(Bio)isosteres of ortho- and meta-substituted benzenes

• H. Erik Diepers and
• Johannes C. L. Walker

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 859–890, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.78

• nitrile group (to (±)-35 and (±)-37), Baeyer–Villiger oxidation (to (±)-38 and (±)-39), reduction of the nitrile group (to (±)-36) and Beckman rearrangement (to (±)-40). A mechanistically related synthesis of 1,2-BCHs was published recently by Wang and co-workers (not shown) [39]. They employed a

• (82) on multigram scale (Scheme 8) [48]. As in Camps' synthesis, their approach starts from dinitrile 83. However, while Camps and co-workers directly accessed the stellane scaffold from 83, Ryabukhin, Volochnyuk and co-workers first transformed the nitrile groups into esters before forming stellane

Advancements in hydrochlorination of alkenes

• Daniel S. Müller

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 787–814, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.72

• broad generality and tolerates various sensitive functional groups, including aldehyde 45 and nitrile 46. However, electron-poor styrene, resulting in chloride 40, or terminal and 1,2-disubstituted alkenes forming chlorides 41–46 and cyclooctyl chloride (26) necessitated harsher reaction conditions. As

• allowed carrying out the hydrochlorination of terminal aliphatic alkenes at room temperature. Under these conditions even a nitrile group could be preserved (46). The FeCl3-promoted hydrochlorination with HCl gas was previously reported by Mayo and Scher [31][77]. This methodology is of great practical

• functional tolerance of this methodology is striking. Especially examples with sensitive aldehyde (175), nitrile (176), N-Boc (177), furan (178), thiophene (179), and even tertiary alcohols (180 and 181) are impressive. The primary drawback of this methodology lies in the synthesis of the ligand L3

Development of a chemical scaffold for inhibiting nonribosomal peptide synthetases in live bacterial cells

• Fumihiro Ishikawa,
• Sho Konno,
• Hideaki Kakeya and
• Genzoh Tanabe

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 445–451, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.39

• µM), suggesting that these inhibitors can penetrate cells (Figure 4c). Notably, inhibitors 1 and 7 efficiently inhibited the labeling of GrsA at 10 µM. The incorporation of the nitrile group at the 2’-OH group of the adenosine skeleton is expected to provide chemical properties that would allow the

Mono or double Pd-catalyzed C–H bond functionalization for the annulative π-extension of 1,8-dibromonaphthalene: a one pot access to fluoranthene derivatives

• Nahed Ketata,
• Linhao Liu,
• Ridha Ben Salem and
• Henri Doucet

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 427–435, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.37

• range of para-substituents on the aryl unit of the arylboronic acids was then evaluated (Scheme 4). Methyl, ester and nitrile substituents were well tolerated, giving rise to products 20, 22, and 23 in yields ranging from 71% to 77%. A 4-chloro substituent was also well tolerated, providing product 21

• , carbonyl or nitrile. Using the appropriate arenes, this synthetic route enables the desired functional groups to be introduced at positions 7 to 10 of fluoranthenes. The second method involves a Suzuki coupling followed by an intramolecular C–H bond activation step, and provides access to specific

Copper-catalyzed multicomponent reaction of β-trifluoromethyl β-diazo esters enabling the synthesis of β-trifluoromethyl N,N-diacyl-β-amino esters

• Youlong Du,
• Haibo Mei,
• Ata Makarem,
• Ramin Javahershenas,
• Vadim A. Soloshonok and
• Jianlin Han

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 212–219, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.21

• challenging. On the other hand, several interesting transformations of nitrile ylides from diazo compounds have been developed in the past years [31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38]. In particular, acylglycine esters could be easily constructed with ester-containing diazo compounds as the starting materials. For

• example, Wan and co-workers developed a cascade reaction of α-diazo esters, nitriles, and carboxylic acids via the generation of nitrile ylides and Mumm rearrangement affording unsymmetric diacyl α-amino acid esters as products (Scheme 1a) [39]. In 2017, Zhang, Hu, and co-workers developed a Cu-catalyzed

• [42][43][44][45][46][47][48][49], we sought to develop reactions of the unexplored β-trifluoromethyl β-diazo esters. We hypothesized that nitrile ylides, in situ generated from nitriles and β-trifluoromethyl β-amino esters, could also react with carboxylic acids to give nitriliums, which then could

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

• intramolecular proton transfer and the methanol-mediated proton transfer, can occur. It has been described that intermediate B is more stable with enolizable electron-withdrawing groups such as esters [50] when compared to, e.g., a nitrile [49]. Accordingly, the intermolecular proton transfer pathway should be

Synthesis of N-acyl carbazoles, phenoxazines and acridines from cyclic diaryliodonium salts

• Nils Clamor,
• Mattis Damrath,
• Thomas J. Kuczmera,
• Daniel Duvinage and
• Boris J. Nachtsheim

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 12–16, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.2

• nitrile-substituted carbazoles 2s and 2t, which are potent fluorophores. While 2s was isolated in 61% yield, the additional 6-bromo-substituent diminished the yield of 2t to 47%. When we subjected 6-membered 10H-dibenzo[b,e]iodinin-5-iums to our conditions, we synthesized the N-acyl dihydroacridane 3a

Construction of diazepine-containing spiroindolines via annulation reaction of α-halogenated N-acylhydrazones and isatin-derived MBH carbonates

• Xing Liu,
• Wenjing Shi,
• Jing Sun and
• Chao-Guo Yan

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 1923–1932, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.143

• nitrile of isatin 2a as standard reaction. The main experiments are briefly summarized in Table 1. At first, the reaction in DCM in the presence of common organic bases such as DMAP, DABCO, or DBU gave the expected spiro[indoline-3,5'-[1,2]diazepine] 3a in low to moderate yields (Table 1, entries 1–3

• elimination of a proton and the Lewis base. Obviously, the spiro compounds 5 and 7 are formed by a similar reaction mechanism. Additionally, the method was applied to a gram-scale reaction of α-halogenated p-toluenesulfonylhydrazone 6c and MBH nitrile of isatin 2c under the standard conditions (Scheme 6). The

• [indoline-3,5'-[1,2]diazepines] 3a–l: A 10 mL reaction tube was charged with α-halogenated acylhydrazone (0.2 mmol), MBH nitrile of isatin (0.1 mmol), triethylamine (0.2 mmol) and dichloromethane (4.0 mL) and the mixture was stirred at room temperature for 24 hours. After removing the solvent by rotatory

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

• -withdrawing property of the trifluoromethyl group is key to this coupling reaction [45] (Scheme 7). Trifluoromethylated hydrazonoyl halides Hydrazonoyl halides, which offer a reactive 1,3-dipole, can easily be transformed to nitrile imines in the presence of a base, and they have shown to be useful building

• , 1,4-naphthoquinones, o-trimethylsilylphenyl triflate and chalcones have all been reacted with fluorinated nitrile imines to give a series of fluoroalkylated pyrazoles by Jasiński’s team [67][68][69][70][71][72] (Scheme 11a). Subsequently, Hu et al., Nie et al., and Ma et al. have all independently

• as fluorinated building blocks for the synthesis of difluoromethylated pyrazole derivatives by such [3 + 2] cycloaddition reactions [73][84][85] (Scheme 13). These studies therefore emphasize that fluoromethylated nitrile imines are versatile building blocks for [3 + 2] and [3 + 3] cycloaddition

A series of perylene diimide cathode interlayer materials for green solvent processing in conventional organic photovoltaics

• Kathryn M. Wolfe,
• Shahidul Alam,
• Eva German,
• Fahad N. Alduayji,
• Maryam Alqurashi,
• Frédéric Laquai and
• Gregory C. Welch

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 1620–1629, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.119

• our group has included N-annulated PDI materials, as seen in Figure 1b, where modifications to the PDIN-H CIL material include installation of a nitrile functional group on an open bay position for electrochemical tuning, and N-functionalization to provide several different side chains to study the

• the previously reported N-annulated PDI (PDIN-H) and nitrile functionalized N-annulated PDI (CN-PDIN-H) compounds (Figure 1c) as the scaffolds for modification [18]. The PDIN-H scaffold was modified by N-functionalization with a benzyl (PDIN-B) or pentafluorobenzyl group (PDIN-FB). Similarly, the CN

• -PDIN-H scaffold was functionalized with a benzyl (CN-PDIN-B) or pentafluorobenzyl group (CN-PDIN-FB). Addition of the benzyl and pentafluorobenzyl groups was to enhance solubility in green solvents, while nitrile functionalization was done to further stabilize the LUMO of the compounds. These materials

Radical chemistry in polymer science: an overview and recent advances

• Zixiao Wang,
• Feichen Cui,
• Yang Sui and
• Jiajun Yan

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 1580–1603, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.116

• . Emulsion polymerization is also a widely-used method in radical polymerization. It is applied to produce several commercially important polymers such as acrylic rubber, nitrile rubber, and polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE). Polymerization happens in latex or colloid particles that are formed under the action

Lewis acid-promoted direct synthesis of isoxazole derivatives

• Dengxu Qiu,
• Chenhui Jiang,
• Pan Gao and
• Yu Yuan

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 1562–1567, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.113

• reported [16]. In 2015, Yang’s group [10][17] reported the copper-catalyzed conversion of methylarenes into isoxazole derivatives with KNO3 as the source of nitrile oxide (Scheme 1, reaction 1). In 2019, Deng’s group [18] developed a three-component synthesis method of isoxazole derivatives using TBN as

• holds significant potential due to their cost-effectiveness as compared to heavy metals. This renders them highly valuable for various applications in the field. Herein, we successfully developed a method that uses sodium nitrite as the source of nitrile oxide, and only applies aluminium trichloride as

• complexed with the starting material 2a to generate intermediate B and HONO [22]. Then, the intermediate B conjugates with HONO to generate intermediate C [22]. Next, the intermediate D is produced by the same progress. The intermediate D then undergoes elimination of nitroxylic acid to produce nitrile

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

• . Two complexes, 61 and 65 (see Scheme 21), were found equally efficient. The products were obtained in 95 to 99% yield and the range of functionalities tolerated included nitro, nitrile, ether, carbonyl, alcohol, and amine [35]. Gautier and co-workers studied the effect of the addition of aromatic N

Synthesis of ether lipids: natural compounds and analogues

• Marco Antônio G. B. Gomes,
• Alicia Bauduin,
• Chloé Le Roux,
• Romain Fouinneteau,
• Wilfried Berthe,
• Mathieu Berchel,
• Hélène Couthon and
• Paul-Alain Jaffrès

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 1299–1369, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.96

Organic thermally activated delayed fluorescence material with strained benzoguanidine donor

• Alexander C. Brannan,
• Elvie F. P. Beaumont,
• Nguyen Le Phuoc,
• George F. S. Whitehead,
• Mikko Linnolahti and
• Alexander S. Romanov

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 1289–1298, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.95

• the plane of the central benzene ring. In both molecules in the asymmetric unit, the benzoguanidine moiety bound to the benzene carbon neighboring two nitrile groups, is orientated in the opposing projection about the plane of the benzene ring to the remaining benzoguanidine moieties (Figure 2b

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

Synthesis of aliphatic nitriles from cyclobutanone oxime mediated by sulfuryl fluoride (SO₂F₂)

• Xian-Lin Chen and
• Hua-Li Qin

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 901–908, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.68

• the construction of a range of δ-olefin-containing aliphatic nitriles with (E)-configuration selectivity. This new method features wide substrate scope, mild conditions, and direct N–O activation. Keywords: direct N–O activation; E-selectivity; nitrile synthesis; ring-opening cross-coupling; sulfuryl

• fluoride; SO2F2; Introduction As an important functional group in organic molecules, the nitrile group is commonly present in functional materials [1][2], nanoscale drug carriers [3][4][5], biologically valuable molecules and drugs (Scheme 1) [6][7]. There are over 70 nitrile-containing drugs approved by

• the FDA for various indications and more than 140 additional nitrile-containing leads in clinical investigation [8]. Looking into changing the physicochemical properties, in the field of drug discovery, it is important to explore solutions to introduce nitrile groups into a molecule for enhancing the

Eschenmoser coupling reactions starting from primary thioamides. When do they work and when not?

• Lukáš Marek,
• Jiří Váňa,
• Jan Svoboda and
• Jiří Hanusek

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 808–819, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.61

• with a α-haloketone or α-haloester II. The initially formed α-thioiminium salt III can undergo either a base-catalyzed elimination to give nitrile X and thiol IX [10][11][12] or cyclization to give a thiazole XIII or thiazolone XI depending on the substituent at the carbonyl group Y. Both side

• reaction pathway opens that involves either the E2 or E1cB-like mechanism to give the corresponding nitrile X and thiolate IX, which can be further alkylated with an excess of α-halogen component to give a symmetrical sulfide. Only in very few cases when the starting α-thioiminium salt III contains an

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

• '-dibromostilbenes 61 by means of a double Buchwald–Hartwig amination gave yields between 62% and 96% using aniline as the amine reactant (Scheme 13). The reaction proved to be compatible with both aromatic and aliphatic amines and the reaction time varied between 11 and 24 hours. Fluoro, chloro, nitrile, alkyl, and

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

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

• ] between halide 37 and phenol 38 leading to the formation of diaryl ether 39, which was subjected to a regioselective iodination reaction to give compound 40. Conversion of the nitrile in compound 40 into the corresponding aldehyde 41 followed by Z-selective Still–Gennari olefination gave the cis α,β

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

• pathways (Scheme 9), where two pathways were operative. The hydroboration of the nitrile 36 gave a borylimine 37, which underwent a second hydroboration with the borane catalyst to give a diborylamine 38. Double B‒N/B‒H transborylation of the diborylamine 38 with HBpin regenerated the catalyst and gave the

• and HBcat (Scheme 27) [122]. The precatalyst ([Fe(CH3CN)6][cis-Fe(CO)4(InCl3)2]) was activated in situ with HBpin to give ClBpin and HInCl2 107 by In‒Cl/B‒H exchange. The indium hydride 107 underwent hydroelementation of an iron-coordinated nitrile 108, to give an indylimine iron complex 109, which

Combining the best of both worlds: radical-based divergent total synthesis

• Kyriaki Gennaiou,
• Antonios Kelesidis,
• Maria Kourgiantaki and
• Alexandros L. Zografos

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 1–26, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.1

• reduction of the amide using Wilkinson’s catalyst provided diastereoisomeric indole 131. Careful manipulation of the nitrile and alcohol side chains allowed selective cyclizations to the nitrogen atom of the indole core to conclude the total syntheses of 132–134. Samarium diiodide-mediated reductive

B–N/B–H Transborylation: borane-catalysed nitrile hydroboration

• Filip Meger,
• Alexander C. W. Kwok,
• Franziska Gilch,
• Dominic R. Willcox,
• Alex J. Hendy,
• Kieran Nicholson,
• Andrew D. Bage,
• Thomas Langer,
• Thomas A. Hunt and
• Stephen P. Thomas

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2022, 18, 1332–1337, doi:10.3762/bjoc.18.138

• of a double B–N/B–H transborylation mechanism. Keywords: boron; catalysis; hydroboration; nitrile; transborylation; Introduction Primary amines are prevalent throughout organic synthesis, finding regular application in materials chemistry, pharmaceuticals, and agrochemicals (Scheme 1a) [1][2][3

• ]. Traditionally, the reduction of nitriles to primary amines relied on stoichiometric hydride reagents [4]. Current catalytic methods for nitrile reduction, hydrogenation [5][6] or hydroboration [7][8], generally rely on metal catalysts, designer ligands, forcing reaction conditions (such as elevated temperatures

• and pressures) or lack extensive functional group tolerance. In particular, catalysed nitrile hydroboration strategies are still underdeveloped compared with hydrogenation, but offer a nascent alternative to this established field. The pursuit of sustainable chemical transformations has driven

A one-pot electrochemical synthesis of 2-aminothiazoles from active methylene ketones and thioureas mediated by NH₄I

• Shang-Feng Yang,
• Pei Li,
• Zi-Lin Fang,
• Sen Liang,
• Hong-Yu Tian,
• Bao-Guo Sun,
• Kun Xu and
• Cheng-Chu Zeng

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2022, 18, 1249–1255, doi:10.3762/bjoc.18.130

• protocol proceeds in an undivided cell equipped with graphite plate electrodes under constant current conditions. Various active methylene ketones, including β-keto ester, β-keto amide, β-keto nitrile, β-keto sulfone and 1,3-diketones, can be converted to the corresponding 2-aminothiazoles. Mechanistically

• 3v in 23% yield. In addition to β-keto esters, other active methylene derivatives, including β-ketoamide, β-keto nitrile and β-keto sulfone were also suitable coupling partners with relatively lower yields (3w–y) and most of the starting materials were recovered. The method could also be applied to

• performed in an undivided cell with NH4I as the mediator and cheap graphite plate as the working electrode. Various active methylene ketones, including β-keto ester, β-keto amide, β-keto nitrile, β-keto sulfone and 1,3-diones proved to be compatible with the protocol. Since external oxidants and