Use of Carbonyl Derivatives for Heterocyclic Synthesis

Heterocycles are essential structures with important roles in virtually every aspect of organic chemistry including medicinal chemistry, material science, catalysis, etc. There have been many methods developed since the earliest days of modern organic chemistry to prepare these ring systems. The universe of heterocycles and methods to generate them is of course immense. One of the most general and successful approaches to date has employed carbonyl derivatives. Because of their central role in drug discovery, this chapter takes a look at some of the most important medicinal chemistry-related heterocycles. In particular, several of the most common bioactive five-membered heterocycles are discussed. The emphasis is therefore to review successful strategies for constructing these ring systems and give a picture for how many these transformations have been applied in medicinal chemistry.