Recent Advances in Cascade Reactions and Related One-Pot Processes

Dear Colleagues,

The interest of the chemical community in “one-pot” reactions has increased considerably over the past two decades. These processes, which also include cascade, tandem, and domino reactions, are characterized by a high level of atom and step economy. Even though some mechanistic distinctions have been proposed in the pioneering works reported by Tietze, Enders, Fogg, and dos Santos, as of more recently, these three terms have been used interchangeably and generally refer to a process involving two or more consecutive reactions in which subsequent reactions result as a consequence of the functionality formed in the previous step, without the isolation of the intermediates.

A successful one-pot or cascade reaction should include several aspects, such as a wide substrate scope, a benign work-up process, and the possibility of cost-effective scale-up, as well as the potential to develop catalytic asymmetric versions wherein new stereocenters are formed. Therefore, applications of asymmetric catalysis in one-pot methodologies for the total synthesis of bioactive compounds are subjects of high interest for this Special Issue. The development of new cascade reactions is strongly related to the rational design of multifunctional substrates. The synthesis of these compounds can be complicated, and therefore can be a genuine limitation for the entire process. For these reasons, we encourage the focus on mechanistic investigations aimed toward the comprehension of all the aspects of these complex reactions and to predict new transformations, as well as on the development of effective synthetic strategies of the starting materials.

Within the scope of this Special Issue, we welcome full and mini-reviews, original research articles, and method articles.

Prof. Antonio Massa
Guest Editor

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