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

• anionic 1a–i-enolate species in parallel with N-fluoroammonium ion 6. Fluoride ions formed through the reactions between fluorine and quinuclidine or fluorine and enolate species, may deprotonate 1a–i-enol, to form enolates of 1a–i that are reactive towards both fluorine and N-fluoroammonium ion 6. The

• pKa(MeCN) of 1a-keto is ≈26.3, and we expect a pKa(MeCN) of 2a-keto to be similar in value [51][52], we suggest fluoride ion may be sufficiently basic to cause significant acceleration of the deprotonation of 2a–i-keto and allow formation of 2a–i-enolates, which then react rapidly with fluorine gas

• as an effective base for the formation of enolates of 1a and 2a, and this is reflected in the modest levels of formation of 3a (Scheme 4). Chloride ion, on the other hand, is less basic (pKa(MeCN) of HCl is 10.30 [60]), however, its greater solubility seemingly allows some level of deprotonation of

Catalytic multi-step domino and one-pot reactions

• Svetlana B. Tsogoeva

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 254–256, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.25

• stereocenters [7]. In the Review paper by Kisszékelyi and Šebesta, the diverse variety of chiral metal enolates obtained by asymmetric conjugate additions of organometallic reagents and the possibilities to engage metal enolates in tandem reactions with new electrophiles are presented [8]. A Perspective from X

α-(Aminomethyl)acrylates as acceptors in radical–polar crossover 1,4-additions of dialkylzincs: insights into enolate formation and trapping

• Angel Palillero-Cisneros,
• Paola G. Gordillo-Guerra,
• Fernando García-Alvarez,
• Olivier Jackowski,
• Franck Ferreira,
• Fabrice Chemla,
• Joel L. Terán and
• Alejandro Perez-Luna

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 1443–1451, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.103

• atom to zinc enables this SH2 process which represents a rare example of alkylzinc-group transfer to a tertiary α-carbonyl radical. The zinc enolate thus formed readily undergoes β-fragmentation unless it is trapped by electrophiles in situ. Enolates of substrates having free N–H bonds undergo

• carbonyl compounds to provide the corresponding zinc enolates (Scheme 1) [1][2]. While simple, this reaction offers attractive features: 1) it proceeds under mild conditions in the absence of any transition-metal catalyst; 2) the 1,4-addition step can be combined with condensation reactions of the zinc

• coordinated to the zinc atom: this offers a gain in enthalpy associated to the formation of zinc enolates stabilized by chelation and increases the spin density delocalized at the oxygen atom involved in the chelate. Note that the reported 1,4-additions of dialkylzinc reagents to alkylidenemalonates could

Asymmetric tandem conjugate addition and reaction with carbocations on acylimidazole Michael acceptors

• Brigita Mudráková,
• Renata Marcia de Figueiredo,
• Jean-Marc Campagne and
• Radovan Šebesta

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 881–888, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.65

• enolates in high enantiomeric purities. These enolates are reacted with highly electrophilic onium compounds to afford densely substituted acylimidazoles. DFT calculations helped to understand the reactivity of the zinc enolates derived from acylimidazoles and allowed their comparison with metal enolates

• products [20]. A salient feature of conjugate additions of organometallic reagents is that they generate reactive metal enolates as primary products. These enolates can be used in a variety of subsequent transformations [21]. Chiral enolates generated by conjugate additions react with carbonyl compounds

• , imines, other Michael acceptors, or alkyl halides. Our group is developing trapping of metal enolates with stabilized carbocations and could show that magnesium enolates generated from enones [22], unsaturated amides [23], or heterocycles reacted with tropylium, dithiolylium or flavylium cations [24

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

• Peter Kisszekelyi Radovan Sebesta Department of Organic Chemistry, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Comenius University Bratislava, Mlynská dolina, Ilkovičova 6, 842 15 Bratislava, Slovakia 10.3762/bjoc.19.44 Abstract Metal enolates are useful intermediates and building blocks indispensable in many

• organic synthetic transformations. Chiral metal enolates obtained by asymmetric conjugate additions of organometallic reagents are structurally complex intermediates that can be employed in many transformations. In this review, we describe this burgeoning field that is reaching maturity after more than 25

• years of development. The effort of our group to broaden possibilities to engage metal enolates in reactions with new electrophiles is described. The material is divided according to the organometallic reagent employed in the conjugate addition step, and thus to the particular metal enolate formed

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

• bridged α,β-unsaturated ketones; however, these reactions do not involve initiation by an oxa-Michael addition [23][24]. The reaction between 1 and aromatic ketones under basic conditions is analogous to the well-known aldol/Michael cascade reaction observed between aldehydes and enolates giving di- and

Synthesis and late stage modifications of Cyl derivatives

• Phil Servatius and
• Uli Kazmaier

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2022, 18, 174–181, doi:10.3762/bjoc.18.19

• , epimerization is prevented through deprotonation of amide NH bonds, as argued by Seebach for Li enolates [53][54]. Nevertheless, isoleucine was prone to epimerize under the reaction conditions due to its vicinity to proline and therewith lack of the “protecting” NH group. Since no full conversion was observed

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

• charged intermediates, could be an excellent methodology for the enantioselective SN2 alkylation of enolates derived from the 2-oxindole core [13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23]. In recent years, several examples regarding the alkylation of 3-subsituted-2-oxindoles, via asymmetric phase-transfer

• could be possible to develop an effective catalytic asymmetric protocol. To the best of our knowledge such base-free catalytic systems have never been applied to processes such as the alkylation of enolates generated in situ. These reactions would produce stoichiometric amounts of acid, which can

Preparation of mono-substituted malonic acid half oxyesters (SMAHOs)

• Tania Xavier,
• Sylvie Condon,
• Christophe Pichon,
• Erwan Le Gall and
• Marc Presset

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2021, 17, 2085–2094, doi:10.3762/bjoc.17.135

• known as alkyl hydrogen malonates or hemimalonates, constitute an attractive class of pronucleophiles in the design of eco-compatible syntheses [1]. Indeed, they can serve as efficient precursors of ester enolates through decarboxylation [2][3], generally using a substoichiometric amount of a weak base

Enantioenriched α-substituted glutamates/pyroglutamates via enantioselective cyclopropenimine-catalyzed Michael addition of amino ester imines

• Zara M. Seibel,
• Jeffrey S. Bandar and
• Tristan H. Lambert

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2021, 17, 2077–2084, doi:10.3762/bjoc.17.134

• -substituted glutamate derivatives is via the Michael addition of α-amino ester enolates to acrylate acceptors. These products can also be easily converted to pyroglutamates by lactamization [28][29][30]. Although the use of substituted amino ester derivatives for the enantioselective α-alkylation has been

Development of N-F fluorinating agents and their fluorinations: Historical perspective

• Teruo Umemoto,
• Yuhao Yang and
• Gerald B. Hammond

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2021, 17, 1752–1813, doi:10.3762/bjoc.17.123

• -fluorosultams were stable below 100 °C. The enantioselectivities of products were examined after the fluorination of different metal enolates. In the best case a 63% yield and 70% enantiomeric excess (ee) was obtained. Even though other products gave less satisfactory outcomes, the potential of the N-F

• carbanions (Scheme 29). For example, reactions with enolates gave α-fluorinated products in 65–100% yields. Azaenolates could be fluorinated in moderate yields. A fluorination reaction with phenylmagnesium bromide provided fluorobenzene in 80% yield, an outcome which was better than that of N

• -dichlorocamphorsultam) 17-2 [75] (Scheme 37). The maximum enantioselectivity of enolates of β-ketoesters with (−)-9-1 or (+)-9-2, first prepared by Lang in 1988 (see section 1-9), was 70% ee. The asymmetric fluorination with (+)- or (−)-17-2 afforded up to 75% ee as indicated in Scheme 38. The dichloro reagent 17-2

A recent overview on the synthesis of 1,4,5-trisubstituted 1,2,3-triazoles

• Pezhman Shiri,
• Ali Mohammad Amani and
• Thomas Mayer-Gall

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2021, 17, 1600–1628, doi:10.3762/bjoc.17.114

• -containing 1,2,3-triazole derivatives 30 from the reaction of glycosyl azides 28 with enolates of active ketones and esters 29 in the presence of DBU in DMF at 70 °C (Scheme 12) [43]. Diverse monosaccharide and disaccharide azides were successfully reacted with a variety of enolates of active ketones and

• through the regioselective addition and cyclization reaction of EDAMs 24 with p-methylbenzenesulfonyl azide. Synthesis of 1,4,5-trisubstituted glycosyl-containing 1,2,3-triazole derivatives 30 from the reaction of glycosyl azides 28 with enolates of active

Methodologies for the synthesis of quaternary carbon centers via hydroalkylation of unactivated olefins: twenty years of advances

• Thiago S. Silva and
• Fernando Coelho

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2021, 17, 1565–1590, doi:10.3762/bjoc.17.112

• of a Lewis acid (LA) to activate 1,3-dicarbonyls through the formation of metallic enolates was recently explored by Schindler’s group for the intramolecular tert-alkylation of prenylated β-keto esters 103 (Scheme 39A

N-tert-Butanesulfinyl imines in the asymmetric synthesis of nitrogen-containing heterocycles

• Joseane A. Mendes,
• Paulo R. R. Costa,
• Miguel Yus,
• Francisco Foubelo and
• Camilla D. Buarque

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2021, 17, 1096–1140, doi:10.3762/bjoc.17.86

• -bromoenolates to enantiopure p-toluenesulfinamide 5. cis-aziridine 7a was formed as the major diastereoisomer in 89% yield and the trans-isomer in 8% yield in a one-step procedure using lithium enolates of methyl bromoacetate 6a and sulfinyl imine 5. Lithium enolates of methyl α-bromopropionate gave trans

• the Grignard reagent in this synthesis, with a 18% overall yield after seven steps from aldimine ent-126 (Scheme 35) [125]. The reaction of chiral α-siloxyl imine (SS)-126 with enolates derived from methyl ketones 131 was also investigated. The enolate was formed with LDA at −78 °C and reacted at the

α,γ-Dioxygenated amides via tandem Brook rearrangement/radical oxygenation reactions and their application to syntheses of γ-lactams

• Mikhail K. Klychnikov,
• Radek Pohl,
• Ivana Císařová and
• Ullrich Jahn

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2021, 17, 688–704, doi:10.3762/bjoc.17.58

• hexafluorophosphate (4) and TEMPO (3) were subsequently added to trigger the single electron oxidation of the formed amide enolates and radical oxygenation affording α-(aminoxy)amides 9a–n in good 51–77% isolated yields. Cyclic units in the allylic N-substituent (Table 2, entries 14 and 15) and the epoxide (Table 2

• ROESY investigations (see Supporting Information File 1). This corresponds to the previously reported data for N-benzylacetamides [82]. It can be assumed that the amide enolates after the Brook rearrangement and the α-amide radicals (4S,S)-19i–k and (4R,S)-19i, respectively, resulting after SET

The preparation and properties of 1,1-difluorocyclopropane derivatives

• Kymbat S. Adekenova,
• Peter B. Wyatt and
• Sergazy M. Adekenov

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2021, 17, 245–272, doi:10.3762/bjoc.17.25

• -difluorocyclopropanecarboxylic acid derivatives 58 by the Michael addition of ester and amide enolates to 2,4,6-trimethylphenyl 4-bromo-4,4-difluorocrotonate (57) followed by an Et3B-initiated radical cyclization (Scheme 24) [68]. Furthermore, when the sodium salt of dimethyl malonate was used as the Michael donor the

Synthesis of novel fluorinated building blocks via halofluorination and related reactions

• Attila Márió Remete,
• Tamás T. Novák,
• Melinda Nonn,
• Matti Haukka,
• Ferenc Fülöp and
• Loránd Kiss

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 2562–2575, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.208

• , the mechanism is relatively straightforward. Instead of an E2 elimination, these compounds are deprotonated next to the ester group, which is closer to the CHBr unit. Then, the carbanion motif of the formed enolates (rac)-T8a and T8b afford the cyclopropane-fused cyclopentane dicarboxylate (rac)-27

NHC-catalyzed enantioselective synthesis of β-trifluoromethyl-β-hydroxyamides

• Alyn T. Davies,
• Mark D. Greenhalgh,
• Alexandra M. Z. Slawin and
• Andrew D. Smith

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 1572–1578, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.129

• stereogenic trifluoromethyl centers is through enantioselective addition of enolates or their equivalents to prochiral trifluoromethyl ketones (Figure 1A). Within this area, a common catalytic approach has utilized aliphatic ketones as enolate equivalents using prolinamide, cinchona, or hybrid catalysts that

• using NHCs, the azolium enolate has been widely used [27][28]. Methods to generate azolium enolates from a number of precursors have been reported, including the use of ketenes [29][30], α-functionalized aldehydes [31][32][33][34][35], enals [36][37][38], aryl esters [39][40][41][42], or aldehydes [43

• ][44][45] in the presence of an oxidant. As representative examples of the use of azolium enolates in reactions with trifluoroacetophenone derivatives, Ye and co-workers have shown that using disubstituted ketenes as azolium enolate precursors and NHC precatalyst 1 allowed access to trifluoromethyl

Recent advances in Cu-catalyzed C(sp³)–Si and C(sp³)–B bond formation

• Balaram S. Takale,
• Ruchita R. Thakore,
• Elham Etemadi-Davan and
• Bruce H. Lipshutz

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 691–737, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.67

• adducts (e.g., 373 to form products, 374 and 375; Scheme 59) highlights the utility of this methodology [109]. Following Hoveyda’s report on enantioselective Cu-catalyzed conjugate additions of borylated butadiene, generated in situ, to enolates [110], Procter et al. described the regio-divergent

Why do thioureas and squaramides slow down the Ireland–Claisen rearrangement?

• Dominika Krištofíková,
• Juraj Filo,
• Mária Mečiarová and
• Radovan Šebesta

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2019, 15, 2948–2957, doi:10.3762/bjoc.15.290

• base [1][2][3]. The products of the Ireland–Claisen rearrangement, γ,δ-unsaturated acids, are useful precursors of biologically active compounds and natural products [4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11]. The ready availability of allylic esters, the ability to control the E/Z geometry of enolates as well as its

• stereospecificity make this transformation synthetically appealing [12][13]. Allyl esters of various carboxylic acids undergo rearrangement as their lithium enolates or silyl ketene acetals and the corresponding acids were isolated in 75–80% yields. Accordingly, the Ireland–Claisen rearrangement of lithium enolates

• generated from allyl fluoroacetates gave the corresponding α-fluoro-γ,δ-unsaturated acids [14]. The Ireland–Claisen rearrangement of Et3N-solvated enolates showed higher reactivity as well as diastereoselectivity when compared with analogous reactions in THF [15]. The required ester enolates are typically

A green, economical synthesis of β-ketonitriles and trifunctionalized building blocks from esters and lactones

• Daniel P. Pienaar,
• Kamogelo R. Butsi,
• Amanda L. Rousseau and
• Dean Brady

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2019, 15, 2930–2935, doi:10.3762/bjoc.15.287

• also investigated this option for the first time in the synthesis of β-ketonitriles from esters, as described later (see Table 1). Finally, it is probable that the presence of protic IPA suppresses enolization as the reaction progresses, by quenching KOt-Bu generated enolates and similarly, reactive

A review of asymmetric synthetic organic electrochemistry and electrocatalysis: concepts, applications, recent developments and future directions

• Munmun Ghosh,
• Valmik S. Shinde and
• Magnus Rueping

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2019, 15, 2710–2746, doi:10.3762/bjoc.15.264

• over B after reaction of the enolates of 66 with chiral iodoarene 67. Steric factors restrict the formation of transition state B, and the reaction preferentially proceeds via transition state A to stereoselectively form the lactones [62]. Chiral catalysts Achieving enantiocontrol in electrochemical

• chiral enolates. Organocatalysts: From the outset of electroorganic chemistry, chemists have devoted substantial effort towards applying organocatalysts in electroorganic synthesis. Recent advances integrating organocatalysis and electroorganic synthesis were elegantly presented by Boydston and Ogawa in

Synthesis and biological evaluation of truncated derivatives of abyssomicin C as antibacterial agents

• Leticia Monjas,
• Peter Fodran,
• Johanna Kollback,
• Carlo Cassani,
• Thomas Olsson,
• Maja Genheden,
• D. G. Joakim Larsson and
• Carl-Johan Wallentin

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2019, 15, 1468–1474, doi:10.3762/bjoc.15.147

• allyldioxazaborolidine 11), respectively. The tetronate building blocks 4 and 5 were further converted to the corresponding enolates using lithium diisopropylamide and allowed to react with the common key intermediate 3 to afford the hydroxyalkylated products 18 and 19, in 78% and 59% yield, respectively (Scheme 4

Alkylation of lithiated dimethyl tartrate acetonide with unactivated alkyl halides and application to an asymmetric synthesis of the 2,8-dioxabicyclo[3.2.1]octane core of squalestatins/zaragozic acids

• Herman O. Sintim,
• Hamad H. Al Mamari,
• Hasanain A. A. Almohseni,
• Younes Fegheh-Hassanpour and
• David M. Hodgson

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2019, 15, 1194–1202, doi:10.3762/bjoc.15.116

• asymmetric variant of our aldol route (α-diazoacetate ester anion addition to an α-ketoester) to the cycloaddition substrate 3 (X = H) did not appear promising [16]. An alternative and asymmetric route to such substrates, ultimately successful, built on stereoselective alkylation of enolates of tartrates

Diastereo- and enantioselective preparation of cyclopropanol derivatives

• Marwan Simaan and
• Ilan Marek

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2019, 15, 752–760, doi:10.3762/bjoc.15.71

• which are caused by the unsaturated character of the cyclopropyl ring. Although cyclopropanols are usually less reactive than enols and enolates, their chemical properties are somehow more diverse as they undergo useful transformations either with preservation or rupture of the cyclic structure [5

• cyclopropanol by Cottle [7], the most popular methods for the preparation of cyclopropanols rely on the transformation of enolates [8][9], silyl enol ether [10][11][12], vinyl borane [13][14][15][16][17], Fischer carbene addition [18], addition of nucleophiles to carbonyl groups [19][20][21][22][23][24][25