title: Oxetanes: Recent Advances in Synthesis, Reactivity, and Medicinal Chemistry.
abstract: The four-membered oxetane ring has been increasingly exploited for its contrasting behaviors: its influence on physicochemical properties as a stable motif in medicinal chemistry and its propensity to undergo ring-opening reactions as a synthetic intermediate. These applications have driven numerous studies into the synthesis of new oxetane derivatives. This review takes an overview of the literature for the synthesis of oxetane derivatives, concentrating on advances in the last five years up to the end of 2015. These methods are clustered by strategies for preparation of the ring and further derivatization of preformed oxetane-containing building blocks. Examples of the use of oxetanes in medicinal chemistry are reported, including a collation of oxetane derivatives appearing in recent patents for medicinal chemistry applications. Finally, examples of oxetane derivatives in ring-opening and ring-expansion reactions are described.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Imperial College London , South Kensington, London SW7 2AZ, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: James A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Bull
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Imperial College London , South Kensington, London SW7 2AZ, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Rosemary A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Croft
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Imperial College London , South Kensington, London SW7 2AZ, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Owen A
authors.initials: OA
authors.lastname: Davis
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Imperial College London , South Kensington, London SW7 2AZ, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Doran
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Imperial College London , South Kensington, London SW7 2AZ, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Kate F
authors.initials: KF
authors.lastname: Morgan
mesh_terms: D002626:Chemistry, Pharmaceutical; D003500:Cyclization; D061565:Cycloaddition Reaction; D055808:Drug Discovery; D006571:Heterocyclic Compounds / Q000138:chemical synthesis* / Q000737:chemistry; D010330:Patents as Topic
chemical_list: D006571:Heterocyclic Compounds