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

• reaction conditions are base-free and mild (60 °C), allowing the preservation of chiral centers. The developed approach enables the synthesis of various α-functionalized glycine derivatives, which play a crucial role in proteomics. The work offers a novel perspective on cobalt-catalyzed C–H

Photocatalytic sequential C–H functionalization expediting acetoxymalonylation of imidazo heterocycles

• Deepak Singh,
• Shyamal Pramanik and
• Soumitra Maity

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 666–673, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.48

• acetylating agent. The developed method is heavy-metal free, as shown by the use of inexpensive PTH, as well as a base-free approach, and involves aerial oxygen to generate exciting derivatives, which may prove to be valuable in the field of radical chemistry research in future. Strategies of C-3

New advances in asymmetric organocatalysis

• Radovan Šebesta

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2022, 18, 240–242, doi:10.3762/bjoc.18.28

• catalysis relies on the deprotonation of one of the substrates, but basic conditions may limit the applicability of this methodology. A unique base-free variant of chiral phase-transfer catalytic alkylation of 2-oxindoles was developed by Connon and co-workers [23]. Pentacarboxycyclopentadienes are a unique

Efficient N-arylation of 4-chloroquinazolines en route to novel 4-anilinoquinazolines as potential anticancer agents

• Rodolfo H. V. Nishimura,
• Thiago dos Santos,
• Valter E. Murie,
• Luciana C. Furtado,
• Leticia V. Costa-Lotufo and
• Giuliano C. Clososki

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2021, 17, 2968–2975, doi:10.3762/bjoc.17.206

• -methoxy-N-methylaniline was not efficient under various reaction conditions and afforded the desired product in low yields even in basic medium (AcONa). To address this issue, we investigated a microwave-mediated base-free amination strategy involving a mixture of THF and water (1:1) as solvent system

• -substituted anilines bearing both electron-withdrawing and -donating groups. Furthermore, compared to a previously reported protocol that uses AcONa as base and a THF/H2O 3:1 mixture as solvent [11][32], the protocol we developed here is base-free and requires a reduced amount of organic solvent, thereby

• with different anilines. The developed base-free protocol was compatible with several anilines bearing substituents at the ortho-, meta-, or para-positions, giving the corresponding N-arylated derivatives in yields of up to 96%. Moreover, it allowed fast and efficient reactions that required reduced

Selective sulfonylation and isonitrilation of para-quinone methides employing TosMIC as a source of sulfonyl group or isonitrile group

• Chuanhua Qu,
• Run Huang,
• Yong Li,
• Tong Liu,
• Yuan Chen and
• Guiting Song

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2021, 17, 2822–2831, doi:10.3762/bjoc.17.193

• reaction without adding bases, and unexpectedly found Ag salts could catalyze the 1,6-conjugate addition of TosMIC (2a) and p-QM 1a to provide aryl(phenol)methane isonitrile 4a under base-free conditions (Table 1, entries 6–8). When the silver salt was removed from the reaction conditions, the reaction did

Base-free enantioselective S_N2 alkylation of 2-oxindoles via bifunctional phase-transfer catalysis

• Mili Litvajova,
• Emiliano Sorrentino,
• Brendan Twamley and
• Stephen J. Connon

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2021, 17, 2287–2294, doi:10.3762/bjoc.17.146

• , the reactions were carried out under base-free conditions. It was found that urea-based catalysts outperformed squaramide derivatives, and that the installation of a chlorine atom adjacent to the catalyst’s quinoline moiety aided in avoiding selectivity-reducing complications related to the production

• synthesis of a potent CRTH2 receptor antagonist. Keywords: alkylation; base-free; cinchona alkaloids; CRTH2 antagonist; hydrogen-bonding; oxindole; phase-transfer catalysis; Introduction The 2-oxindole scaffold is an important motif present in a myriad of natural products. Among 2-oxidole derivatives, 3,3

• reactions can be occasionally performed even in absence of base under water-enriched/organic biphasic conditions [41][42][43][44][45][46][47]. Taking inspiration from these studies, it was envisaged that by employing base-free neutral reaction conditions – given the likely acidity of substrate 5 – that it

Catalyzed and uncatalyzed procedures for the syntheses of isomeric covalent multi-indolyl hetero non-metallides: an account

• Ranadeep Talukdar

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2021, 17, 2102–2122, doi:10.3762/bjoc.17.137

• ]. The reason behind the C-2 attachment of the boron atom rather than at the C-3 position of the indole ring was explained by McGough et al. [37]. They performed a base-free catalytic I2-assisted indole C–H functionalization (electrophilic borylation) using the N-protected indole 1 and NHC·borane 4a that

An overview on disulfide-catalyzed and -cocatalyzed photoreactions

• Yeersen Patehebieke

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 1418–1435, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.118

• of the aromatic S–S bond by visible light. In 2019, Meng and co-workers reported a visible light-mediated disulfide-catalyzed metal-free and base-free α-functionalization of 1,3-dicarbonyl compounds [17]. Under visible-light irradiation, the α-hydroxylation or α-hydroxymethylation of 1,3-dicarbonyl

Photocatalytic trifluoromethoxylation of arenes and heteroarenes in continuous-flow

• Alexander V. Nyuchev,
• Ting Wan,
• Borja Cendón,
• Carlo Sambiagio,
• Job J. C. Struijs,
• Michelle Ho,
• Moisés Gulías,
• Ying Wang and
• Timothy Noël

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 1305–1312, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.111

•  2, entry 15). These conditions were also applied to a few other substrates, for the sake of comparison (Figure 1). Under flow conditions, products 7, 10, and 31 were obtained in yields comparable to the base-free method. However, the addition of KH2PO4 in batch results in considerably improved

Synthesis of pyrrolidinedione-fused hexahydropyrrolo[2,1-a]isoquinolines via three-component [3 + 2] cycloaddition followed by one-pot N-allylation and intramolecular Heck reactions

• Xiaoming Ma,
• Suzhi Meng,
• Xiaofeng Zhang,
• Qiang Zhang,
• Shenghu Yan,
• Yue Zhang and
• Wei Zhang

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 1225–1233, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.106

• Na2CO3, Cs2CO3 and Et3N were also used for the Heck reaction, but none of them improved the product yield (Table 1, entries 12–14). A base-free control reaction gave 9a in 10% yield (Table 1, entry 15). Thus, the optimized conditions for the Heck reaction was to use 10 mol % of Pd(OAc)2, 20 mol % of PPh3

Copper-promoted/copper-catalyzed trifluoromethylselenolation reactions

• Clément Ghiazza and
• Anis Tlili

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 305–316, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.30

• ) bromide. The same group also reported the trifluoromethylselenolation of β-brominated unsaturated carbonyl compounds under base-free conditions (Scheme 5, bottom) [22]. Good to excellent yields were obtained for the products. The authors demonstrated that no major alterations were observed in the presence

Synthesis and optoelectronic properties of benzoquinone-based donor–acceptor compounds

• Daniel R. Sutherland,
• Nidhi Sharma,
• Georgina M. Rosair,
• Ifor D. W. Samuel,
• Ai-Lan Lee and
• Eli Zysman-Colman

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2019, 15, 2914–2921, doi:10.3762/bjoc.15.285

• developed a controlled and selective direct Pd-catalyzed C–H monofunctionalization of benzoquinone 1 in order to expedite the synthesis of benzoquinone-containing targets (Scheme 1) [2][14]. This direct method not only allows for monofunctionalization of 1 under mild and base-free conditions at ambient

Palladium-catalyzed Sonogashira coupling reactions in γ-valerolactone-based ionic liquids

• László Orha,
• József M. Tukacs,
• László Kollár and
• László T. Mika

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2019, 15, 2907–2913, doi:10.3762/bjoc.15.284

• -ethoxyvalerate as a partially bio-based solvent can be utilized as alternative reaction medium for copper- and auxiliary base-free Pd-catalyzed Sonogashira coupling reactions of aryl iodides and functionalized acetylenes under mild conditions. Twenty-two cross-coupling products were isolated with good to

• systems could operate copper-free [25][27][29] and/or auxiliary base-free conditions [30]. Recently, some “designer" ionic liquids were also developed for this purpose [29][30][31][32][33] from which an imidazolium-based piperidine-appended one could act as task specific compound operating either as a

• important transformation. Herein we report a study on the palladium-catalyzed copper- and added base-free Sonogashira coupling reactions to synthesize various acetylenes in γ-valerolactone-based ionic liquids under mild conditions. Results and Discussion We recently demonstrated that copper-catalyzed

Halide metathesis in overdrive: mechanochemical synthesis of a heterometallic group 1 allyl complex

• Ross F. Koby,
• Nicholas R. Rightmire,
• Nathan D. Schley,
• Timothy P. Hanusa and
• William W. Brennessel

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2019, 15, 1856–1863, doi:10.3762/bjoc.15.181

• base-free, unsolvated complex that preferably had been crystallographically characterized limited the choice to the potassium complex [KA']∞. In that form [17], as well as when crystallized from THF [18], DME [21], or as described below, arenes, [KA']∞ retains the structure of an undulating or helical

Recent advances on the transition-metal-catalyzed synthesis of imidazopyridines: an updated coverage

• Gagandeep Kour Reen,
• Ashok Kumar and
• Pratibha Sharma

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2019, 15, 1612–1704, doi:10.3762/bjoc.15.165

• derivatives have been reported by the group of R. K. Reddy [113]. The protocol offered an open air, ligand- and base-free methodology with an extension towards the synthesis of imidazo[1,2-a]pyrazines/pyrimidines and benzo[d]imidazo[2,1-b]thiazoles. For this reaction, they have synthesized the respective

Unexpected polymorphism during a catalyzed mechanochemical Knoevenagel condensation

• Sebastian Haferkamp,
• Andrea Paul,
• Adam A. L. Michalchuk and
• Franziska Emmerling

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2019, 15, 1141–1148, doi:10.3762/bjoc.15.110

• the inclusion of the base led to crystallization of the corresponding products 3a–c during the milling process. In contrast, crystallization during the base-free reaction required an ex situ aging step. Figure 1 shows the XRPD pattern of the substrate 2 and the product 3a. Due to the liquid state of

An efficient and concise access to 2-amino-4H-benzothiopyran-4-one derivatives

• Peng Li,
• Yongqi Wu,
• Tingting Zhang,
• Chen Ma,
• Ziyun Lin,
• Gang Li and
• Haihong Huang

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2019, 15, 703–709, doi:10.3762/bjoc.15.65

• be the optimum leaving group by thorough investigations on the elimination of sulfide, sulfinyl, and sulfonyl groups at the 2-position of benzothiopyranone. Most 2-aminobenzothiopyranones were obtained in good to excellent yields under refluxing in isopropanol within 36 h. This method is base-free

Synthesis of 9-arylalkynyl- and 9-aryl-substituted benzo[b]quinolizinium derivatives by Palladium-mediated cross-coupling reactions

• Siva Sankar Murthy Bandaru,
• Darinka Dzubiel,
• Heiko Ihmels,
• Mohebodin Karbasiyoun,
• Mohamed M. A. Mahmoud and
• Carola Schulzke

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2018, 14, 1871–1884, doi:10.3762/bjoc.14.161

• -Arylbenzo[b]quinolizinium derivatives were prepared with base-free Suzuki–Miyaura coupling reactions between benzo[b]quinolizinium-9-trifluoroborate and selected benzenediazonium salts. In addition, the Sonogashira coupling reaction between 9-iodobenzo[b]quinolizinium and the arylalkyne derivatives yielded

• ]quinolizinium derivatives have to be optimized [34][35]. Accordingly, we extended our studies to improve the conditions of the Suzuki–Miyaura coupling towards biaryl-type benzo[b]quinolizinium derivatives 1a–d (Figure 1), namely to apply the alternative base-free Suzuki–Miyaura coupling reaction [39][40][41][42

• derivatives 2a–d are reported (Figure 1), along with preliminary studies of their duplex and quadruplex DNA-binding properties. Results Synthesis Synthesis of 9-aryl-substituted benzo[b]quinolizinium derivatives 1a–d The 9-aryl-substituted benzo[b]quinolizinium derivatives 1a–d were prepared under base-free

Hypervalent organoiodine compounds: from reagents to valuable building blocks in synthesis

• Gwendal Grelier,
• Benjamin Darses and
• Philippe Dauban

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2018, 14, 1508–1528, doi:10.3762/bjoc.14.128

• this issue of atom-economy, the group of Shafir has reported the metal- and base-free arylation of keto-esters and cyanoketones using [bis(trifluoroacetoxy)iodo]arenes ArI(OCOCF3)2 (Scheme 40) [78]. The reaction can also be applied to cyclic 1,3-diones with equal efficiency [79]. Mechanistic studies

Progress in copper-catalyzed trifluoromethylation

• Guan-bao Li,
• Chao Zhang,
• Chun Song and
• Yu-dao Ma

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2018, 14, 155–181, doi:10.3762/bjoc.14.11

• accomplished under base-free conditions by using Togni’s reagent 1f as the trifluoromethylation reagent at room temperature. Organotrifluoroborates were attractive alternatives to boronic acids for its superior characteristic, such as ease of handling, storability, and robustness under harsh reaction

Mechanochemical synthesis of small organic molecules

• Tapas Kumar Achar,
• Anima Bose and
• Prasenjit Mal

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2017, 13, 1907–1931, doi:10.3762/bjoc.13.186

• . Using a stainless steel jar they could isolate 95% of the pure pincer complex within 2 min (Scheme 47) [179]. Hanusa and co-workers developed a base-free mechanochemical synthesis of a tris(allyl)aluminum complex. Importantly, unsolvated tris(allyl)aluminum was never been isolated from solution, but

Chiral phase-transfer catalysis in the asymmetric α-heterofunctionalization of prochiral nucleophiles

• Johannes Schörgenhumer,
• Maximilian Tiffner and
• Mario Waser

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2017, 13, 1753–1769, doi:10.3762/bjoc.13.170

• nucleophiles has been much less systematically investigated so far [76][90][92]. In 2013, Maruoka and co-workers introduced a new family of bifunctional phosphonium salts J which turned out to be highly active catalysts for different α-heterofunctionalization reactions of ketoesters 1 under base-free

• [112][113]. Our group has very recently investigated the use of bifunctional catalysts D for such α-hydroxylations [116]. Hereby we realized that oxaziridines like compound 23a are versatile reagents for this reaction, giving access to products 21 with excellent enantioselectivities under base-free

• group then described the use of the bifunctional phosphonium salt-based catalyst J2 for the α-sulfanylation of β-ketoesters 1 [90]. Very impressively, only 0.1 mol % of the catalyst were sufficient to achieve high yields and high enantioselectivities for this transformation under base-free water-rich

An eco-compatible strategy for the diversity-oriented synthesis of macrocycles exploiting carbohydrate-derived building blocks

• Sushil K. Maurya and
• Rohit Rana

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2017, 13, 1106–1118, doi:10.3762/bjoc.13.110

• blocks were coupled via 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition (click reaction) iteratively through the development of a greener base-free Cu(I)-catalyzed azide–alkyne cycloaddition reaction. The cycloadducts were then converted to macrocycles by Ru-catalyzed cyclization reaction using greener and non-hazards

Catalytic Wittig and aza-Wittig reactions

• Zhiqi Lao and
• Patrick H. Toy

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2016, 12, 2577–2587, doi:10.3762/bjoc.12.253

• , phenylsilane and butylene oxide [23][24], and reactions with the combination of achiral 30, trimethoxysilane ((MeO)3SiH) and sodium carbonate using conventional heating [25]. Additionally, the same authors have reported base-free Wittig reactions using diethyl maleate (31) as the starting material to form

• -workers appeared, Wenwei Lin and a co-worker published conceptually similar catalytic Wittig reactions that were based on their previous research regarding related non-catalytic phosphine-mediated base-free Wittig reactions (Scheme 10) [28]. They started with Michael acceptors 36 to generate products 37

• -supported telluride catalyst cycling. Stable and odourless telluronium salt pre-catalyst for Wittig-type reactions. Phosphine-catalyzed Wittig reactions. Enantioselective catalytic Wittig reaction reported by Werner. Base-free catalytic Wittig reactions reported by Werner. Catalytic Wittig reactions

Scope and limitations of a DMF bio-alternative within Sonogashira cross-coupling and Cacchi-type annulation

• Kirsty L. Wilson,
• Alan R. Kennedy,
• Jane Murray,
• Ben Greatrex,
• Craig Jamieson and
• Allan J. B. Watson

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2016, 12, 2005–2011, doi:10.3762/bjoc.12.187

• necessitate base-free or exceptionally mildly basic reaction conditions. In contrast, amide-bond formation is the most practiced reaction in the pharmaceutical industry [4] and these are routinely performed in DMF at room temperature in the presence of organic bases [53]. As such, Cyrene may offer