Application of N-heterocyclic carbene–Cu(I) complexes as catalysts in organic synthesis: a review

• Nosheen Beig,
• Varsha Goyal and
• Raj K. Bansal

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 1408–1442, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.102

• catalyst when products were obtained with excellent enantioselectivity (92% ee) (Scheme 46). 2.3 [3 + 2] Cycloaddition reactions In a [3 + 2] cycloaddition reaction, a three atoms dipolar moiety (1,3-dipole) adds across two atoms of an alkene or alkyne (1,3-dipolarophile) (Scheme 47). It is also known as

• -donors on the catalytic activity of NHC–Cu(I) complexes for azide–alkyne [3 + 2] cycloaddition reactions [67]. They determined binding constants of four NHC–CuCl complexes with two N-donors, which revealed that addition of phenanthroline to the NHC–CuCl enhanced the catalytic activity manifold. In fact

• and co-workers [68] developed a new series of heteroleptic bis(NHC)–Cu(I) complexes and a mixed NHC–Cu–phosphine complex and employed these complexes as catalysts for azide–alkyne [3 + 2] cycloaddition (Scheme 50). These cationic heteroleptic bis(NHC)–Cu complexes 131 are highly active for this

One-pot nucleophilic substitution–double click reactions of biazides leading to functionalized bis(1,2,3-triazole) derivatives

• Hans-Ulrich Reissig and
• Fei Yu

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 1399–1407, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.101

• azide was combined with a subsequent copper-catalyzed (3 + 2) cycloaddition with terminal alkynes. This one-pot process was developed with a simple model alkyne, but then applied to more complex alkynes bearing enantiopure 1,2-oxazinyl substituents. Hence, the precursor compounds 1,2-, 1,3- or 1,4-bis

• discovery of the copper-catalyzed alkyne azide (3 + 2) cycloaddition (CuAAC) [3][4], has dramatically changed the approaches to many problems in chemistry, supramolecular chemistry, materials science, biological chemistry and related fields (selected reviews: [5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15

• nucleophilic substitutions employing sodium azide and organic substrates with potential leaving groups have been reported. The resulting organic azides were trapped in situ by a suitable alkyne to give the 1,2,3-triazoles [26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36]. Fairly recent review articles summarize

Consecutive four-component synthesis of trisubstituted 3-iodoindoles by an alkynylation–cyclization–iodination–alkylation sequence

• Nadia Ledermann,
• Alae-Eddine Moubsit and
• Thomas J. J. Müller

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 1379–1385, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.99

• -catalyzed processes for accessing indoles have become attractive alternatives over the past decades [19][20][21][22][23][24]. Besides Larock's indole synthesis employing alkyne anellation [25] and Cacchi's cyclization of ortho-alkynylanilines [20][22] catalytic syntheses of indoles from alkynes have become

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

• afford allyl ethers. Alkyne C(sp)–H bonds are reactive, and the challenge in the cross-coupling of C(sp)–H and C(sp3)–H bonds is to control chemoselectivity. In this context, Liu et al. reported a Cu(I)/Ga(III)-catalyzed trityl ion-mediated direct CDC of the C(sp3)–H bond of THF with C(sp)–H bonds of

• to afford internal alkynes from substrates with the C(sp3)–H bond mainly located in the α-position to N, O, or S atoms. This method provides a direct and atom-economical alternative for the construction of structurally complex alkyne compounds (Scheme 26) [87]. In addition to iron, various other

• transition metals such as Cu, Pd, and Ag are also suitable to catalyze the reaction. In 2012, Xiang et al. reported the CDC of aryl ethers with C(sp3)–H bonds adjacent to the ether oxygen with terminal alkyne C(sp)–H bonds, which provides a new approach for the construction of the C(sp3)–C(sp) bonds (Scheme

Photoredox catalysis harvesting multiple photon or electrochemical energies

• Mattia Lepori,
• Simon Schmid and
• Joshua P. Barham

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 1055–1145, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.81

• products, demonstrating a clear preference for addition to alkenes even in the presence of alkyne functionalities. Due to basic conditions of the reductive quenching (RQ) route, the formation of lactone side product 30h could be observed with a carboxylic acid functionality. In the absence of Et3N, the

• mechanism follows a ‘monophotonic’ oxidative quenching (OQ) route in which [FeIII(btz)3]3+ is oxidatively quenched to [FeIV(btz)3]4+ by the alkyl halide substrate after excitation with green light. After addition of the alkyl radical to the alkene or alkyne substrate, the catalyst is regenerated by

The unique reactivity of 5,6-unsubstituted 1,4-dihydropyridine in the Huisgen 1,4-diploar cycloaddition and formal [2 + 2] cycloaddition

• Xiu-Yu Chen,
• Hui Zheng,
• Ying Han,
• Jing Sun and
• Chao-Guo Yan

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 982–990, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.73

• refluxing acetonitrile gave unique 2-azabicyclo[4.2.0]octa-3,7-dienes as major products and 1,3a,4,6a-tetrahydrocyclopenta[b]pyrroles as minor products via further rearrangement. Keywords: 1,4-dihydropyridine; electron-withdrawing alkyne; formal [2 + 2] cycloaddition; Huisgen's 1,4-dipole; isoquinoline

Aromatic C–H bond functionalization through organocatalyzed asymmetric intermolecular aza-Friedel–Crafts reaction: a recent update

• Anup Biswas

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 956–981, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.72

• state 98). The substrate scope comprised mainly varying aryl or heteroaryl-substituents at the alkyne moiety that imparted high degrees of enantioselectivities to the products (Scheme 22b) [52]. In 2022, Huang and co-workers demonstrated an atroposelective construction of 3,4’-indole-pyrazole frameworks

Pyridine C(sp²)–H bond functionalization under transition-metal and rare earth metal catalysis

• Haritha Sindhe,
• Malladi Mounika Reddy,
• Karthikeyan Rajkumar,
• Akshay Kamble,
• Amardeep Singh,
• Anand Kumar and
• Satyasheel Sharma

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 820–863, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.62

• involves the initial formation of π-complex A via activation of the alkyne by Pd. Then, in case of N-methylpyridinium salt 82, in presence of CuBr the pyridine–Cu(I) complex 87 is formed through C–H activation that further undergoes nucleophilic attack to the coordinated alkyne in a trans-manner to give Pd

• scope and limitations of the dual catalyst Ni–AlMe3 and also the sensitivity of the reaction towards the steric environment on the pyridine ring. The complex 112 undergoes oxidative addition followed by an alkyne insertion reaction to give intermediate 113, which after reductive elimination provides the

• alkynes 179. Different directing groups 178 were employed resulting in diversified products 180. The proposed mechanism (Scheme 35b) involves coordination of rhodium with isonicotinamide 178 and subsequent ortho-C–H activation generating the five-membered rhodacycle 183. Next, first alkyne 179 insertion

Construction of hexabenzocoronene-based chiral nanographenes

• Ranran Li,
• Di Wang,
• Shengtao Li and
• Peng An

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 736–751, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.54

• hexarylbenzene derivative 30, An and co-workers also reported an azocine-embedded, [5]helicene containing NG 31 [41]. The precursor 30 was synthesized by Diels–Alder reaction of aza-alkyne 28 and tetracyclone 29. By treating compound 30 under Scholl reaction conditions, the helical structure 31 was obtained

• helical NG 44 containing [6]helicene structure and an azulene unit (Scheme 5). Through a two-fold Diels–Alder cycloaddition from 1,4-bis(2-ethynylphenyl)buta-1,3-diyne (41) and tetracyclone 11, alkyne 42 was obtained in an 83% yield. Then unique diiodide precursor 43 was obtained by ICl-mediated

• -workers synthesized a helical bilayer NG by using helicene in the initial step as the linker to fuse two HBC units [48]. As shown in Scheme 6, starting from the helical alkyne 54, Sonogashira coupling with 4-tert-butyliodobenzene (55) afforded structure 56 in a 77% yield. Subsequent Diels–Alder reaction

Strategies in the synthesis of dibenzo[b,f]heteropines

• David I. H. Maier,
• Barend C. B. Bezuidenhoudt and
• Charlene Marais

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 700–718, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.51

• ) [66]. Variations of this reaction include alkyne metathesis [67] and carbonyl metathesis [68]. Ring-closing metathesis (RCM) gave access to a series of dibenzo[b,f]heteropines, as reported by Matsuda and Sato [31] (Scheme 25). The authors synthesised a series of Si-, Sn-, Ge- and B-tethered dienes 118

• synthesising the tethers and RCM products are reported, the method does not currently allow for the synthesis of unsymmetrical compounds. 3.6 Alkyne–aldehyde metathesis Bera et al. [69] reported on the synthesis of a series of 10-acyldibenzo[b,f]oxepines 125 by alkyne–aldehyde metathesis catalysed by iron(III

• ) chloride (Scheme 26). Alkyne–carbonyl metathesis is proposed to proceed via [2 + 2] cycloaddition and –reversion steps, catalysed by a Brønsted or Lewis acid, with the catalyst proposed to form a σ-complex with the carbonyl group and/or a π-complex with the alkyne [68]. 3.7 Hydroarylation The construction

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

• had low ee values, the trans-products showed better enantioselectivities (up to 78%). Their control experiments suggested that the Ru enolate, formed by the conjugate addition of the alkyne to the enone, plays a significant role in the following aldol reaction. Later, Tian et al. have also employed a

Transition-metal-catalyzed domino reactions of strained bicyclic alkenes

• Austin Pounder,
• Eric Neufeld,
• Peter Myler and
• William Tam

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 487–540, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.38

• initiates with the in situ reduction of Ni(II) to Ni(0) followed by the side-on coordination of the alkene and alkyne substrates to the metal center with subsequent oxidative cyclometallation to form a nickel metallacycle, similar to several reported Ni-catalyzed [2 + 2] cycloadditions [29][30]. Rather than

• the coordination of the alkyne 17 and alkene 1 to the Ni(0) center, followed by oxidative cyclometallation, yields the following nickelocycle 24. Unlike Cheng’s 2003 report, which proposes subsequent β-oxygen elimination (Scheme 1) [31], alkoholysis by MeOH affords an alkyl(methoxy)nickel intermediate

• state, followed by coordination to the alkyne generates intermediate 109. Migratory insertion of the alkyne results in the ruthenacycle 110. Subsequent reductive elimination generates putative allyl vinyl ether 111 and regenerates the active ruthenium complex. The allyl vinyl ether intermediate

Mechanochemical solid state synthesis of copper(I)/NHC complexes with K₃PO₄

• Ina Remy-Speckmann,
• Birte M. Zimmermann,
• Mahadeb Gorai,
• Martin Lerch and
• Johannes F. Teichert

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 440–447, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.34

• ball mill synthesized bifunctional catalyst 5bm, again with slightly diminished yields and conversions. Application of the ball mill-synthesized complex 5bm in the alkyne semihydrogenation of tolane (12) gave (Z)-stilbene (13) with full stereoselectivity in good yield (86%, Scheme 3b). Noteworthy, the

Combretastatins D series and analogues: from isolation, synthetic challenges and biological activities

• Jorge de Lima Neto and
• Paulo Henrique Menezes

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 399–427, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.31

• Wittig reaction led to the α,β-unsaturated ester 87, which was subjected to a hydrogenation reaction in the presence of metallic magnesium, leading to the formation of alkyne 88. The cis-alkene was selectively obtained using the Lindlar catalyst. Finally, hydrolysis of the ester led to the formation of

CuAAC-inspired synthesis of 1,2,3-triazole-bridged porphyrin conjugates: an overview

• Dileep Kumar Singh

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 349–379, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.29

• -dipolar cycloaddition reaction between an azide and a terminal alkyne, also popular as "click reaction" or CuAAC reaction. Moreover, the 1,2,3-triazole ring also serves as a spacer and an electron transfer bridge between the porphyrin and the attached chromophores. In order to provide a critical overview

• of the synthesis and properties of various porphyrin-triazole hybrids, this review will discuss some of the key reactions involved in the preparation of triazole-linked porphyrin conjugates. Keywords: azide–alkyne; click chemistry; CuAAC; 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition; porphyrin; 1,2,3-triazole

• ], nanoscience [12], and materials research [13][14]. Moreover, this review describes the use of the click methodology for the construction of various β- and meso-substituted 1,2,3-triazoloporphyrins by using azide or alkyne-substituted porphyrin as substrate (Figure 2). Every example mentioned in this review

Group 13 exchange and transborylation in catalysis

• Dominic R. Willcox and
• Stephen P. Thomas

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 325–348, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.28

• [58]. The alkyne 1 and dialkylborane reacted to give an alkenylborane 2. Transborylation with HBpin gave the alkenyl boronic ester 3 and regenerated the catalyst, HBR2. Isotopic labelling (H10Bpin) confirmed B–C(sp2)/B–H transborylation proceeded by σ-bond metathesis, and not ligand exchange. Using

• tris[3,5-bis(trifluoromethyl)phenyl]borane [59], tris(3,4,5-trifluorophenyl)borane [54], and BH3 [55][56] found to be competent catalysts of this transformation (Scheme 3a). The mechanism was proposed to be analogous to that of borane-catalysed alkyne hydroboration; alkene 4 hydroboration, followed by

• , the mechanism was proposed to occur by dehydrocoupling between the aluminium dihydride and the alkyne 1 to give an alkynylaluminium species 78. Direct hydroboration of the alkynyl aluminium species by HBpin gave a gem-aluminyl-boryl-alkene 80 which underwent selective protodemetallation with another

Continuous flow synthesis of 6-monoamino-6-monodeoxy-β-cyclodextrin

• János Máté Orosz,
• Dóra Ujj,
• Petr Kasal,
• Gábor Benkovics and
• Erika Bálint

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 294–302, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.25

• the other hand, sodium azide in N,N-dimethylformamide (DMF) reacts with mono-6-O-tosyl-CDs to give CD monoazides in high yields. The obtained mono(6-azido-6-deoxy)-CDs (N3-CDs) are valuable precursors that can be used as starting materials in azide–alkyne click reactions; furthermore, they can be

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

• metathesis (EYRCM) reported by Katz in 1985, represents an attractive variant of the classical RCM with the replacement of one of the alkenes by an alkyne function. Thus, EYRCM is atom economic and provides a 1,3 diene, which constitutes an ideal partner for further functionalization, typically a Diels–Alder

• the alkyne to form a carbocycle possessing a vinyl moiety, which in turn reacts with the second alkene, thus producing the expected bicyclic structure in a tandem process. Ophiobolin A (8), one of the representatives of the ophiobolin family, contains a [5-8-5] tricyclic backbone with a side chain on

• functionalized alkyne moiety prefiguring the aldehyde function of ophiobolin A (8). These two compounds were submitted to the EYRCM in the presence of G-II catalyst and furnished two different outcomes. Indeed, compound 102 gave the expected product 104 in 78% yield, whereas precursor 103, bearing hindered gem

Sequential hydrozirconation/Pd-catalyzed cross coupling of acyl chlorides towards conjugated (2E,4E)-dienones

• Benedikt Kolb,
• Daniela Silva dos Santos,
• Sanja Krause,
• Anna Zens and
• Sabine Laschat

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 176–185, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.17

• could be converted to enones 20 by hydrozirconation followed by Pd-catalyzed acylation with acyl chlorides 21 [61]. The substrate scope required aryl units at either alkyne or acid chloride unit. Recently, we could extend this method to alkyl-substituted alkynes 16 and acetyl chloride (22), providing

• 27fa in 55% yield (Table 5, entry 1). In agreement with the previous observations, methyl substituents at the aryl moiety and/or the alkyne terminus compromised the yield (Table 5, entries 3 and 10). Furthermore, dienones 27g,i–n with bromo-, ethyl-, and ethoxycarbonyl substituents were not accessible

• the alkyne terminus significantly decreased the yield. Finally, non-natural and natural dienone-containing terpenes were synthesized such as β-ionone (3), which was available in 4 steps (6% overall yield). Thereby, the synthetic utility was demonstrated by a late-stage introduction of the dienone unit

1,4-Dithianes: attractive C2-building blocks for the synthesis of complex molecular architectures

• Bram Ryckaert,
• Ellen Demeyere,
• Frederick Degroote,
• Hilde Janssens and
• Johan M. Winne

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 115–132, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.12

• more reactive sulfanylation reagent, the intermediate lithiated species can be captured (Scheme 6c), and sulfanylated derivative 23 is isolated as the major product. However, the sulfanylated alkyne 24 is also already prominent at −70 °C, even though the metalation was not yet complete (as judged by

• dithiinyl cation-type reagent from an alkyne-substituted 1,3-dithiolane (Scheme 18a, also compare to Scheme 4) [110]. The rearranged vinylthionium cation 112 was not isolated, but was here postulated to explain the formation of the Nazarov-type reaction product 113 that was isolated in excellent yield, and

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

• -silicon effect. For this purpose, we prepared the known acyl chloride 23 in four steps starting from propargyl alcohol (Scheme 5) [68]. Trimethylsilylation of propargyl alcohol (24, 89% yield) followed by reduction of the alkyne using LiAlH4 afforded the allylic alcohol 26 as a single (E) diastereomer

NaI/PPh₃-catalyzed visible-light-mediated decarboxylative radical cascade cyclization of N-arylacrylamides for the efficient synthesis of quaternary oxindoles

• Dan Liu,
• Yue Zhao and
• Frederic W. Patureau

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 57–65, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.5

• terminal alkyne in 3an, and an alkyl chloride in 3ao proved compatible, associated with encouraging yields. In order to further demonstrate the utility of our protocol, a complex scaffold derived from lithocholic acid was tested, and was found to smoothly undergo the decarboxylative cyclization towards

Inline purification in continuous flow synthesis – opportunities and challenges

• Jorge García-Lacuna and
• Marcus Baumann

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2022, 18, 1720–1740, doi:10.3762/bjoc.18.182

• -butylimino-2-diethylamino-1,3-dimethylperhydro-1,3,2-diazaphosphorine on polystyrene) which is valuable for reaction scale-ups [75] is used. Alternatively, a CuAAc (copper-catalyzed azide–alkyne cycloaddition) reaction has been demonstrated where the copper catalyst is supported on an Amberlist A-21 resin

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

• enone 10 to the corresponding allylic alcohol, followed by a Au-catalyzed alkyne hydration, providing hemiketal 11. This intermediate was in equilibrium with hydroxy-ketone 12, which was suitable for a SmI2-promoted cyclization, affording intermediate 13 selectively, already bearing rings C and D. The

• presented some difficulties, and the authors decided to investigate the use of a free ketone. The partial hydrogenation of alkyne 72 proved to be inefficient, due to a lack of chemoselectivity involving competitive olefin reduction on the bicylo[3.2.1]octane. To overcome the over-oxidation, 72 was treated

• with m-CPBA, providing epoxide 73 as the main product in 71% yield (dr = 6:1). Lindlar hydrogenation of the alkyne and cyclization proceeded smoothly, and the tetracyclic skeleton 74 was obtained in moderate yield. However, the synthesis of pierisformaside C was never completed. The missing

A novel bis-triazole scaffold accessed via two tandem [3 + 2] cycloaddition events including an uncatalyzed, room temperature azide–alkyne click reaction

• Ksenia Malkova,
• Andrey Bubyrev,
• Vasilisa Krivovicheva,
• Dmitry Dar’in,
• Alexander Bunev and
• Mikhail Krasavin

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2022, 18, 1636–1641, doi:10.3762/bjoc.18.175

• proceeded further, in uncatalyzed fashion at room temperature and yielded, after intramolecular azide–alkyne click reaction novel, structurally intriguing bistriazoles. Keywords: α-acetyl-α-diazomethane sulfonamide; intramolecular click reaction; uncatalyzed; room temperature; 1,2,3-triazoles

• molecular scaffold. Pondering various opportunities for post-condensational modifications of the 1,5-disubstituted 1,2,3-triazole core according to this strategy, we turned our attention to such powerful transformation as the azide–alkyne [3 + 2] cycloaddition (also known as the azide–alkyne click reaction

• ) [6]. Indeed, if an alkyne and an azido group were strategically positioned within the structure of the amine and the aldehyde components for the reaction with 1, subsequent intramolecular azide–alkyne cycloaddition would be a feasible event which would create a polycyclic bis-1,2,3-triazole framework