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

• contraction is demonstrated by the example of converting organoborane intermediates into alcohols, amines, and E-alkenes (Scheme 32). 4 Meinwald rearrangements of epoxides The rearrangements of oxiranes annelated to cyclohexane occupy an important place in the synthesis of cyclopentanes due to the

• stereospecificity of the reactions. Lewis acids usually initiate this transformation, and the reaction is most efficient when there are electron-accepting groups present. Sometimes, the rearrangement of epoxides into cyclopentane is accompanied by competing reactions – the formation of cyclohexanone/ols – which are

• ], which describes the acid-catalyzed rearrangement of epoxides 189 and 190 derived from sesquiterpernic α-isocostic acid 188 under the action of various Lewis acids: BF3·Et2O, InCl3, TfOH, ZnBr2, Bi(OTf)3, p-TSA, or TFA. Under the action of the listed acids, the epoxy ring in compound 189 was opened to

Enantioselective radical chemistry: a bright future ahead

• Anna C. Renner,
• Sagar S. Thorat,
• Hariharaputhiran Subramanian and
• Mukund P. Sibi

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 2283–2296, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.174

• isomerization reactions of cyclic meso-epoxides as part of a bimetallic titanium/cobalt catalytic system [64]. Photoredox catalysis in radical reactions The ability of a photocatalyst (organic small molecule or transition-metal complex) to undergo single electron transfer (SET) to a variety of organic

Enantioselective desymmetrization strategy of prochiral 1,3-diols in natural product synthesis

• Lihua Wei,
• Rui Yang,
• Zhifeng Shi and
• Zhiqiang Ma

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 1932–1963, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.151

• , thus completing the enantioselective synthesis of (−)-heliannuol D and (+)-heliannuol A (Scheme 6) [37]. The monoester (S)-11 was isolated in 87% yield with >99% ee. A subsequent 17-step sequence provided epoxides 38 and 39. Treatment of the mixture of 38 and 39 with 5% NaOH aqueous solution resulted

Oxetanes: formation, reactivity and total syntheses of natural products

• Peter Gabko,
• Martin Kalník and
• Maroš Bella

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 1324–1373, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.101

• epoxides and heteroatom-stabilised carbocations generated from alkenes (Scheme 10). In 1992, Arjona and co-workers examined the synthesis of 4,7-dioxatricyclo[3.2.1.03,6]octane derivatives 45 via intramolecular cyclisation of the corresponding hydroxyalkene precursors 44 using arylsulphenyl and arylselenyl

• of oxetanes from epoxides using sulphur-stabilised carbanions such as dimethyloxosulphonium methilide (105) or S-methyl-S-(sodiomethyl)-N-(4-tolylsulphonyl)sulphoximine (106) (Scheme 26) [71][72]. Because these reagents are also known to induce epoxidation when reacted with a ketone or aldehyde

• recombination. 1.6 O–H insertions This strategy is relatively uncommon and it relies on the insertion of carbenes into O–H bonds. In 1992, Zwanenburg et al. published an efficient synthesis of 3-oxetanones 123 from α,β-epoxydiazomethyl ketones 121 (Scheme 32) [80]. First, the epoxides were regioselectively

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

• approach for constructing Morken’s C2–C12 fragment In 2019, Uguen and co-workers introduced a strategy to assemble Morken’s C2–C12 intermediate 20 [41]. Their approach utilized iterative base-catalyzed condensation of sulfone compounds with epoxides. As illustrated in Scheme 1, the monoalcohol 20 was

• alternative route was also proposed for synthesizing 21 from compound 30, which was derived from ent-29. Notably, epoxides 23a and 23b were obtained via Sharpless epoxidation of (E)-2-butenol. Uguen and co-workers began their synthesis by reducing Roche esters 29 and ent-29 to their respective primary

• these sulfones with epoxides 23b and 23a, respectively. Following the literature procedure for a similar reaction, using n-butyllithium in the presence of BF3·Et2O at −78 °C, the coupling reaction unfortunately resulted in the decomposition of the reactants (Scheme 4). The authors hypothesized that the

Synthesis of HBC fluorophores with an electrophilic handle for covalent attachment to Pepper RNA

• Raphael Bereiter and
• Ronald Micura

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 727–735, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.56

• acids. Rather, halides with enhanced electrophilic potency, such as α-halocarbonyls [14][15][16], nitrogen (half-)mustards [17][18], or epoxides [19][20], Michael acceptors [17], carbamates [17], imidazolides [17], squarates [17], and diaziridines [17] (the latter requiring photoactivation) have been

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

• obtained through Grubbs metathesis and subsequent acetonide cleavage in a superior yield of 76%. The finalising steps to obtain epoxides 26 and 2 (Scheme 3) were a diol–epoxide transformation [11][19][32], including firstly the formation of a cyclic orthoester, secondly the formation of a bromohydrin

• formate, and thirdly ring closure to obtain the epoxides 26 and 2 in 89% and 14% yield over three steps each, respectively. While the synthesis of tertiary amine 2 was finished, final Alloc cleavage from 26 under Tsuji–Trost-like conditions [19] provided secondary amine 1 in 74% yield. The cytotoxicity of

Advances in the use of metal-free tetrapyrrolic macrocycles as catalysts

• Mandeep K. Chahal

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 3085–3112, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.257

• /16) aldol products with up to 82% yield in a 70:30 diastereoisomeric ratio. A decade after, Ema, Maeda and co-workers investigated using of calix[4]pyrrole macrocyclic organocatalysts for the synthesis of cyclic carbonates 21 from epoxides 20 (1,2-epoxyhexane) and CO2 [39]. For this purpose, they

Computational design for enantioselective CO₂ capture: asymmetric frustrated Lewis pairs in epoxide transformations

• Maxime Ferrer,
• Iñigo Iribarren,
• Tim Renningholtz,
• Ibon Alkorta and
• Cristina Trujillo

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 2668–2681, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.224

• strategy to mitigate rising atmospheric carbon dioxide levels. Despite extensive research on the CO2 insertion into epoxides to form cyclic carbonates, the stereochemical implications of this reaction have been largely overlooked, despite the prevalence of racemic epoxide solutions. This study introduces

• into readily available substrates such as epoxides, resulting in the formation of polycarbonates or monomeric cyclic carbonates [22]. Depending on the substitution pattern in the epoxide, a chiral centre is present in the product. The insertion of CO2 into epoxides has been the subject of numerous

• enantiomerically pure product from a racemic mixture. Conclusion Carbon capture and utilisation technologies represent a promising avenue for addressing increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide levels. The reaction involving the insertion of CO2 into epoxides to form cyclic carbonates is a key focus within this

Facile preparation of fluorine-containing 2,3-epoxypropanoates and their epoxy ring-opening reactions with various nucleophiles

• Yutaro Miyashita,
• Sae Someya,
• Tomoko Kawasaki-Takasuka,
• Tomohiro Agou and
• Takashi Yamazaki

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 2421–2433, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.206

• outcomes would stem from a result of the electronically repulsive interaction between the incoming nucleophiles and an electronically strongly negative CF3 group, and the anticipated clean SN2 mechanism of epoxides in general, respectively. This is interestingly compared with the case of 2a with

• C11H9F3O3: C, 53.67; H, 3.68; found: C, 53.54; H, 3.89. General procedure for the ring opening of epoxides (GP-2). Benzyl 2,3-anti-4,4,4-trifluoro-3-hydroxy-2-(p-methoxyphenyl)amino-butanoate (3ba) p-Anisidine (0.07 g, 0.60 mmol) was added to an EtOH (3 mL) solution of compound 2b (0.12 g, 0.50 mmol), and

• , 1519, 1458, 1238, 1204, 1156, 1138, 1097, 1030, 822, 749 cm−1; HRMS–FAB (m/z): [M]+ calcd for C18H18F3NO4, 369.1182; found, 369.1209. General procedure for the ring opening of epoxides by enolates (GP-3). 4-Benzyl 5-ethyl anti,syn-tetrahydro-2-oxo-3-(trifluoromethyl)-furan-4,5-dicarboxylate (anti,syn

Hydrogen-bond activation enables aziridination of unactivated olefins with simple iminoiodinanes

• Phong Thai,
• Lauv Patel,
• Diyasha Manna and
• David C. Powers

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 2305–2312, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.197

• give rise to epoxidation products. Epoxides are not on-path to the observed aziridines. f) Proposed reaction mechanism. Optimization of HFIP-promoted aziridination of cyclohexene (1a). Conditions: 0.20 mmol 1a, 0.40 mmol PhINTs 2a, 1.0 mL HFIP, N2 atmosphere, 20 °C, 16 h. Yield was determined via 1H

Syntheses and medicinal chemistry of spiro heterocyclic steroids

• Laura L. Romero-Hernández,
• Ana Isabel Ahuja-Casarín,
• Penélope Merino-Montiel,
• Sara Montiel-Smith,
• José Luis Vega-Báez and
• Jesús Sandoval-Ramírez

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 1713–1745, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.152

• ][40]. Following this procedure, a series of substituted spirocarbamates were obtained at C-3 and C-16 positions from aminoalcohols 62 and 65, generated from the opening of the corresponding epoxides 61 and 64. In the case of derivative 66b, a prior oxidation of the 17β-hydroxy group of 65, using the

• revealed that the adduct occupies the same position as the endogenous ligand 5α-androstane-3,17-dione. Spirooxazinane steroids Spiromorpholinones are typically synthesized from 1,2-aminoalcohols, often derived from epoxides. In 2008, Poirier et al. reported several (17S)-spiro-(estradiol-17,2'-[1,4

• an aldol condensation with benzaldehyde using potassium hydroxide in refluxing ethanol. The resulting enone 139 was reduced with sodium borohydride in methanol to give diastereoselectively the 17β-allylic alcohol. A successive treatment with m-CPBA in dichloromethane provided a mixture of epoxides

New triazinephosphonate dopants for Nafion proton exchange membranes (PEM)

• Fátima C. Teixeira,
• António P. S. Teixeira and
• C. M. Rangel

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 1623–1634, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.145

• molecular cages [46][47] and at porous materials, as linkers in metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) [48], used in the evaluation of the cycloaddition of CO2 to epoxides [49] and CO2 uptake [50]. Taking in consideration the strategy of the incorporation of dopants to promote the proton conduction in Nafion

A Diels–Alder probe for discovery of natural products containing furan moieties

• Alyssa S. Eggly,
• Namuunzul Otgontseren,
• Carson B. Roberts,
• Amir Y. Alwali,
• Haylie E. Hennigan and
• Elizabeth I. Parkinson

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 1001–1010, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.88

• aromatic ring, to make the compound UV-active. Previously developed probes containing both MS and UV–vis tags have proven to be successful in cell supernatant in identifying a number of functional groups including epoxides, enones, citrulline, conjugated alkenes, and others [8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15

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

• tetracene molecule produced on a Cu(111) surface. Inset adapted with permission from [83]. Copyright 2016 American Chemical Society. This content is not subject to CC BY 4.0. Soluble precursors of hexacene, decacene and dodecacene incorporating 1,4-epoxides in their hydrocarbon scaffold, and on-surface

Using the phospha-Michael reaction for making phosphonium phenolate zwitterions

• Matthias R. Steiner,
• Max Schmallegger,
• Larissa Donner,
• Johann A. Hlina,
• Christoph Marschner,
• Judith Baumgartner and
• Christian Slugovc

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 41–51, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.6

• synthesis of carbonates from CO2 [24][25][26] and the synthesis of oxazolidines from isocyanates and epoxides [27]. Furthermore, their application in primary hydroxy group selective acylation of diols [28] and their use as organophotoredox catalysts [29][30] is known. The latter mentioned catalysts are

Anion–π catalysis on carbon allotropes

• M. Ángeles Gutiérrez López,
• Mei-Ling Tan,
• Giacomo Renno,
• Augustina Jozeliūnaitė,
• J. Jonathan Nué-Martinez,
• Javier Lopez-Andarias,
• Naomi Sakai and
• Stefan Matile

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 1881–1894, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.140

• ][76][77][78] in every step. Among the Baldwin compatible examples from nature, the cascade XIII leading to monensin A is arguably the most popular [79]. On anion–π catalysts other than carbon allotropes, up to four epoxides 34 have been cyclized into the monensin-like tetra-THF 35 as outlined in

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

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

• obtained in the combretastatin D-1 spectrum with the appropriate chiral epoxides, the authors assigned the absolute stereochemistry of the epoxide ring as 3R,4S. This attribution was controversial and was only definitively established years later, as will be shown in this review. In 2005, Vongvanich and co

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

• ) into cis-stilbene (62), via the dihydrodithiin intermediate 61 [58]. The addition of lithiated dihydrodithiins with aldehydes, epoxides or ketones are also all feasible, but sometimes require some more attention (Scheme 11). Palumbo and co-workers have found that substituted dithiins such as 50 can

• give difficulties (Scheme 11a) [42]. The reactivity of the oxy-electrophiles can be enhanced by adding a Lewis acid catalyst such as titanium(IV) isopropoxide [59]. In this way, also epoxides can be smoothly reacted with lithiated dithiins, and both allyl and homoallyl alcohols can thus be prepared in

One-pot synthesis of 2-arylated and 2-alkylated benzoxazoles and benzimidazoles based on triphenylbismuth dichloride-promoted desulfurization of thioamides

• Arisu Koyanagi,
• Yuki Murata,
• Shiori Hayakawa,
• Mio Matsumura and
• Shuji Yasuike

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2022, 18, 1479–1487, doi:10.3762/bjoc.18.155

• cyclopropanes with arenes [29]. They have also been used in Pd-catalyzed cross-coupling reactions to react with hypervalent iodonium salts, organostananes, and vinyl epoxides [30][31][32]. Moreover, there are reports of them serving as oxidizing agents for alcohols [33]. Two papers have recently reported

Mechanochemical synthesis of unsymmetrical salens for the preparation of Co–salen complexes and their evaluation as catalysts for the synthesis of α-aryloxy alcohols via asymmetric phenolic kinetic resolution of terminal epoxides

• Shengli Zuo,
• Shuxiang Zheng,
• Jianjun Liu and
• Ang Zuo

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2022, 18, 1416–1423, doi:10.3762/bjoc.18.147

• as an enantioselective catalyst for the asymmetric ring opening of terminal epoxides by phenols. A library of α-aryloxy alcohols 3 was thereafter synthesized in good yield and high ee using 2f via the phenolic KR of epichlorohydrin. Keywords: α-aryloxy alcohols; chiral Co–salen; HKR

• enantioselective synthesis in modern chemistry turns out to be accumulatively essential for the preparation of chiral drugs, which is a huge growing market in the future. Indeed, the asymmetric ring opening of terminal epoxides is one of the most important strategies for synthesizing drug-like building blocks and

• key organic intermediates in the drug discovery and process chemistry [4][5][6]. Chiral metal–salen complexes were designed for catalyzing reaction processes that resulted in good yield, high regioselective and enantioselective control for the asymmetric ring opening of terminal epoxides. Various

The stereochemical course of 2-methylisoborneol biosynthesis

• Binbin Gu,
• Anwei Hou and
• Jeroen S. Dickschat

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2022, 18, 818–824, doi:10.3762/bjoc.18.82

• stereoisomers (5:2) that were separated by column chromatography (Scheme 2). Reduction of (E)-3 with DIBAl-H gave 2-methylgeraniol (4) that was converted under Sharpless conditions [36] into the epoxides (2R,3R)-5a using ᴅ-(−)-diisopropyl tartrate (DIPT) and (2S,3S)-5b with ʟ-(−)-DIPT. The enantiomeric purity

Heteroleptic metallosupramolecular aggregates/complexation for supramolecular catalysis

• Prodip Howlader and
• Michael Schmittel

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2022, 18, 597–630, doi:10.3762/bjoc.18.62

• catalysts that allow ON/OFF reaction control in photoredox catalysis [120], phosphate diester transesterification [121], Friedel–Crafts reaction, ring opening of epoxides, oligomerization [116], and acyl-transfer reactions [122][123]. While there are further examples by Mirkin [124][125][126], Schmittel

Cs₂CO₃-Promoted reaction of tertiary bromopropargylic alcohols and phenols in DMF: a novel approach to α-phenoxyketones

• Ol'ga G. Volostnykh,
• Olesya A. Shemyakina,
• Anton V. Stepanov and
• Igor' A. Ushakov

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2022, 18, 420–428, doi:10.3762/bjoc.18.44

• -phenoxyketones, the most common methodologies are base-catalyzed alkylation of the corresponding phenols with halo- [28][29][30] and mesyl [31][32][33] ketones (Scheme 9), the preparation of which are not always selective and high-yielded. The ring opening of ArOCH2-epoxides [34][35], the SmI2-catalyzed