Recent Advances in the Chemistry of 1,3-Diketones: Structural Modifications and Synthetic Applications

Major aspects of the synthetic utility of 1,3-diketones are reviewed with special emphasis being placed on the regioselectivity of the transformations. The unsymmetrical 1,3-diketone moiety may contain up to five nucleophilic and two electrophilic centers that may only slightly differ in reactivity; therefore, it seems almost impossible to carry out chemical transformations with substrate selectively at only one specific center. However, in many cases it is possible, and in the present review answers to this question as well as many other useful synthetic applications of 1,3-diketones for the construction of carbocycles and heterocycles, and their modern implication in enantioselective, combinatorial, solid phase, and multistep organic syntheses are summarized.