Green Processes for the Synthesis of Heterocycles

Heterocyclic compounds are cyclic compounds containing mainly carbon elements and at least one heteroatom such as oxygen, nitrogen and sulfur, and comprise the largest variety of organic molecules of chemical, biomedical, and industrial importance. Notably, they commonly exist as the essential backbone in diverse active medicinal natural products. In recent decades, a great deal of focus has been placed on the green synthesis of heterocycles. This is due to the fact that green synthesis is an eco-friendly strategy offering a different way of thinking in chemistry, by inhibiting environmental pollutants, diminishing energy consumption, and utilizing environmentally safe solvents. Accomplishing green synthesis strategies is considered one of the possible methods for gaining sustainable methodologies and procedures, while also having benefits such as: high efficiency, atom economy, energy economy, and excellent yields and rates.

The current Research Topic aims to discover the preparation of diverse heterocyclic rings and find innovative and efficient green synthetic pathways, focusing on reactions that share many features which make them attractive to organic and medicinal chemists. They can be applied not only to different categories of organic compounds; but also in agriculture; medical devices; imaging; material science; or in other fields, including stem cell therapy, solar energy, or superconductivity. It is of particular interest to this Research Topic to focus on the production of heterocycles from renewable resources, through metal-free catalytic systems, and using a green solvent or solventless, along with the application of microwaves and ultrasound waves. Lastly, Industrial applications and future perspectives in the green synthesis of heterocycles are also welcome.

This Research Topic welcomes Original Research, Review, Mini Review and Perspectives, on the following, but not limited to themes:

• Synthetic methodologies for the green synthesis of heterocycles
• Biological evaluation of novel heterocycles synthesized by green protocols, their environmental impact and toxicity data
• Total green synthesis of heterocyclic natural products
• Green industrial synthesis of compounds containing heterocycles
• The applications of microwaves and ultrasound waves in conjunction with other green conditions for the synthesis of heterocycles