The Current Status of O‐Heterocycles: A Synthetic and Medicinal Overview

O‐Heterocycles have been explored in the field of medicinal chemistry for a long time, but their significance has not been duly recognised and they are often shunned in favour of N‐heterocycles. The design of bioactive molecules for nearly every pathophysiological condition is primarily focused on novel N‐heterocycles. The main reasons for such bias include the ease of synthesis and possible mimicking of physiological molecules by N‐heterocycles. But considering only this criterion rarely provides breakthrough molecules for a given disease condition, and instead the risks of toxicity or side effects are increased with such molecules. On the other hand, owing to improved synthetic feasibility, O‐heterocycles have established themselves as equally potent lead molecules for a wide range of pathophysiological conditions. In the last decade there have been hundreds of reports validating the fact that equally potent molecules can be designed and developed by using O‐heterocycles, and these are also expected to have comparably low toxicity. Even so, researchers tend to remain biased toward the use of N‐heterocycles over O‐heterocycles. Thus, this review provides a critical analysis of the synthesis and medicinal attributes of O‐heterocycles, such as pyrones, oxazolones, furanones, oxetanes, oxazolidinones, and dioxolonones, and others, reported in the last five years, underlining the need for and the advantages guiding researchers toward them.     

Sulfur analogs of fluorinated pyrones,chromones and coumarins

This mini-review describes the synthesis and reactions of sulfur analogs of partially fluorinated pyrones, chromones, coumarins and isocoumarins and their utility as building blocks for the synthesis of trifluoromethyl-containing heterocyclic compounds with biological interest.     

Diastereo‐ and Enantioselective Synthesis of trans‐2,3‐Disubstituted 2,3‐Dihydropyran‐4‐one Derivatives

trans‐Diastereoselective hetero‐Diels–Alder reactions took place in the presence of SiCl₄/activator systems. The reactions of aldehydes with a derivative of Danishefsky’s diene afforded the corresponding pyrones with high yields and diastereoselectivity upon activating SiCl₄ with suitable neutral Lewis bases. Aldol intermediates deriving from a Mukaiyama‐type pathway were isolated in many cases. The employment of a chiral activator allowed us to convert Danishefsky’s diene (or its disubstituted derivative) into both aldols and pyrones in good to high enantiomeric excesses.