pH-Controlled isomerization kinetics of ortho-disubstituted benzamidines: E/Z isomerism and axial chirality

• Ryota Kimura,
• Satoshi Ichikawa and
• Akira Katsuyama

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 1568–1576, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.120

• advances require expanding the range of pH-responsive systems and discovering new molecular architectures. Here, we investigate the pH-responsive behavior of ortho-disubstituted benzamidine, which generates atropisomers and E/Z isomers. The amidine moiety allows modulation of the C–N and C–N/C–C rotational

• barriers by protonation, providing a novel approach to control the kinetics of isomerization via pH adjustment. The results showed that protonation of the amidine moiety significantly suppresses both C–N bond rotation and C–N/C–C concerted rotation, demonstrating the potential of ortho-disubstituted

• formal substitution of the carbonyl oxygen atom of DiBA to an NH group, could act as a pH-responsive molecular switch (Figure 1c). Namely, the double-bond nature of an amidine moiety can be altered by the protonation of the amidine nitrogen atom. This suggests the possibility of controlling the rate of C

Oxetanes: formation, reactivity and total syntheses of natural products

• Peter Gabko,
• Martin Kalník and
• Maroš Bella

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 1324–1373, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.101

• amidine base catalysis (Scheme 25b) [69]. Although this methodology employs equimolar catalyst loadings, the products 100 are obtained with complete diastereoselectivity and mostly in moderate to good yields. As for the mechanism, it is assumed to be analogous to the NHC-variant. Four years later, Somappa

Chitosan-supported CuI-catalyzed cascade reaction of 2-halobenzoic acids and amidines for the synthesis of quinazolinones

• Xuhong Zhao,
• Weishuang Li,
• Mengli Yang,
• Bojie Li,
• Yaoyao Zhang,
• Lizhen Huang and
• Lei Zhu

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 839–844, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.67

• obtained (Table 1, entry 19). With the optimized conditions in hand, we explored the substrate scope of the CS@CuI-catalyzed cascade reactions of 2-halobenzoic acids (including 2-iodobenzoic acid and 2-bromobenzoic acid) with amidines (Scheme 2). Initially, when the amidine substituent (R2) is a methyl

• little effect on the reactivity. When the amidine substituent (R2) was changed to a cyclopropyl group, the yields of all reaction decreased, especially when substituents were present on the benzene ring (3e–h, 55−94% yields for 2-iodobenzoic acid, 43–76% yields for 2-bromobenzoic acid). We then

• , which acts as a base. Subsequently, I undergoes oxidative addition and complexation with the amidine 2 to generate intermediate II. This intermediate then undergoes reductive elimination to form intermediate III, releasing CS@CuI back into the system. Finally, the coupling reaction between the carboxyl

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

• difficult to separate [86][87][88]. Probably, the high reactivity of the imines generated by formaldehyde leads to their polymerization [84] or even to the incorporation of other nucleophiles present in the reaction mixture, such as the solvent or a second molecule of the amidine component (Scheme 32) [84

• ][89][90][91]. It is also known that two regioisomers can be generated during the GBB reaction depending on the nature of the amidine and the aldehyde used and, therefore, the type of imine formed [85][90]. As formaldehyde is a very reactive molecule, it will be more susceptible to form imines with

• either of the two nucleophilic nitrogen atoms present in the amidine component, thus leading to the production of both regioisomers 42a and 42b and therefore to a demanding purification process (Scheme 33). To avoid these drawbacks, Lyon et al. optimized the reaction by using free monohydrated glyoxylic

Dioxazolones as electrophilic amide sources in copper-catalyzed and -mediated transformations

• Seungmin Lee,
• Minsuk Kim,
• Hyewon Han and
• Jongwoo Son

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 200–216, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.12

• bearing linear alkyl groups were transformed into N-acyl amidines 10a–c by copper catalysis. Moreover, good functional group tolerance was observed with a terminal alkene motif (10d). The cyclohexyl-substituted dioxazolone successfully provided the corresponding N-acyl amidine 10e. However, the

• dioxazolone bearing a phenyl group showed no reactivity toward benzoyl amidine under the optimized reaction conditions. Instead, the authors employed a less bulky copper iodide catalyst in the absence of phosphine, successfully affording aryloyl amidine 10f. Furthermore, the electron-rich ethynylanisole

• terminal alkynes did not result in the desired N-acyl amidine 10l. Based on the substrate scope of acetylenes, the authors noted that the lower acidity of terminal acetylenes led to a diminished formation of the copper acetylide intermediate. Based on several mechanistic experiments and density functional

Hypervalent iodine-mediated intramolecular alkene halocyclisation

• Charu Bansal,
• Oliver Ruggles,
• Albert C. Rowett and
• Alastair J. J. Lennox

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 3113–3133, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.258

• formed in situ from the reaction of PIDA and LiBr. Oxygen nucleophiles A novel use of HVI reagents that promotes bromocyclization was reported by Braddock and co-workers in 2006 (Scheme 36) [55]. The authors reported the use of a bromoiodinane, formed in situ from ortho-substituted amidine iodobenzene 67

Synthesis of spiroindolenines through a one-pot multistep process mediated by visible light

• Francesco Gambuti,
• Jacopo Pizzorno,
• Chiara Lambruschini,
• Renata Riva and
• Lisa Moni

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 2722–2731, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.230

• , 3CH3 of t-Bu); 13C NMR (101 MHz, CDCl3) δ 175.3 (Cq amidine), 160.9 (Cq near O), 158.0 (Cq near N), 149.7 (Cq near N), 136.8 (Cq Ar), 133.9 (Cq Ar), 132.7 (Cq Ar), 129.0 (CH Ar), 128.5 (2 CH Ar), 126.9 (CH Ar), 126.9 (CH Ar), 126.5 (CH Ar), 123.5 (CH Ar), 123.3 (CH Ar), 123.2 (2 CH Ar), 107.1 (CH Ar

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

• condensation by introducing additional functional groups into the amine moiety (Figure 3). Substituted arylamines bearing alcohol (3ae), phenol (3ad), alkene (3bi), dimethyl acetal (3bj) functionality can be accessed in good yields. Reaction of 1,3-diketone 1a with a non-amidine type heterocyclic amine, 3

The Groebke–Blackburn–Bienaymé reaction in its maturity: innovation and improvements since its 21st birthday (2019–2023)

• Cristina Martini,
• Muhammad Idham Darussalam Mardjan and
• Andrea Basso

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 1839–1879, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.162

• on biological activities or photophysical properties (i.e., fluorescence) of GBB adducts. Another advantage is that, by replacing the amidine component (classically 2-aminopyridines) with other heterocycles, different scaffolds are obtained, and this is extremely efficient in diversity-oriented

• multistep procedure, however, by employing 3,6-diamino-1,2,4-triazin-5-one 44 as amidine derivative, 46 could be simply obtained through a GBB-3CR. The amino group in position 3 was opportunely protected to drive the GBB reaction to the selective formation of 45. Microwave heating appeared to be beneficial

• containing an aromatic ring or heteroatoms (54, R2 = NHAc, NH2) were used, while aliphatic amidines (54, R2 = H, CH3, CF3) were unsuccessful, indicating that the resonance stabilization of the amidine was crucial to the reaction. Finally, Guillaumet et al. [55] have proposed a simple way to synthesize the 2

Cycloaddition reactions of heterocyclic azides with 2-cyanoacetamidines as a new route to C,N-diheteroarylcarbamidines

• Pavel S. Silaichev,
• Tetyana V. Beryozkina,
• Vsevolod V. Melekhin,
• Valeriy O. Filimonov,
• Andrey N. Maslivets,
• Vladimir G. Ilkin,
• Wim Dehaen and
• Vasiliy A. Bakulev

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 17–24, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.3

• and Molecules, Department of Chemistry, KU Leuven, Celestijnenlaan 200F, B-3001 Leuven, Belgium 10.3762/bjoc.20.3 Abstract A novel and efficient base-catalyzed, transition-metal-free method for the synthesis of diheterocyclic compounds connected by an amidine linker, including apart from the common

• comprising pyrimidine and 1,2,3-triazole rings connected with an amidine linker by the cycloaddition reaction of 3,3-diaminoacrylonitriles with 6-azidopyrimidine (Scheme 1C). Based on this idea, an efficient and novel method with wide scope has been developed which was then applied to obtain a variety of

• -diaminoacrylonitriles 1 with heteroaryl azides (HetN3) 2 [16] leading to 5-amino-1,2,3-triazole-4-N-heteroarylcarbimidamides 3 (Scheme 1C). Results and Discussion Optimization of the reaction of amidine 1a with azide 2a We initiated the study by investigating a model reaction involving the cycloaddition of 3-amino-3

1-Butyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate as suitable solvent for BF₃: the case of alkyne hydration. Chemistry vs electrochemistry

• Marta David,
• Elisa Galli,
• Richard C. D. Brown,
• Marta Feroci,
• Fabrizio Vetica and
• Martina Bortolami

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 1966–1981, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.147

• analysis (amidine carbon atom at 161.6 ppm in BMIm-BF4, taking as internal reference the imidazolium C2 at 136.4 ppm) [116]. The addition of an excess of BF3·Et2O to the solution of DBU in IL shifted the DBU amidine signal to 166.0 ppm, confirming the rapid formation of the adduct (see Supporting

Trifluoromethylated hydrazones and acylhydrazones as potent nitrogen-containing fluorinated building blocks

• Zhang Dongxu

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 1741–1754, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.127

• trifluoromethylated 1,2,4-triazoles were synthesized with excellent regioselectivities in [3 + 2] cycloaddition reactions of trifluoromethylated hydrazonoyl chlorides with imidates, amidine and 1H-benzo[d]imidazole-2-thiols, all of which were individually reported by Wang, Deng and Cai, respectively [77][78][79

Synthesis, α-mannosidase inhibition studies and molecular modeling of 1,4-imino-ᴅ-lyxitols and their C-5-altered N-arylalkyl derivatives

• Martin Kalník,
• Sergej Šesták,
• Juraj Kóňa,
• Maroš Bella and
• Monika Poláková

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 282–293, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.24

• endocyclic nitrogen with a benzyl or alkyl unit functionalized either with non-polar hydrocarbons or a polar amine, amidine and guanidine group. The ensuing assay with the model GMIIb enzyme (fruit fly Golgi α-mannosidase II) revealed that N-substitution improved both potency and selectivity, achieving

• (AMAN-2) (GH38 family, E.C.3.2.1.114) was included in the biochemical assay as its active site is more similar to human GMII than that of GMIIb. The resulting biochemical evaluation revealed that imino-ᴅ-lyxitols with N-substituents possessing a polar basic functional group (amidine or guanidine) were 6

Cs₂CO₃-Promoted reaction of tertiary bromopropargylic alcohols and phenols in DMF: a novel approach to α-phenoxyketones

• Ol'ga G. Volostnykh,
• Olesya A. Shemyakina,
• Anton V. Stepanov and
• Igor' A. Ushakov

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2022, 18, 420–428, doi:10.3762/bjoc.18.44

• )pyrroles [15]. The CsF-promoted nucleophilic addition of isocyanides to bromoacetylenes furnished the functionalized bromovinyl amides followed by Pd-catalyzed formation of 5-iminopyrrolone [16]. Sequential nucleophilic addition/intramolecular cyclization of amidine with bromoacetylenes led to imidazoles

Synthesis of novel [1,2,4]triazolo[1,5-b][1,2,4,5]tetrazines and investigation of their fungistatic activity

• Anna V. Korotina,
• Svetlana G. Tolshchina,
• Rashida I. Ishmetova,
• Natalya P. Evstigneeva,
• Natalya A. Gerasimova,
• Natalya V. Zilberberg,
• Nikolay V. Kungurov,
• Gennady L. Rusinov,
• Oleg N. Chupakhin and
• Valery N. Charushin

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2022, 18, 243–250, doi:10.3762/bjoc.18.29

• -disubstituted 1,2,4,5-tetrazines bearing amidine fragments. It is shown that the heterocyclic systems obtained can be modified easily at C(3) position in the reactions with aliphatic alcohols and amines. Also, the reactivity of [1,2,4]triazolo[1,5-b][1,2,4,5]tetrazines towards CH-active compounds has been

• carried out for the first time. The synthetic approach to new triazolotetrazines involves the preparation of 3,6-disubstituted 1,2,4,5-tetrazines 2a–i bearing the amidine moiety through nucleophilic substitution of the 3,5-dimethylpyrazol fragment in easily available compound 1, followed by oxidative

• of [1,2,4]triazolo[1,5-b][1,2,4,5]tetrazine fragment on antifungal activity of the synthesized compounds, we have tested the activity of their analogues, unannulated 1,2,4,5-tetrazines 2c,g, containing the amidine moiety, and isomeric [1,2,4]triazolo[4,3-b][1,2,4,5]tetrazines. For a comparative

Double-headed nucleosides: Synthesis and applications

• Vineet Verma,
• Jyotirmoy Maity,
• Vipin K. Maikhuri,
• Ritika Sharma,
• Himal K. Ganguly and
• Ashok K. Prasad

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2021, 17, 1392–1439, doi:10.3762/bjoc.17.98

• simultaneous removal of tert-butyldimethylsilyl and amidine protecting groups, respectively (Scheme 41 and Scheme 42) [26]. The incorporation of the double-headed nucleosides 159 and 163 into oligonucleotides resulted in the formation of thermally stable DNA:RNA duplexes due to an efficient π–π stacking

Icilio Guareschi and his amazing “1897 reaction”

• Gian Cesare Tron,
• Alberto Minassi,
• Giovanni Sorba,
• Mara Fausone and
• Giovanni Appendino

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2021, 17, 1335–1351, doi:10.3762/bjoc.17.93

• industrialized total synthesis of a nontrivial natural product. The original experimental protocol was recently improved by replacing the inorganic base (KOH, NaOH) with the amidine base diazobicycloundecane (DBU) as well as ethanol with n-propanol [49]. The type-III Guareschi reaction is a three-component

Synthesis of functionalized imidazo[4,5-e]thiazolo[3,2-b]triazines by condensation of imidazo[4,5-e]triazinethiones with DMAD or DEAD and rearrangement to imidazo[4,5-e]thiazolo[2,3-c]triazines

• Alexei N. Izmest’ev,
• Dmitry B. Vinogradov,
• Natalya G. Kolotyrkina,
• Angelina N. Kravchenko and
• Galina A. Gazieva

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2021, 17, 1141–1148, doi:10.3762/bjoc.17.87

• -triazine-3-thiones with acetylenedicarboxylic acid dimethyl and diethyl esters (DMAD and DEAD) and subsequent base-catalyzed rearrangement of the obtained imidazo[4,5-e]thiazolo[3,2-b]-1,2,4-triazines into regioisomeric imidazo[4,5-e]thiazolo[2,3-c]-1,2,4-triazine derivatives. Keywords: amidine

Synthetic accesses to biguanide compounds

• Oleksandr Grytsai,
• Cyril Ronco and
• Rachid Benhida

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2021, 17, 1001–1040, doi:10.3762/bjoc.17.82

• : amidine; biguanide; guanidine chemistry; metformin derivatives; polynitrogen ligands; synthetic methodology; Introduction Biguanide – or amidinoguanidine – is a chemical compound derived from guanidine in which two guanidine molecules are linked through a common nitrogen atom. Since its first synthesis

• . Addition on N-amidino-amidinopyrazole: The first “bisamidine transfer agent” was developed in 1970 by Schenker and Hasspacher [66] by analogy with the amidine transfer agent N-amidinopyrazole already developed for the conversion of amines to guanidines [67] (Scheme 30). The authors first obtained N-amidino

• within 15 minutes in DMF at 110 °C and 62% yield. Addition on S-methylamidinothiourea: Another possibility to create an “amidine transfer reagent” is to install a thiomethyl leaving group on the bisamidine structure. This can be easily achieved using S-methylguanylisothiourea as already described by

Microwave-assisted multicomponent reactions in heterocyclic chemistry and mechanistic aspects

• Shivani Gulati,
• Stephy Elza John and
• Nagula Shankaraiah

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2021, 17, 819–865, doi:10.3762/bjoc.17.71

• between aldehyde and amidine. The imine G thereby reacts with ethyl cyanoacetate to result in intermediate I, which on intramolecular cyclization leads to D. The remaining pathway pursues same mechanism as the first one (Scheme 27). Later in 2016, Gopalakrishnan and co-workers [74] demonstrated the

• condensation of aromatic aldehydes and heterocyclic ketones followed by a [3 + 3] cycloaddition between A and amidine giving off the intermediate B, which undergoes 1,5-hydrogen transfer followed by 1,3-hydrogen transfer to give the final products (101, Scheme 39). 6.2.4 Imidazo(1,2-a)pyrimidine: The

β-Lactamase inhibition profile of new amidine-substituted diazabicyclooctanes

• Zafar Iqbal,
• Lijuan Zhai,
• Yuanyu Gao,
• Dong Tang,
• Xueqin Ma,
• Jinbo Ji,
• Jian Sun,
• Jingwen Ji,
• Yuanbai Liu,
• Rui Jiang,
• Yangxiu Mu,
• Lili He,
• Haikang Yang and
• Zhixiang Yang

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2021, 17, 711–718, doi:10.3762/bjoc.17.60

• -lactamase inhibitors. As part of our efforts, we have synthesized a series of DBO derivatives A1–23 containing amidine substituents at the C2 position of the bicyclic ring. These compounds, alone and in combination with meropenem, were tested against ten bacterial strains for their antibacterial activity in

• MIC from <0.125 mg/L to 2 mg/L, and is comparable to avibactam against both E. coli strains with a MIC value of <0.125 mg/L. Keywords: amidine; antibacterial activity; β-lactamase inhibitors; diazabicyclooctane; synthesis; Introduction Survival stress posed by antimicrobial agents triggers multiple

• utmost necessary to continue the struggle with exploring new inhibitors capable of improved resistance and activity against all classes of β-lactamases. Based on our ongoing efforts towards the synthesis of new DBO-based BLIs, we have synthesized a number of amidine-conjugated derivatives of avibactam

Regioselective synthesis of heterocyclic N-sulfonyl amidines from heteroaromatic thioamides and sulfonyl azides

• Vladimir Ilkin,
• Vera Berseneva,
• Tetyana Beryozkina,
• Tatiana Glukhareva,
• Lidia Dianova,
• Wim Dehaen,
• Eugenia Seliverstova and
• Vasiliy Bakulev

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 2937–2947, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.243

• -arylamino-1,2,3-triazole-4-N-sulfonylcarbimidamides. 2,5-Dithiocarbamoylpyridine reacts with sulfonyl azides to form a pyridine bearing two sulfonyl amidine groups. Keywords: amidines; Dimroth rearrangement; isoxazoles; sulfonyl thiazoles; thioamides; 1,2,3-triazoles; Introduction The biological activity

• interesting building blocks in organic synthesis [17][18][19][20] (Figure 1). An N-sulfonyl amidine was recently found to be a key group in acid–base-induced rearrangements of 1,2,3-triazoles and thiadiazoles [22]. A variety of methods have been developed for the synthesis of N-sulfonyl amidines. The most

• have found that 1-butyl-1,2,3-triazole-4-carbothioamide (1c) reacts well with benzenesulfonyl azide (2c) in various solvents to form the desired 1-butyl-1,2,3-N-sulfonyl amidine 3n in diverse solvents such as n-butanol, n-propanol, toluene, ethanol, water and even under solvent-free conditions (see

Aerobic synthesis of N-sulfonylamidines mediated by N-heterocyclic carbene copper(I) catalysts

• Faïma Lazreg,
• Marie Vasseur,
• Alexandra M. Z. Slawin and
• Catherine S. J. Cazin

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 482–491, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.43

• , the presence of an N-atom in the amidine structure leads to opportunities as ligands and organocatalysts [6][7][8]. N-Sulfonylamidines and N-sulfonylimidates are members of a specific class of these amidines. One initial methodology developed for the formation of sulfonylamidines was based on the

• through the formation of the corresponding triazolium salt B. The intermediate A can then react with the azide substrate to form a triazolyl–copper complex C. The latter can liberate the amidine product and regenerate either catalyst 6 (triazolium salt B is source of proton) or directly the acetylide

Synthesis of 4-amino-5-fluoropyrimidines and 5-amino-4-fluoropyrazoles from a β-fluoroenolate salt

• Tobias Lucas,
• Jule-Philipp Dietz and
• Till Opatz

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 445–450, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.41

• Tobias Lucas Jule-Philipp Dietz Till Opatz Institute of Organic Chemistry, Johannes Gutenberg-University, Duesbergweg 10–14, 55128 Mainz, Germany 10.3762/bjoc.16.41 Abstract A synthesis of fluorinated pyrimidines under mild conditions from amidine hydrochlorides and the recently described

• . The hydrochlorides furnished the highest yields and no undesired byproducts were formed. In contrast to the related reaction with guanidinium salts [36], the reactions with amidine hydrochlorides did not require any basic additives. Under these improved conditions, the scope of the reaction for

A green, economical synthesis of β-ketonitriles and trifunctionalized building blocks from esters and lactones

• Daniel P. Pienaar,
• Kamogelo R. Butsi,
• Amanda L. Rousseau and
• Dean Brady

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2019, 15, 2930–2935, doi:10.3762/bjoc.15.287

• when using sodium amide as the base [5], although the inherent risks of employing explosive sodium amide in synthesis are well known [6] and amidine side-product formation was observed at times through reaction of the nucleophilic amide base with nitrile. Furthermore, clearly two equivalents of base