1,2‐Diaza‐1,3‐Dienes as a Multifaceted Synthons for the Synthesis of Heterocycles: A Fifteen‐Years Update

The discovery of structurally unique scaffolds entities with increased complexity and balanced physicochemical properties has the potential to allow synthetic chemists to exploit areas of chemical space that were previously inaccessible. Among the different strategies employed for generating N‐heterocycles, cyclization and cycloaddition reactions represent a valuable synthetic tool. The purpose of this minireview is to summarize the recent advances (2009‐present) from our laboratory on the generation of intriguing five‐, six‐ and seven‐membered mono‐ or poly‐heterocyclic architectures (linear, fused and spiro) employing 1,2‐diaza‐1,3‐dienes (DDs) as key synthons. 1,2‐Diaza‐1,3‐butadienes, also called azoalkenes, have received considerable attention as key synthons for constructing various heterocyclic scaffolds. This minireview summarizes the contribution of our group in this field over the period from 2009 to the present, focusing on the role of the azoene building block in forming the heterocyclic structures.