Recent advances in total synthesis of illisimonin A

• Juan Huang and
• Ming Yang

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 2571–2583, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.199

• and the installation of the C1 methyl group, then afforded compound 96. However, subjecting 96 to the singlet oxygen cycloaddition again led to rearrangement, producing diketones 98 and 99. The solution was found by employing a nitroso-Diels–Alder reaction with dienophile 87, which provided a stable

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

• . Cleavage of diol 102 with silica-supported NaIO4 generated an unstable tricarbonyl intermediate, which without purification was rapidly treated with 1 M HCl to produce enone 105 with a yield of 58%. Through a series of synthetic transformations from the obtained diketones 104 and 105, the target

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

• natural product synthesis. This review summarizes the latest advancements in these reactions for constructing terpenoids, alkaloids, and antibiotics. Through Norrish–Yang cyclization, dicarbonyls (e.g., 1,2-diketones and α-keto amides) can efficiently construct sterically hindered ring structures, which

• intermediate is also capable of cyclization through radical coupling to form cyclobutanol D, a process systematically expanded upon by Yang's group at the University of Chicago [4], which later became known as the Norrish–Yang cyclization. In recent years, dicarbonyls, specifically 1,2-diketones, α-keto esters

• , α-keto amides, 1,4-quinones, and 1,2-quinones in this context, have emerged as versatile substrates in Norrish–Yang cyclizations, finding widespread application in natural products synthesis. Compared to monoketones, dicarbonyls (e.g., 1,2-diketones) offer distinct advantages: (1) they generally

Pathway economy in cyclization of 1,n-enynes

• Hezhen Han,
• Wenjie Mao,
• Bin Lin,
• Maosheng Cheng,
• Lu Yang and
• Yongxiang Liu

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 2260–2282, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.173

• products and pharmaceutical agents. In 2013, Chan and co-workers reported a ligand-controlled cycloisomerization of 1,7-enyne esters affording the selective synthesis of cis-tetrahydropyridinones and δ-diketones (Scheme 16) [24]. When NHC-ligated gold catalysts were employed, a cascade sequence comprising

C2 to C6 biobased carbonyl platforms for fine chemistry

• Jingjing Jiang,
• Muhammad Noman Haider Tariq,
• Florence Popowycz,
• Yanlong Gu and
• Yves Queneau

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 2103–2172, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.165

Recent advances and future challenges in the bottom-up synthesis of azulene-embedded nanographenes

• Bartłomiej Pigulski

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 1272–1305, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.99

• constructed by condensation of dialdehyde 160 with compounds 161–163 yielding diketones 164–166. Next, diketones 164–166 were subjected to nucleophilic addition reaction by lithiated triisopropylsilyl (TIPS) acetylene, followed by SnCl2-mediated reduction of the intermediate diols. Finally, azulene-embedded

Organocatalytic kinetic resolution of 1,5-dicarbonyl compounds through a retro-Michael reaction

• James Guevara-Pulido,
• Fernando González-Pérez,
• José M. Andrés and
• Rafael Pedrosa

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 473–482, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.34

• the literature, we found that 1,5-diketones and 1,5-ketoaldehydes have been utilized in retro-Michael reactions catalyzed by NaOH or KOH at extremely high reaction temperatures [26]. Some examples are also described under milder conditions, where the starting compounds are obtained with good chemical

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

• indoles 96 or pyrroles 99 and 1,4 diketones 97, respectively, the authors were able to achieve very good to near-perfect yields with consistently high enantioselectivities. Configurational stabilities of the products 98 and 100 were explored in toluene at 110 °C. Rotational barriers were calculated to be

• -catalyst containing transition metals but are purely of organocatalytic nature. In these experiments, the chiral phosphoric acid C28 catalyzed the reaction of aminopyrroles 101 and 1,4-diketones 102. Under the optimized reaction conditions, the yields were good to excellent, and high levels of

Advances in radical peroxidation with hydroperoxides

• Oleg V. Bityukov,
• Pavel Yu. Serdyuchenko,
• Andrey S. Kirillov,
• Gennady I. Nikishin,
• Vera A. Vil’ and
• Alexander O. Terent’ev

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 2959–3006, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.249

• compounds (β-diketones, β-ketoesters, and malonic esters) with TBHP via homogeneous and heterogeneous Cu(II)-catalysis were developed (Scheme 10) [45][46][47]. It was assumed that the reaction pathway includes the formation of diketonate complex A from β-dicarbonyl compound 19 and copper(II) salt, which

• -unsaturated esters 143 and TBHP to afford α-peroxy-γ-diketones 145 was also disclosed under the catalysis of dirhodium(II) complex Rh2(esp)2 (esp = α,α,α′,α′-tetramethyl-1,3-benzenedipropanoate) (Scheme 45c) [109]. A three-component radical coupling reaction has been established for the assembly of β

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

• -diketones has been developed. The electron-withdrawing power of the heterocyclic substituent (which can be estimated on the basis of calculated Hammett constants) in the 1,3-diketone plays a pivotal role in the studied reaction. The series of meta-hetarylanilines prepared (21–85% isolated yield

• 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

• heterocycles are isoelectronic to an ester or a carbamoyl group, we were interested in testing various heterocycles as electron-withdrawing groups for activation of the carbonyl group in 1,3-diketones. In order to compare the electron-withdrawing ability of heterocycles and previously studied EWGs, we tried to

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

• original Biginelli reaction shown in Scheme 1A was significantly extended by variation of the 1,3-dicarbonyl-containing building blocks. Many groups have elegantly demonstrated the synthetic versatility of numerous enolizable carbonyl components, including β-keto esters, cyclic/acyclic β-diketones, β-keto

Multicomponent syntheses of pyrazoles via (3 + 2)-cyclocondensation and (3 + 2)-cycloaddition key steps

• Ignaz Betcke,
• Alissa C. Götzinger,
• Maryna M. Kornet and
• Thomas J. J. Müller

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 2024–2077, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.178

• hydrazines 3 (Scheme 1) [44]. It is important for a chemoselective synthesis that the 1,3-diketones 2 formed are not further acylated, which is prevented by using LiHMDS as a base. The method provides good to excellent yields and tolerates diverse functional groups. However, one limitation of the synthesis

• is that the reaction with methylhydrazine leads to two different regioisomers. Shen et al. used a concept developed by them for the C-acylation of β-ketoesters for the one-pot synthesis of pyrazoles. SmCl3-catalyzed acylation of these yields the 1,3-diketones 4, and after cyclization with hydrazine

• acetylacetonate 20. Extension of the sequence by cyclization with hydrazine leads to the pyrazole products 21 (Scheme 5) [53]. The method works best with acetylacetonates, since deprotonation of other diketones with NaOEt leads to deactivation of the isothiocyanates. A limitation of the method is the formation of

Diastereoselective synthesis of highly substituted cyclohexanones and tetrahydrochromene-4-ones via conjugate addition of curcumins to arylidenemalonates

• Deepa Nair,
• Abhishek Tiwari,
• Banamali Laha and
• Irishi N. N. Namboothiri

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 2016–2023, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.177

• treatment of Alzheimer's disease [3][4]. Likewise, RL91 and BHMPC are active for selective cell growth inhibition of the resistant lines (Figure 1) [5][6]. Their synthesis mainly involves a cascade Michael–aldol reaction between enones and suitable Michael donors such as β-ketosulfones, β-diketones, or

Domino reactions of chromones with activated carbonyl compounds

• Peter Langer

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

• a substituent R5 located at carbon C-4 gave good yields, except for methoxy and benzyloxy which did not work at all. Dienes derived from 1,3-diketones (R6 = Me, Ph) gave similar yields to those obtained from dienes derived form β-ketoesters, although yields were slightly lower in case of R6 = Me

• %. Employment of dienes derived from 1,3-diketones (R3 = Me, Ph) proved to be unsuccessful, presumably due to the lower nucleophilicity of these dienes as compared to those derived from β-ketoesters (R3 = Oalkyl). Substituents located at carbon C-4 of the diene (R1) were generally tolerated as well. In fact

Kinetically stabilized 1,3-diarylisobenzofurans and the possibility of preparing large, persistent isoacenofurans with unusually small HOMO–LUMO gaps

• Qian Liu and
• Glen P. Miller

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 1099–1110, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.97

• congestion to the highly reactive 1,3-carbons on the furan ring. Thus, phthaloyl chloride was reacted with mesitylene or 1,3,5-triethylbenzene to produce the corresponding diketones 21 and 22. Each diketone was in turn reacted with zinc metal in glacial acetic acid [9] to afford the corresponding 1,3

Synthesis of 2,2-difluoro-1,3-diketone and 2,2-difluoro-1,3-ketoester derivatives using fluorine gas

• Alexander S. Hampton,
• David R. W. Hodgson,
• Graham McDougald,
• Linhua Wang and
• Graham Sandford

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 460–469, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.41

• Swing Road, Greensboro, North Carolina, NC 27409, USA 10.3762/bjoc.20.41 Abstract Solutions of 1,3-diketones and 1,3-ketoester derivatives react with fluorine to give the corresponding 2,2-difluoro-1,3-dicarbonyl derivatives in the presence of quinuclidine. Quinuclidine reacts with fluorine in situ to

• agents offers an alternative fluorination route, for example, the reactions of MeCN solutions of 1,3-diketones with electrophilic fluorinating agents such as Selectfluor eventually give the corresponding 2,2-difluoro-1,3-diketone derivatives [12]. Monofluorination of the 1,3-diketone substrates is rapid

• corresponding 2,2-difluoroketones [15]. In related kinetic studies concerning the electrophilic 2-fluorination of 1,3-diketones with Selectfluor [16][17], we demonstrated that the rate-determining step for difluorination was enolization of the intermediate 2-fluoro-1,3-diketone. Monofluorination of 1,3

Synthesis of π-conjugated polycyclic compounds by late-stage extrusion of chalcogen fragments

• Aissam Okba,
• Pablo Simón Marqués,
• Kyohei Matsuo,
• Naoki Aratani,
• Hiroko Yamada,
• Gwénaël Rapenne and
• Claire Kammerer

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 287–305, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.30

• π-CPCs relies on the extrusion of carbon monoxide (CO) from soluble precursors incorporating bridging ketone fragment(s). In contrast with the thermal activation required in retro-Diels–Alder reactions, photoirradiation of α-diketones triggers a Strating–Zwanenburg decarbonylation leading to the

• release of two CO molecules (Scheme 1, top right). After a proof of concept on pentacene with soluble precursors including a bicyclo[2.2.2]octane-2,3-dione framework [20][21], α-diketones were intensely exploited as soluble photoprecursors for the synthesis of acenes of increasing length up to undecacene

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

• trifluoroacetonitrile imine, are highly versatile in that they react with olefins, acetylenes, dimethyl fumarate, dimethyl maleate, β-diketones, β-keto esters, bicyclic olefins, and potassium isothiocyanate and isocyanate affording the corresponding trifluoromethyl-containing compounds, generally with good yields [51

Non-noble metal-catalyzed cross-dehydrogenation coupling (CDC) involving ether α-C(sp³)–H to construct C–C bonds

• Hui Yu and
• Feng Xu

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 1259–1288, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.94

• in combination with di-tert-butyl peroxide (DTBP) as an oxidant enables the CDC of the C(sp3)–H bond in the α-position to oxygen of various ethers with the active methylene C(sp3)–H bond in 1,3-diketones (Scheme 17) [78]. This method can generate various functionalized molecules and is expected to

First synthesis of acylated nitrocyclopropanes

• Kento Iwai,
• Rikiya Kamidate,
• Khimiya Wada,
• Haruyasu Asahara and
• Nagatoshi Nishiwaki

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 892–900, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.67

• 3b used in only three cases [12][13][19], to the best of our knowledge. Extending beyond Scheme 2, only two syntheses of nitrocyclopropanes containing cyclic keto esters or diketones have been reported [20][21]. These findings indicate that the synthesis of nitrocyclopropanes with an acyl group is

• quite difficult, although they would be very useful in synthetic chemistry, if available. In this study, we investigated the synthesis of nitrocyclopropanes using keto esters 3c–f and diketones 3b and 3g instead of diester 3a as the starting 1,3-dicarbonyl compounds. Results and Discussion We commenced

• detected (Scheme 3). Next, method a (Scheme 2) was employed to synthesize nitrocyclopropanes 1 possessing an acyl group. Keto esters 3c–f and diketones 3b and 3g underwent conjugate addition to nitrostyrene 2a to afford the corresponding adducts 4b–g with moderate yields (Table 1). For unsymmetrical

Synthesis of substituted 8H-benzo[h]pyrano[2,3-f]quinazolin-8-ones via photochemical 6π-electrocyclization of pyrimidines containing an allomaltol fragment

• Constantine V. Milyutin,
• Andrey N. Komogortsev,
• Boris V. Lichitsky,
• Mikhail E. Minyaev and
• Valeriya G. Melekhina

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 778–788, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.58

• pyranone ring leading to the formation of α-hydroxy-1,2-diketones. This phototransformation is initiated by an excited state intramolecular proton transfer (ESIPT) process. In most cases the resulting α-hydroxy-1,2-diketones are unstable and their further reactions open access to various original products

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

• trapping by adding MeLi (1.05 equiv), which indeed led to a significant increase in yield and selectivity due to the high reactivity of the lithium dialkyl zincate enolate. Various 1,3-diketones 39 were prepared using this method with good yields and excellent enantioselectivities while only the trans

Oxa-Michael-initiated cascade reactions of levoglucosenone

• Julian Klepp,
• Thomas Bousfield,
• Hugh Cummins,
• Sarah V. A.-M. Legendre,
• Jason E. Camp and
• Ben W. Greatrex

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2022, 18, 1457–1462, doi:10.3762/bjoc.18.151

• from 12 gave moderate to low yields of bridged species, most effectively with electron-poor aromatic aldehydes, and reactions had to be monitored to optimize conversions and prevent decomposition (Scheme 2) [14]. Analysis of the NMR spectra indicated that instead of the open chain diketones 13, the

A one-pot electrochemical synthesis of 2-aminothiazoles from active methylene ketones and thioureas mediated by NH₄I

• Shang-Feng Yang,
• Pei Li,
• Zi-Lin Fang,
• Sen Liang,
• Hong-Yu Tian,
• Bao-Guo Sun,
• Kun Xu and
• Cheng-Chu Zeng

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2022, 18, 1249–1255, doi:10.3762/bjoc.18.130

• protocol proceeds in an undivided cell equipped with graphite plate electrodes under constant current conditions. Various active methylene ketones, including β-keto ester, β-keto amide, β-keto nitrile, β-keto sulfone and 1,3-diketones, can be converted to the corresponding 2-aminothiazoles. Mechanistically

Derivatives of benzo-1,4-thiazine-3-carboxylic acid and the corresponding amino acid conjugates

• Péter Kisszékelyi,
• Tibor Peňaška,
• Klára Stankovianska,
• Mária Mečiarová and
• Radovan Šebesta

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2022, 18, 1195–1202, doi:10.3762/bjoc.18.124

• 1,3-dicarbonyl compounds using a catalytic amount of hydrazine hydrate without solvent in a short reaction time (10 min) [14]. Reactions of 2-aminothiophenols with β-keto esters and β-diketones under microwave irradiation (MWI) using basic alumina as heterogeneous catalyst without solvent afforded 4H