Suzuki‐Miyaura Coupling Reaction (SMCR) has been extensively used in the total synthesis of natural products. We underscored these achievements in a report published in Tetrahedron up to 2012. Since then, there has been tremendous growth in this field and numerous articles have been published after 2012. In this review, we tried to go insight and highlight the current developments in the applications of SMCR as a key and strategic step (steps) in the total synthesis of biologically active natural products accomplished and reported from 2012 till date.

In this review, we try to underscore the applications of intermolecular and intramolecular FC reactions in the total syntheses of natural products and complex molecules, exhibiting diverse biological properties.

The Wittig reaction is the chemical reaction of an aldehyde or ketone with a triphenyl phosphonium ylide (the Wittig reagent) to afford an alkene and triphenylphosphine oxide. Noteworthy, this reaction results in the synthesis of alkenes in a selective and predictable fashion. Thus, it became as one of the keystone of synthetic organic chemistry, especially in the total synthesis of natural products, where the selectivity of a reaction is paramount of importance. A literature survey disclosed the existence of vast numbers of related reports and comprehensive reviews on the applications of this important name reaction in the total synthesis of natural products. However, the aim of this chapter is to underscore, the applications of the Wittig reaction in the total synthesis of one the most important and prevalent classes of natural products, the alkaloids, especially those showing important and diverse biological activities.

A series of polyhydroquinoline derivatives were effectively synthesized via Hantzsch reaction in high yields in the presence of catalytic amounts of a highly negatively charged borotungstic acid H5BW12O40 in refluxing EtOH under green and mild reaction conditions. It is a Keggin-type heteropoly acid with a higher negative charge and strong Brønsted acidity. Moreover, a comparative mechanistical analysis of Hantzsch reaction was made based on the structural, thermodynamical and electronic properties along the reaction pathway using density functional theory (DFT) and quantum theory of atoms in molecules (QTAIM) approaches.