranosyl nucleosides 13a,b with K2CO3 in methanol/water led to the formation of 3′-azido-3′-deoxy-β-ᴅ-allofuranosyl nucleosides 14a,b in 85

• anomeric triacetylated sugars 19a,b with thymine and uracil in the presence of BSA and TMSOTf in acetonitrile afforded nucleosides 20a,b, respectively in high yields. The deacetylation of these nucleosides was carried out using K2CO3 in a solvent mixture of methanol and water (9:1) to afford nucleoside 21a