C2 to C6 biobased carbonyl platforms for fine chemistry

• Jingjing Jiang,
• Muhammad Noman Haider Tariq,
• Florence Popowycz,
• Yanlong Gu and
• Yves Queneau

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 2103–2172, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.165

• al. reported the valorization of C1 molecules (CH4, CO2, and CO) upgraded to the industrially important C2 chemical glycolic acid (GA) in a sustainable way. In the first step all the C1 source molecules are converted into formaldehyde. Metabolic engineering of E. coli-based biocatalysts allowed to

• avoid side reactions and promoted exclusive transformation of formaldehyde into glycolic acid. The use of E. coli K-12 strains as host cells and paraformaldehyde as the starting material, led to production of GA with high conversion even at rather high concentrations (Scheme 8) [36]. Using a CuII-based

• acid (ALA), and benzylic acid (BA). These acids were oxidized and gave formaldehyde, acetaldehyde, acetone, benzaldehyde, acetophenone, and benzophenone, respectively. By increasing pH and concentration, the rate of the reactions increased, but decreased upon increasing the amount of Cl− ions (Scheme

Discovery of cytotoxic indolo[1,2-c]quinazoline derivatives through scaffold-based design

• Daniil V. Khabarov,
• Valeria A. Litvinova,
• Lyubov G. Dezhenkova,
• Dmitry N. Kaluzhny,
• Alexander S. Tikhomirov and
• Andrey E. Shchekotikhin

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 2062–2071, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.161

• core. Thus, a series of 12-aminomethyl derivatives 9a–f and 10a–c were synthesized from indolo[1,2-c]quinazolines 1 or 8, respectively, via a Mannich reaction using Eschenmoser’s salt or by a mixture of formaldehyde and the corresponding amine in acetic acid [27] (Scheme 3, Table 1). The C12 and N5

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

• transformation of 145, compound 146 was oxidized with Dess-Martin periodinane (DMP). Subsequent reductive amination with fragment 139 provided an intermediate, which underwent the second reductive amination using formaldehyde. This one-pot process with concomitant deprotection afforded acid 147 in 70% yield over

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

• during GC–MS analysis) and formaldehyde (2a′′) via C–C bond scission of styrene in the presence of FeIII/O2, possibly through a 1,2-addition of O2 to styrene [49][58][59][60]. This in-situ generated aldehyde species then undergoes condensation with the amine 1a, leading to the formation of the

Research progress on calixarene/pillararene-based controlled drug release systems

• Liu-Huan Yi,
• Jian Qin,
• Si-Ran Lu,
• Liu-Pan Yang,
• Li-Li Wang and
• Huan Yao

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 1757–1785, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.139

• applications. This section will focus on the structural features and applications of CAs and PAs. 1.1 CAs: structure and properties CAs are the third generation of supramolecular hosts [40], succeeding cyclodextrins and crown ethers. They are macrocycles composed of phenolic units condensed with formaldehyde

Transition-state aromaticity and its relationship with reactivity in pericyclic reactions

• Israel Fernández

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 1613–1626, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.125

• analysis (b) of the DGRT between ethane and formaldehyde (black lines) and the analogous process involving methanol (red lines) and projected onto the C···H bond-forming distance. AICD plots of the transition states associated with the Hopf cyclization reactions involving cis-hexa-1,3-diene-5-yne (a) and

• the analogous process involving its imine counterpart (b). Comparative activation strain analyses of the Hopf cyclization involving ene–ene–ynes E=CH–CH=CH–C≡CH (E = CH2, black lines; E = NH, red lines) ethane and formaldehyde (black lines) and projected onto the C···E bond-forming distance. Evolution

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

Studies on the syntheses of β-carboline alkaloids brevicarine and brevicolline

• Benedek Batizi,
• Patrik Pollák,
• András Dancsó,
• Péter Keglevich,
• Gyula Simig,
• Balázs Volk and
• Mátyás Milen

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 955–963, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.79

• -monomethylation of the primary amino group of compound 25 by alkylation with methyl iodide or by Eschweiler–Clarke reductive amination with formaldehyde and formic acid were unsuccessful, because the dimethylated byproduct was also formed, even when one equivalent alkylating agent was used. Finally, our efforts

Formaldehyde surrogates in multicomponent reactions

• Cecilia I. Attorresi,
• Javier A. Ramírez and
• Bernhard Westermann

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 564–595, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.45

• /bjoc.21.45 Abstract Formaldehyde emerges as a cornerstone in multicomponent reactions, mainly prized for its robust reactivity. Yet, alongside these beneficial traits, this highly reactive C1-building block raises concerns, primarily regarding its toxicity. One notable issue is the challenge of

• controlling the formation of undesired byproducts during its reactions. This review explores alternative C1-building blocks that serve as surrogates for formaldehyde, aiming to mitigate some of the challenges associated with its use in multicomponent reactions. By identifying these alternatives, toxicity

• concerns and improved reaction control can be addressed, paving the way for more efficient and sustainable synthetic methodologies. Keywords: cascade reactions; formaldehyde surrogates; green chemistry; heterocycles; multicomponent reactions; Introduction Organic chemistry is a mature discipline that has

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

• 8 was obtained in good yield of 61% through reductive amination with excess formaldehyde and NaBH3CN as reductant, the selective installation of only one methyl group, providing monomethyl aniline 7, proved to be more troublesome. Either reductive amination using the same protocol, but under strict

Antibiofilm and cytotoxic metabolites from the entomopathogenic fungus Samsoniella aurantia

• Rita Toshe,
• Syeda J. Khalid,
• Blondelle Matio Kemkuignou,
• Esteban Charria-Girón,
• Paul Eckhardt,
• Birthe Sandargo,
• Kunlapat Nuchthien,
• J. Jennifer Luangsa-ard,
• Till Opatz,
• Hedda Schrey,
• Sherif S. Ebada and
• Marc Stadler

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 327–339, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.23

• , cells were fixed with 25% formaldehyde and assessed for biomass using CV staining. Methanol (2.5%) served as the solvent control, with MAA as the positive control [22]. Error bars indicate standard deviation among duplicates in two biological repeats (n = 4). Statistical analysis The distinction between

Three-component reactions of conjugated dienes, CH acids and formaldehyde under diffusion mixing conditions

• Dmitry E. Shybanov,
• Maxim E. Kukushkin,
• Eugene V. Babaev,
• Nikolai V. Zyk and
• Elena K. Beloglazkina

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 262–269, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.18

• generate crotonic condensation adducts of active methylene compounds and formaldehyde at room temperature in the absence of strong acids and bases. The formed adducts were highly reactive intermediates capable of reacting with dienes in a three-component reaction, leading to the formation of Diels–Alder

• main reaction products. Keywords: aldol condensation; [4 + 2]-cycloaddition; diffusion mixing; formaldehyde; Knoevenagel condensation; three-component reactions; Introduction Formaldehyde is a reactive electrophilic reagent widely used as a C1 building block in multicomponent reactions [1][2][3]. Its

• adducts of formaldehyde condensation are formed under milder conditions and are highly reactive, which is important for further synthetic transformations. However, due to the high carbonyl reactivity of formaldehyde, its interaction with active methylene compounds is often complicated by polycondensation

Cu(OTf)₂-catalyzed multicomponent reactions

• Sara Colombo,
• Camilla Loro,
• Egle M. Beccalli,
• Gianluigi Broggini and
• Marta Papis

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 122–145, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.7

• additive. Some control experiments support a mechanism whose key intermediates are the formation of the iminium ion XIX, originated from aniline with formaldehyde which serves as the C1 building block, and the generation of the cyclic α,β-unsaturated ethers XX by Cu(OTf)2-catalyzed dehydrogenation of the

Machine learning-guided strategies for reaction conditions design and optimization

• Lung-Yi Chen and
• Yi-Pei Li

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 2476–2492, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.212

• illustrating the data mining and preprocessing steps for chemical reaction datasets. This process includes data collection, filtering, completion, and atom mapping. In the depicted example, formaldehyde, which contributes a carbon atom to the product, is classified as a reactant due to its active involvement

HFIP as a versatile solvent in resorcin[n]arene synthesis

• Hormoz Khosravi,
• Valeria Stevens and
• Raúl Hernández Sánchez

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 2469–2475, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.211

• , e.g., polymers and capsules [80]. In that regard, 2,6-dihydroxybenzoic acid is known to also yield inseparable mixtures [9][81]. However, a couple of reports describe successful syntheses with reaction yields ≈40% using 2,6-dihydroxybenzoic acid and formaldehyde under basic conditions [38]. Recently

Methyltransferases from RiPP pathways: shaping the landscape of natural product chemistry

• Maria-Paula Schröder,
• Isabel P.-M. Pfeiffer and
• Silja Mordhorst

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 1652–1670, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.147

• intermediate is then reduced with H2 [37]. When synthesising via a reductive ring opening, typically, an N-Fmoc-protected amino acid is condensed with formaldehyde in the presence of p-toluic acid in refluxing toluene to yield the 5-oxazolidinone. Reductive ring opening can be achieved by using an excess of

Synthetic applications of the Cannizzaro reaction

• Bhaskar Chatterjee,
• Dhananjoy Mondal and
• Smritilekha Bera

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 1376–1395, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.120

• produce a carboxylic acid (R1CO2H) and a primary alcohol (R1CH2OH). When a mixture of formaldehyde (HCHO) and a non-enolizable aldehyde (R1CHO) is treated with a strong base, the latter is preferentially reduced to the alcohol (R1CH2OH) while formaldehyde is oxidized to formic acid (HCO2H). Herein excess

• formaldehyde is used as a reductant. This variant is known as the crossed-Cannizzaro reaction. On the other hand, an intramolecular Cannizzaro reaction occurs when both aldehyde groups are present in a single molecule. In this scenario, one aldehyde group is reduced to the corresponding alcohol, while the

• Cannizzaro reaction commencing from 68. The primary hydroxymethyl functionality in 69 was oxidized to the corresponding aldehyde 70, which was subsequently treated with 37% aqueous formaldehyde and NaOH, to result in a mixture of the gem-hydroxymethyl derivative 72 and the carbamate 71 which led to the spiro

Manganese-catalyzed C–C and C–N bond formation with alcohols via borrowing hydrogen or hydrogen auto-transfer

• Mohd Farhan Ansari,
• Atul Kumar Maurya,
• Abhishek Kumar and
• Saravanakumar Elangovan

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 1111–1166, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.98

• 110 °C for 16 h), moderate to good yields of N-methylamines were produced (Scheme 15). The mechanistic studies suggested that the base activates the complex Mn3. The active catalyst dehydrogenates methanol into formaldehyde and converts nitroarenes to anilines via transfer hydrogenation. The latter

• then undergo condensation with formaldehyde providing an N-phenylmethanimine intermediate which was confirmed by 1H NMR spectroscopy. In the final step, the imine undergoes hydrogenation with Mn3-b to yield the N-methylated product (Scheme 16). In 2020, Maji et al. synthesized manganese(I) complexes

HPW-Catalyzed environmentally benign approach to imidazo[1,2-a]pyridines

• Luan A. Martinho and
• Carlos Kleber Z. Andrade

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 628–637, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.55

• use of glyoxals did not provide the desired products. Instead, the respective starting materials were almost quantitatively recovered from the column chromatography purification step. The use of very reactive aldehydes such as formaldehyde and crotonaldehyde also did not provide the GBB adduct

Trifluoromethylated hydrazones and acylhydrazones as potent nitrogen-containing fluorinated building blocks

• Zhang Dongxu

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 1741–1754, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.127

• [44] (Scheme 6). El Kaim and Jia reported a Mannich-type reaction of trifluoroacetaldehyde hydrazones with formaldehyde and aromatic aldehydes to obtain valuable starting materials for the generation of other trifluoromethyl-substituted heterocycles. The study demonstrated that the electron

Enabling artificial photosynthesis systems with molecular recycling: A review of photo- and electrochemical methods for regenerating organic sacrificial electron donors

• Grace A. Lowe

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 1198–1215, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.88

• reduction consumed the sacrificial donor methanol to form formic acid and formaldehyde [56]. This system is interesting for a number of reasons. Rather than intermediate redox mediators shuttling charge between two photocatalytic assemblies, Ishitani, Domen, and co-workers covalently connected the catalytic

• photocatalytic or electrochemical carbon dioxide reduction. The oxidation product, formaldehyde, can be re-reduced. However, separation of formaldehyde and the carbon dioxide reduction product formic acid would be difficult. Therefore, a logical route for sustainably sourcing methanol would be using this system

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

• ligands is that they can also promote the conjugate additions of aryl-based or branched Grignard reagents (Scheme 17) [49]. Further extending this methodology, we have investigated formaldehyde imine equivalents. These kinds of imines are not readily available, but they are highly important synthetic

• building blocks providing an aminomethyl moiety upon adding nucleophiles. Protected formaldehyde aminals are useful synthetic equivalents to formaldehyde imines. The imine functionality can be unmasked (68) in the reaction medium by Lewis acids such as TiCl4. The formed Mg enolates 66 readily react with

Friedel–Crafts acylation of benzene derivatives in tunable aryl alkyl ionic liquids (TAAILs)

• Swantje Lerch,
• Stefan Fritsch and
• Thomas Strassner

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 212–216, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.20

• derivatives (see Scheme 1). First, the arylimidazole is obtained through a ring closing reaction using an aniline derivative, glyoxal, formaldehyde and ammonium chloride. The following alkylation with hexyl bromide yields the bromido ionic liquid. TAAILs 1–6 are then formed by an anion exchange reaction using

• , 2.1 equiv formaldehyde, 2 equiv NH4Cl, MeOH, 65 °C, ii) 1.1 equiv C6H13Br, THF, 70 °C, iii) 1.1 equiv LiNTf2, DCM/MeOH/H2O, rt. Model reaction for the Friedel–Crafts acylation. Scope of the Friedel–Crafts acylation. Reaction conditions: 1 mmol benzene derivative, 2 equiv anhydride, 10 mol % FeCl3·6H2O

Identification and determination of the absolute configuration of amorph-4-en-10β-ol, a cadinol-type sesquiterpene from the scent glands of the African reed frog Hyperolius cinnamomeoventris

• Angelique Ladwig,
• Markus Kroll and
• Stefan Schulz

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 167–175, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.16

• S-19 was attempted (Table 1, entry 1) but proved not to be necessary as the intramolecular Diels–Alder reaction proceeded readily during the reaction. Other conditions using an excess of formaldehyde, paraformaldehyde, or gaseous formaldehyde (Table 1, entries 2–4) were unsuccessful, mostly due to

• slow reaction, but a 37% solution of formaldehyde in water/methanol proved to be successful (Table 1, entries 5–10). Nevertheless, two problems were encountered. First, the Diels–Alder products 9–11 proved to be also active Mannich acceptors, leading to the unwanted unsaturated ketone 20, a double

• Mannich product. To avoid this second addition, an excess or equimolar amounts of formaldehyde were avoided (Table 1, entries 6–10). The best result was achieved by adding only 0.4 equivalents formaldehyde to obtain products S-9–11 (Table 1, entries 9 and 10). The stereochemical descriptors S and R in

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

• group on C6 was introduced after cyclopropane ring-opening, ketone protection, epoxidation and reductive ring-opening of the resulting epoxide. A one-pot β-keto phosphonate formation/Horner–Wadsworth–Emmons reaction with formaldehyde afforded 38, a precursor for the key oxidative dearomatization-induced