Synthesis of 2-Oxazolines from N-Allyl and N-Propargyl Amides

2-Oxazolines are five-membered heterocyclic compounds with significant biological properties. They also play an important role in organic synthesis, acting as chiral ligands and protecting groups for hydroxyamino acids and amino alcohols. Poly(2-oxazolines) are known coating materials, for example, in biomedicine. Classic synthetic methods of 2-oxazolines involve a dehydrative cyclisation reaction between amino alcohols and carboxylic acids, acid chlorides, nitriles, imidates, and aldehydes. However, the electrophilic intramolecular cyclization of unsaturated amides is becoming an increasingly important synthetic method for the preparation of 2-oxazolines. This brief review summarizes procedures for synthesizing oxazolines using the electrophilic intramolecular oxidative cyclisation of N-allyl and N-propargyl amides, as published between 2014 and 2024. It covers the synthesis of 5-halomethyl-, 5-trifluoromethyl-, 5-sulfonylmethyl-, 5-sulfenylmethyl-, 5-selenylmethyl-, 5-acetoxymethyl-, 5-hydroxymethyl-, 5-aminomethyl-, 5-alkilo-, and 5-alkylideneoxazolines.