Total synthesis of natural products based on hydrogenation of aromatic rings

• Haoxiang Wu and
• Xiangbing Qi

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2026, 22, 88–122, doi:10.3762/bjoc.22.4

• olefins or carbonyls are present, often requiring fine-tuning of the reaction conditions to prevent overreduction. Disruption of aromaticity also creates multiple potential reduction sites, and subtle electronic or substituent differences can lead to regioisomers, especially in polysubstituted or fused

Photochemical reduction of acylimidazolium salts

• Michael Jakob,
• Nick Bechler,
• Hassan Abdelwahab,
• Fabian Weber,
• Janos Wasternack,
• Leonardo Kleebauer,
• Jan P. Götze and
• Matthew N. Hopkinson

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 1973–1983, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.153

• ; carbonyls; NHCs; photochemistry; reduction; Introduction The introduction and exploration of N-heterocyclic carbenes (NHCs) ranks among the most important developments in chemistry research of the last 30 years [1][2][3]. In addition to their numerous valuable roles as ligands, including for important

Stereoselective electrochemical intramolecular imino-pinacol reaction: a straightforward entry to enantiopure piperazines

• Margherita Gazzotti,
• Fabrizio Medici,
• Valerio Chiroli,
• Laura Raimondi,
• Sergio Rossi and
• Maurizio Benaglia

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 1897–1908, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.147

• development of technology-driven sustainable strategies to alfa and beta amination of carbonyls and carboxylic acids derivatives- TECHNO”, financed by EU - Next Generation EU, Mission 4 Component 1 CUP G53D23003280006. M. Gazzotti thanks Università degli Studi di Milano for a PhD fellowship.

Preparation of spirocyclic oxindoles by cyclisation of an oxime to a nitrone and dipolar cycloaddition

• Beth L. Ritchie,
• Alexandra Longcake and
• Iain Coldham

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 1890–1896, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.146

• stereoisomer has the ring-junction NC–H bond, the imide carbonyls, and the oxindole carbonyl all cis to one another across the two newly formed rings. This must arise from a preference for an exo transition state that places the incoming maleimide away from the oxindole carbonyl. The cascade chemistry allows

• same stereochemical outcome predominates. There are two possible exo transition states, both of which avoid steric (and electronic clash) of the dipolarophile carbonyls with the oxindole. Of these, the preference appears to be for the dipolarophile carbonyl groups, in this case for dimethyl maleate, to

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

• base [5]. In fact, its hydrogen-bond-accepting ability is even stronger than that of the other 3-, 5- and 6-membered cyclic ethers, as well as the carbonyls of aldehydes, ketones, esters and carbonates [6][7][8]. The only better carbonyl-based hydrogen-bond acceptors are amides, carbamates and ureas [9

• (Figure 2) [10][11][12]. As for the analogy to carbonyls, oxetanes display comparable polarity, spatial arrangement of the oxygen lone pairs and hydrogen-bond-accepting ability. In addition, they possess one major advantage and that is greater metabolic stability: while carbonyl groups are susceptible to

• categorised into 6 synthetic strategies as depicted in Scheme 1: a) C–O bond-forming cyclisations, b) C–C bond-forming cyclisations, c) [2 + 2] cycloadditions between carbonyls and alkenes, d) ring expansions, e) ring contractions and f) O–H insertions. In the following subchapters, these strategies will be

Recent advances in oxidative radical difunctionalization of N-arylacrylamides enabled by carbon radical reagents

• Jiangfei Chen,
• Yi-Lin Qu,
• Ming Yuan,
• Xiang-Mei Wu,
• Heng-Pei Jiang,
• Ying Fu and
• Shengrong Guo

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 1207–1271, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.98

• olefinic carbonyls with α-bromoalkylcarbonyls promoted by tert-butyl hydroperoxide (TBHP) and Et3N was developed by Li’s group in 2019 (Scheme 31) [19]. The reaction relied on a Ag-catalyzed concomitant intramolecular annulation process, and presented a broad substrate scope, excellent levels of

Supramolecular assembly of hypervalent iodine macrocycles and alkali metals

• Krishna Pandey,
• Lucas X. Orton,
• Grayson Venus,
• Waseem A. Hussain,
• Toby Woods,
• Lichang Wang and
• Kyle N. Plunkett

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 1095–1103, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.87

• conformation II projected only two vertically. One benzyl ring is pointed outside as highlighted by * (top). Oxygen, nitrogen, and iodine atoms are denoted by red, light blue, and purple color, respectively. A) Chemical structure of HIM 1: Three iodine atoms and three inward projected ester carbonyls

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

• triggered a Grob fragmentation process of hemiaminal 16 and afforded the imide compound 17. Final regioselective reduction of one of the two carbonyls on the imide completed the synthesis of (−)-phlegmariurine B. Annulation Total syntheses of cephalotaxine and cephalezomine H The [2 + 3] annulation of

Photocatalyzed elaboration of antibody-based bioconjugates

• Marine Le Stum,
• Eugénie Romero and
• Gary A. Molander

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 616–629, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.49

• sulfhydryls can be conjugated by several means, including alkylation with α-halo carbonyls (in which case Lys may compete), and Michael additions (e.g., to maleimide, which is reversible and therefore may lead to incomplete conversion). The Michael adducts also present chemical instability in plasma and

Beyond symmetric self-assembly and effective molarity: unlocking functional enzyme mimics with robust organic cages

• Keith G. Andrews

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 421–443, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.30

• ]. For instance, hexapyridine cage 2e (Figure 8B) shows exclusive occupation of C13 (all carbonyls out) due to six favorable NHamide → Npyr interactions [41], while trispyridyl containing cage 3e has three favorable NHamide → Npyr interactions and so shows a solution-state preference for a low-symmetry

• strong reinforcement of the geometrically preferred C5 conformer by coinciding pyridyl groups with “out” carbonyls. The result is a lowering of symmetry from D3h to CS. While observations of symmetry-lowering are commonplace in controlled environments [47][264][293][335][366][367][368][369], we believe

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

• . Electron-poor and electron-rich aromatic aldehydes gave good results, whereas aliphatic aldehydes gave moderate yields (Scheme 11) [24]. The asymmetric conjugate addition of dialkylzinc and benzaldehyde to unsaturated carbonyls under copper catalysis in the presence of optically pure phosphanes was

Discovery of ianthelliformisamines D–G from the sponge Suberea ianthelliformis and the total synthesis of ianthelliformisamine D

• Sasha Hayes,
• Yaoying Lu,
• Bernd H. A. Rehm and
• Rohan A. Davis

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 3205–3214, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.266

• protons indicating the presence of a symmetrical aromatic moiety, were observed. The 13C NMR (Table 1) spectrum of 4 showed two carbonyls (δC 164.4, 173.9), with the carbonyl at δC 164.4 readily assigned to an acrylamide group, which is present in all previously published ianthelliformisamine molecules [7

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

Electrochemical allylations in a deep eutectic solvent

• Sophia Taylor and
• Scott T. Handy

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 2217–2224, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.189

• application of simple, inexpensive, and recyclable deep eutectic solvents to the allylation of carbonyls. While several sets of conditions were developed, the goal of avoiding stoichiometric amounts of metal has proven elusive. Still, a deep eutectic solvent can be used to plate out and thus recover the metal

• , very little has been reported in terms of their use in electrosynthesis [20][21][22][23][24]. Given our interest in both electrosynthesis and DES, we opted to explore this combination in the area of electrochemical allylation. The allylation of carbonyls is a valuable reaction that has been explored

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

• interrupted Kröhnke reaction (Scheme 1B) [51][52]. The main step of this process is an intermolecular cyclization of the formed 1,5-diketone followed by aromatization. Previously we have shown that 1,3-diketones bearing an electron-withdrawing group (EWG) adjacent to one of the carbonyls readily react with in

From perfluoroalkyl aryl sulfoxides to ortho thioethers

• Yang Li,
• Guillaume Dagousset,
• Emmanuel Magnier and
• Bruce Pégot

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 2108–2113, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.181

• ][16], anilines [17], carbonyls [18][19][20][21], propargyl/allylsilanes [22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34], ynamides [35][36][37], and alkyl nitriles [38][39][40], were found to be suitable for this process. Whereas the addition of fluorine atoms to molecules is a well-established

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

• as pivotal element during the total synthesis of natural products. Therefore, the development of mild and efficient methods to access this motif from readily available starting materials is a never-ending quest. With the aim to propose an alternative to the classical olefination of carbonyls through

Oxidation of benzylic alcohols to carbonyls using N-heterocyclic stabilized λ³-iodanes

• Thomas J. Kuczmera,
• Pim Puylaert and
• Boris J. Nachtsheim

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 1677–1683, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.149

• on silica. Overview of common non-iodine-based (left) and iodine-based (right) oxidizing reagents for the generation of carbonyls from the corresponding alcohols. NHIs investigated for the oxidation of benzylic alcohols and the crystal structure (ORTEP drawing) of 1c (CCDC 2321313), showing the

Ring opening of photogenerated azetidinols as a strategy for the synthesis of aminodioxolanes

• Henning Maag,
• Daniel J. Lemcke and
• Johannes M. Wahl

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 1671–1676, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.148

• have indicated the unique role of the benzhydryl group for azetidinol reactivity [32][33][34]. To our delight, 3l cleanly underwent ring opening via hemiketal 10 to deliver dioxolane 11 as a single diastereomer in 93% yield (Scheme 3b). With this result at hand, we tested several other carbonyls known

Electrophotochemical metal-catalyzed synthesis of alkylnitriles from simple aliphatic carboxylic acids

• Yukang Wang,
• Yan Yao and
• Niankai Fu

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 1497–1503, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.133

• readily converted into a myriad of functional groups including carbonyls, amines, imines, and a variety of heterocyclic scaffolds with well-established procedures [4][5][6][7][8][9]. In particular, tertiary nitriles are common structural motifs in many bioactive compounds and are widely used as

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

• ; there are similarities and differences in the way a sulfonamide or carbonyl impacts a neighboring nitrogen. Sulfonamides have different steric profiles from carbonyls [51]. According to Roush et al. the electron-withdrawing capability of the S(O2)Ph group is in between that of the C(O)Me and CO2Me

• -centered while being C-centered in analogous anions alpha to sulfonamides [51]. Sulfonamides are known to protonate at nitrogen [31]. Gold coordination to carbonyls would be predicted to retain N-centered nucleophilicity, while gold coordination to the sulfonamide nitrogen would not. Sulfonamides are less

• ; more basic carbonyls react faster and undergo N–H/D exchange faster in the presence of gold suggesting gold nucleophile interactions drive reactivity. • Rate inhibition is observed at the highest concentrations of urea 1a and amide 1b; the increasing basicity would slow down any acid mediated processes

Morpholine-mediated defluorinative cycloaddition of gem-difluoroalkenes and organic azides

• Tzu-Yu Huang,
• Mario Djugovski,
• Sweta Adhikari,
• Destinee L. Manning and
• Sudeshna Roy

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 1545–1554, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.111

• generated via an azide–alkyne cycloaddition or a multicomponent reaction between carbonyls and azides [17]. α-Trifluoromethyl (α-CF3) carbonyls were recently utilized to generate NH-1,2,3-triazoles and fully substituted 1,2,3-triazoles [28][29]. However, there are no reports of a formal [3 + 2

• ] cycloaddition reaction utilizing gem-difluoroalkenes, which inherently exhibit attenuated activity compared to the activated α-CF3 carbonyls. This report provides a highly regioselective and novel way to access C-4-morpholine-functionalized fully decorated 1,2,3-triazoles from gem-difluoroalkenes and organic

Cassane diterpenoids with α-glucosidase inhibitory activity from the fruits of Pterolobium macropterum

• Sarot Cheenpracha,
• Ratchanaporn Chokchaisiri,
• Lucksagoon Ganranoo,
• Sareeya Bureekaew,
• Thunwadee Limtharakul and
• Surat Laphookhieo

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 658–665, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.47

• -lactone functionality. The 13C NMR and DEPT spectra in combination with HMQC data (Table 1) showed resonances of 44 carbons which were classified as nine methyls, 11 methylenes, 11 methines (three oxygenated sp3 at δC 73.7, 69.4, 68.8), and 13 quaternary carbons (four carbonyls at δC 197.9, 170.7, 170.4

Strategies to access the [5-8] bicyclic core encountered in the sesquiterpene, diterpene and sesterterpene series

• Cécile Alleman,
• Charlène Gadais,
• Laurent Legentil and
• François-Hugues Porée

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 245–281, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.23

• favoring reactivity with various types of substrates, ranging from halides to carbonyls and alkenes/alkynes. It is comprehensible that this reagent attracted early interest in natural product synthesis and more precisely on medium-sized ring formation. 4.1 SmI2-mediated Barbier-type ring annulation towards

One-pot synthesis of 2-arylated and 2-alkylated benzoxazoles and benzimidazoles based on triphenylbismuth dichloride-promoted desulfurization of thioamides

• Arisu Koyanagi,
• Yuki Murata,
• Shiori Hayakawa,
• Mio Matsumura and
• Shuji Yasuike

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2022, 18, 1479–1487, doi:10.3762/bjoc.18.155

• ][19][20][21]. Among them, triarylbismuth dichlorides (Ar3BiCl2) have been widely used as aryl group donors for the C- and O-arylation of phenol derivatives [22][23][24], N-arylation of pyridin-2-ones [25][26], α-arylation of α,β-unsaturated carbonyls [27][28], and tandem 1,3-bisarylation of