α-Ketoglutaric acid in Ugi reactions and Ugi/aza-Wittig tandem reactions

• Vladyslav O. Honcharov,
• Yana I. Sakhno,
• Olena H. Shvets,
• Vyacheslav E. Saraev,
• Svitlana V. Shishkina,
• Tetyana V. Shcherbakova and
• Valentyn A. Chebanov

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 2021–2029, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.157

• library of bis- and tetraamides was synthesized by the Ugi reaction with α-ketoglutaric acid, tert-butyl isocyanide, aromatic aldehydes, and aromatic amines. When o-azidoanilines were used, azidated peptidomimetics were obtained, the post-cyclization of which by the aza-Wittig reaction yielded a series of

• -ketoglutaric acid in the four-component Ugi reaction with equimolar amounts of the reagents. It was found that stirring of aromatic aldehydes 2a–d, aromatic amines 3a–d, KGA (1) and tert-butyl isocyanide (4) (in a 1:1:1:1 molar ratio) in methanol for 24 hours at 45 °C resulted in the formation of 5-((aryl)(1

• procedures can be found in Supporting Information File 1). Since α-ketoglutaric acid is dibasic, increasing the stoichiometric amounts of the starting materials enables the Ugi reaction involving two carboxyl groups. Thus, mixing KGA (1), 4-chlorobenzaldehyde (2a), 4-chloroaniline (3a), and tert-butyl

Aryl iodane-induced cascade arylation–1,2-silyl shift–heterocyclization of propargylsilanes under copper catalysis

• Rasma Kroņkalne,
• Rūdolfs Beļaunieks,
• Armands Sebris,
• Anatoly Mishnev and
• Māris Turks

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 1984–1994, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.154

• it improves lipophilicity, oral absorption and biological activity [25]. Results and Discussion Arylation of aliphatic chain-containing propargylsilanes We started our investigation with the arylation of aliphatic chain-containing propargylsilanes. The starting material – tert-butyl(hept-1-yn-3-yl

• formation. Its silylated version (7, where R = COOSi(Me)3) only resulted in starting material degradation. Interestingly, tert-butyl ester 7e (R = COOt-Bu) provided the desired arylated lactone 8t, along with the protodecupration product 13, which was formed in excess under the standard arylation conditions

• an internal nucleophile (O-, N-) and reductive elimination affords the arylated product 8 and regenerates the Cu(I) catalyst. The added base (B:) traps the H+, generated in this catalytic cycle. In the case of tert-butyl esters (7: R = COOt-Bu) an equivalent of isobutylene gas is released as a side

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

• = 4,4′-di-tert-butyl-2,2′-dipyridine) as a photocatalyst and the simple tertiary amine diisopropylethylamine (DIPEA, 5 equiv) in MeCN (0.05 M). After 24 h under irradiation with light from blue LEDs (λmax = 440 nm), the crude mixture was concentrated under reduced pressure and analyzed by 1H NMR

Systematic pore lipophilization to enhance the efficiency of an amine-based MOF catalyst in the solvent-free Knoevenagel reaction

• Pricilla Matseketsa,
• Margret Kumbirayi Ruwimbo Pagare and
• Tendai Gadzikwa

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 1854–1863, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.144

• functionalized MOFs to the Knoevenagel condensation reaction. A well-defined MOF material composed of both amine- and hydroxy-bearing linkers was reacted with a series of aliphatic isocyanates (isopropyl, tert-butyl, n-hexyl, and tetradecyl) and, incongruously, was found to preferentially react at the hydroxy

• whose pores are uniformly decorated with different lipophilic groups (Figure 2A). Using this strategy, we quantitatively functionalized the –OH groups of KSU-1 with isopropyl and tert-butyl isocyanate. While primary isocyanates were less selective, starting to react at the amines before the hydroxy

• respective isocyanate in acetonitrile at 80 °C; KSU-1 reacted with isopropyl, tert-butyl, n-hexyl, and tetradecyl isocyanate to generate KSU-1iPr and KSU-1t-Bu, KSU-1n-Hex, and KSU-1C14, respectively. Successful post synthetic reaction was observed by proton nuclear magnetic resonance (1H NMR) spectroscopy

Fe-catalyzed efficient synthesis of 2,4- and 4-substituted quinolines via C(sp²)–C(sp²) bond scission of styrenes

• Prafull A. Jagtap,
• Manish M. Petkar,
• Vaishnavi R. Sawant and
• Bhalchandra M. Bhanage

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 1799–1807, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.142

• , resulting in the formation of both 3r and 3r′, which were obtained in 86% combined yield. Gram-scale studies were conducted to further demonstrate the synthetic potential and practical utility of the developed methodology. The biologically significant compounds 6-(tert-butyl)-2,4-diphenylquinoline (3d) and

Synthesis of chiral cyclohexane-linked bisimidazolines

• Changmeng Xi,
• Qingshan Sun and
• Jiaxi Xu

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 1786–1790, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.140

• attempted (Scheme 2). For this purpose, tert-butyl N-[(1R,2R)-2-amino-1,2-diphenylethyl]carbamate (2h) with an acid-sensitive Boc (tert-butoxycarbonyl) protecting group was prepared in 70% yield from C2-symmetric (1R,2R)-1,2-diphenylethane-1,2-diamine (1) and Boc2O. Compound 2h was then converted to (1S,2S

Convenient alternative synthesis of the Malassezia-derived virulence factor malassezione and related compounds

• Karu Ramesh and
• Stephen L. Bearne

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 1730–1736, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.135

• the carboxylic acid (Scheme 1B) in a manner similar to that described by Knör et al. [28]. Protection of the carboxylic acid group prior to conducting the N-Boc protection with di-tert-butyl dicarbonate ((Boc)2O) and DMAP was required to avoid competitive reaction of the carboxylic acid with (Boc)2O

• to form a tert-butyl ester, leading to unwanted side products and reduced selectivity. Once the acid was protected, the Boc group could be selectively introduced onto the indole nitrogen without side reactions. Overall, this sequence ensured clean N-Boc protection with minimal side reactions and

• are uncorrected. tert-Butyl 3-(2-methoxy-2-oxoethyl)-1H-indole-1-carboxylate (21). A solution of indol-3-yl acetic acid (20, 5.1 g, 29.0 mmol, 1.0 equiv) in dry MeOH (200 mL) was cooled to 0 °C, and SOCl2 (10.5 mL, 145 mmol, 5.0 equiv) was added slowly. After stirring for 12 h at room temperature, the

Catalytic asymmetric reactions of isocyanides for constructing non-central chirality

• Jia-Yu Liao

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 1648–1660, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.129

• between β-ketoester 30 and di-tert-butyl azodicarboxylate (31), and the corresponding product 32 was obtained in 99% yield with 88% ee. A plausible reaction mechanism was proposed for this CPA-catalyzed enantioselective Groebke–Blackburn–Bienaymé reaction. As illustrated in Scheme 5b, the imine

• ring were proven to be suitable substrates to react with tert-butyl isocyanoacetate, affording 3-heteroarylpyrroles 41 in 55–99% yield with 70–96% ee. In these cases, additional 2.0 equivalents of DBU were required to facilitate the conversion from the [3 + 2] cycloadducts to the final products

• with both axial and central chirality, followed by 2) ring-strain and aromatization-driven elimination, which elucidating the observed unusual torsional strain-independent reactivity. In addition, products bearing a tert-butyl ester group were smoothly converted into structurally novel axially chiral

Formal synthesis of a selective estrogen receptor modulator with tetrahydrofluorenone structure using [3 + 2 + 1] cycloaddition of yne-vinylcyclopropanes and CO

• Jing Zhang,
• Guanyu Zhang,
• Hongxi Bai and
• Zhi-Xiang Yu

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 1639–1644, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.127

• alkyne moiety is installed via Sonogashira coupling reaction using aryl iodide 5. The cyclopropyl ring in 5 can be introduced via an SN2 reaction of compound 2 with tert-butyl cyclopropanecarboxylate (3). Scheme 5 summarizes the final successful execution of this route. The starting material 2 is a known

• compound [29] and can be prepared from readily available m-anisyl alcohol by using iodination and bromination reactions (see Supporting Information File 1 for the details). Subsequently, an SN2 reaction between 2 and tert-butyl cyclopropanecarboxylate (3) in the presence of LDA delivered product 4 in 87

3-Aryl-2H-azirines as annulation reagents in the Ni(II)-catalyzed synthesis of 1H-benzo[4,5]thieno[3,2-b]pyrroles

• Julia I. Pavlenko,
• Pavel A. Sakharov,
• Anastasiya V. Agafonova,
• Derenik A. Isadzhanyan,
• Alexander F. Khlebnikov and
• Mikhail S. Novikov

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 1595–1602, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.123

• ). Benzothienopyrrole 3b was methylated using the MeI/NaH system into 1-methyl-substituted derivative 6 in 81% yield. With the same efficiency, when compound 3b was treated with di-tert-butyl dicarbonate in the presence of 4-(dimethylamino)pyridine (DMAP), Boc-derivative 7 was obtained. Finally, the formylation of 3b

Recent advances in amidyl radical-mediated photocatalytic direct intermolecular hydrogen atom transfer

• Hao-Sen Wang,
• Lin Li,
• Xin Chen,
• Jian-Li Wu,
• Kai Sun,
• Xiao-Lan Chen,
• Ling-Bo Qu and
• Bing Yu

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 1306–1323, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.100

• demonstrated the homolytic cleavage of the N–O bond using N-(tert-butyl)-O-(1-phenylvinyl)-phenylhydroxyamide as a HAT reagent [78][79]. This compound was capable of initiating the formation of amidyl radicals through visible light activation. Although their controlled experiments showed that this method was

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

• -/trifluoroalkylation reagents, α-carbonyl alkyl bromides/alcohols, alkyl halides, and alkyl carboxylic acids, have been successfully applied to this transformation to afford 3-substituted indolin-2-ones. In 2013, Li’s group reported a novel DTBP(di-tert-butyl peroxide)-mediated oxidative 1,2-alkylarylation of

• equimolar amount of tert-butyl hydroperoxide (TBHP) as the oxidant, with the reaction conducted at 100 °C under an argon atmosphere, resulting in a 79% yield of the desired product 7a without the requirement for any metal catalyst. In terms of substrate scope, the study explored various N-arylacrylamides

• /alkylarylation of both unactivated and activated alkenes. The reaction employed β,γ-unsaturated ketoximes and N-arylacrylamides as substrates, with tert-butyl hydroperoxide (TBHP) acting as the oxidant, conducted at 100 °C in a sealed tube under an argon atmosphere for 24–48 hours. Regarding substrate scope

Synthetic approach to borrelidin fragments: focus on key intermediates

• Yudhi Dwi Kurniawan,
• Zetryana Puteri Tachrim,
• Teni Ernawati,
• Faris Hermawan,
• Ima Nurasiyah and
• Muhammad Alfin Sulmantara

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 1135–1160, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.91

• , tert-butyl hydroperoxide (TBHP), and Ti(OiPr)4, resulting in the desired epoxide 63 with a 90% yield. Regioselective reductive opening of this epoxide was successfully carried out with Red-Al®, yielding diol 79. The more reactive primary alcohol in diol 79 was selectively masked as TBDPS ether 80 (94

Investigations of amination reactions on an antimalarial 1,2,4-triazolo[4,3-a]pyrazine scaffold

• Henry S. T. Smith,
• Ben Giuliani,
• Kanchana Wijesekera,
• Kah Yean Lum,
• Sandra Duffy,
• Aaron Lock,
• Jonathan M. White,
• Vicky M. Avery and
• Rohan A. Davis

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 1126–1134, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.90

• ), 139.7 (C-9), 135.0 (C-13), 130.3 (C-6), 129.8 (2C, C-11, C-15), 129.4 (2C, C-12, C-14), 125.1 (C-10), 106.0 (C-5), 57.4 (C-18), 45.1 (2C, C-20, C-21), 37.9 (C-17); LRMS (ESI-SQ) m/z: 317 [M + H]+; HRESIMS–qTOF (m/z): [M + H]+ calcd for C15H1835ClN6, 317.1276; found, 317.1279. tert-Butyl(4-((3-(4

Recent advances in synthetic approaches for bioactive cinnamic acid derivatives

• Betty A. Kustiana,
• Galuh Widiyarti and
• Teni Ernawati

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 1031–1086, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.85

• in situ nitro reduction using Mn powder to afford the amide intermediate 42. The acid halide once again was applied for cinnamic acid amidation. Xiao and co-workers (2021) performed a transesterification and aminolysis of the tert-butyl ester 43 simply by using PCl3 through in situ generation of the

• 89 from the corresponding dioxazolone 88 in excellent yields via reductive elimination from intermediate 90 (Scheme 26) [62]. Hu and co-workers (2019) also employed a Cu salt (Cu(OTf)2) to synthesize N-difluoroethylimide 91 from cinnamic acid (7) and tert-butyl nitrite (TBN) in good yield via

• . Similarly, Silvani and co-workers (2022) also reported a multicomponent Ugi-type reaction of cinnamic acid (7), aldehyde/ketone, (S)-β-phenyl β-aminoboronate 367, and tert-butyl isocyanide to give the corresponding pharmacophoric β-substituted β-amido boronates 368–370 in moderate yields (Scheme 80B) [136

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

• attack of the electron-rich arene on the acyliminium ion occurs from the Si-face. This stereochemical outcome is attributed to the steric discrepancy of the phenyl or tert-butyl group and the hydroxy group. The resulting tricyclic products could be further elaborated by elimination or amide reduction to

• diastereo- and enantioselectivities. The substituent on the enamide could be varied from aryl to tert-butyl groups, though the terminating aryl group still necessitates an electron-rich arene. As was found in their previous work, the steric hindrance of the phenyl or tert-butyl group was supposed to be

Recent advances in controllable/divergent synthesis

• Jilei Cao,
• Leiyang Bai and
• Xuefeng Jiang

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 890–914, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.73

• enantiocontrol. Conversely, the bulky tert-butyl-decorated (R)-spirophosphoramidite L5 imposed a confined cavity, steering selectivity toward Si–C(sp2)-bond activation and predominantly afforded the regioisomeric (S)-2-silacyclohexenylarenes 18. In 2025, Gong and co-workers reported a visible-light-mediated

• achieved selective synthesis of either enantiomer of a target product by controlling the reaction duration (Scheme 13) [42]. When performing the asymmetric intermolecular allylic amination of 6-hydroxyisoquinoline (49) with tert-butyl(1-phenylallyl)carbonate ((rac)-50) using an Ir catalyst derived from [Ir

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

• investigated the reactions of different 2-halobenzoic acid derivatives with amidines where R2 was a tert-butyl group. The results showed that 2-bromobenzoic acid derivatives (3j–k, 55−65% yields) displayed lower activity compared to 2-iodobenzoic acid derivatives (3i–l, 73−90% yields), with a decrease in

Recent advances in the electrochemical synthesis of organophosphorus compounds

• Babak Kaboudin,
• Milad Behroozi,
• Sepideh Sadighi and
• Fatemeh Asgharzadeh

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 770–797, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.61

• the gram-scale preparation of some samples. An electrochemical flow system was used in this method, in which carbon and platinum electrodes were used as the anode and cathode, respectively, at a constant current of 55 mA (Scheme 8). Due to the steric hindrance caused by the tert-butyl group, the

Recent advances in allylation of chiral secondary alkylcopper species

• Minjae Kim,
• Gwanggyun Kim,
• Doyoon Kim,
• Jun Hee Lee and
• Seung Hwan Cho

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 639–658, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.51

• transfer, X-ray crystallographic analysis of the (tert-butyl)(adamantyl)Bpin·Li(THF)2 complex revealed that the B–(adamantyl) bond is shorter than the B–(tert-butyl) bond (1.673 vs 1.692 Å). DFT calculations further illuminated the underlying mechanism by comparing two distinct transition states: TS1

• involving adamantyl transfer and TS2 involving tert-butyl transfer (Scheme 9). Analysis of these transition states revealed that both require significant pyramidalization of the transferring carbon center, with the barrier for adamantyl transfer (TS1) being 2.3 kcal/mol higher than that for tert-butyl

• transfer (TS2). The structural features of the tert-butyl group allow more efficient pyramidalization compared to the rigid adamantyl framework, suggesting that the flexibility of the transferring group plays a crucial role in facilitating transmetalation. Copper hydride chemistry for enantioselective

Total synthesis of (±)-simonsol C using dearomatization as key reaction under acidic conditions

• Xiao-Yang Bi,
• Xiao-Shuai Yang,
• Shan-Shan Chen,
• Jia-Jun Sui,
• Zhao-Nan Cai,
• Yong-Ming Chuan and
• Hong-Bo Qin

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 601–606, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.47

• DIPEA, affording compound 17 with an 89% yield [11]. For the following alkylation step with tert-butyl bromoacetate, three bases were tested: potassium carbonate, cesium carbonate, and sodium hydride. Considering the targeted alkylation of a phenolic hydroxy group and the pKa requirements of this

Asymmetric synthesis of β-amino cyanoesters with contiguous tetrasubstituted carbon centers by halogen-bonding catalysis with chiral halonium salt

• Yasushi Yoshida,
• Maho Aono,
• Takashi Mino and
• Masami Sakamoto

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 547–555, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.43

• reaction; the stereoselectivity of product 17j drastically dropped. The scope for the pre-nucleophile showed that phenyl-substituted 16b provided 17k in 94% yield with high diastereoselectivity, albeit with decreased enantioselectivities. Methyl ester 16c and tert-butyl ester 16d were also applied to the

Vinylogous functionalization of 4-alkylidene-5-aminopyrazoles with methyl trifluoropyruvates

• Judit Hostalet-Romero,
• Laura Carceller-Ferrer,
• Gonzalo Blay,
• Amparo Sanz-Marco,
• José R. Pedro and
• Carlos Vila

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 533–540, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.41

• -aminopyrazole 2. Compounds 3ab and 3ad were obtained in a comparable yield (54 and 46%) from 1,3-dimethyl-1H-pyrazol-5-amine (2b) or 3-methyl-1-(p-tolyl)-1H-pyrazol-5-amine (2d). On the other hand, 1,3-diphenyl-1H-pyrazol-5-amine (2c) provided the corresponding product 3ac in much lower yield (16%). If a tert

• -butyl group is present in the C-3 position of the pyrazole as in the case of substrate 2e, the reaction did not take place, likely due to a considerable increase in steric hindrance. We also attempted to synthesize 4-(alkenyl)-5-aminopyrazoles using an acyclic ketone, such as acetone, but unfortunately

Cryptophycin unit B analogues

• Thomas Schachtsiek,
• Jona Voss,
• Maren Hamsen,
• Beate Neumann,
• Hans-Georg Stammler and
• Norbert Sewald

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 526–532, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.40

• macrolactamisation [21]. The syntheses of required unit A [28], C [29][30], and D [31] building blocks were accomplished as described previously. tert-Butyl-protected leucic acid 14 and Fmoc-β-aminopivalic acid (15) were connected by Steglich esterification (Scheme 2) and after cleavage of the tert-butyl ester group

Synthesis of N-acetyl diazocine derivatives via cross-coupling reaction

• Thomas Brandt,
• Pascal Lentes,
• Jeremy Rudtke,
• Michael Hösgen,
• Christian Näther and
• Rainer Herges

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 490–499, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.36

• except the preparation of the aminoaniline building block tert-butyl (2-amino-5-bromophenyl)carbamate (5), which was prepared by Boc-protection of the 5-bromo-2-nitroaniline (6) and subsequent reduction of the nitro group (see Supporting Information File 1, section II.1). Cross-coupling reactions Stille

• halogenated N-acetyl diazocines according to the procedure of Maier et al. [34] with tert-butyl carbamate resulted in the formation of Boc-protected amino-substituted N-acetyl diazocine 19 in a yield of 72%. However, the reaction only took place if iodo N-acetyl diazocine 3 was used as starting material