Chemistry of Heterocyclic Compounds: Second Special Review Issue

Dear readers, you have before you the second special review issue of this journal, consisting entirely of review articles devoted to contemporary problems and trends in the development of the heterocyclic chemistry and related fields. It continues the tradition started a year ago with the first such issue, edited by Prof. V. Gevorgyan. Unlike the first issue of 2012, this issue contains considerably fewer articles because all the authors chose to present regular reviews. The authors represent chemists from Russia, Spain, Ukraine, and the USA.

The issue opens with an article by Dr. I. V. Shcherbakova on the problem of creating medications based on heterocyclic compounds for the treatment of central nervous system disorders. It will undoubtedly attract the attention of a wide readership: from chemists engaged in the design of novel biologically active compounds to biochemists and pharmacologists.

When the first stable carbenes based on imidazole and its analogs were created about 20 years ago, few could have imagined that they would quite quickly find widespread practical application, primarily as effective ligands and catalysts for many reactions. Recent advances in this field are covered by the review by Prof. N. I. Korotkikh and co-workers.

New data on methods for the synthesis of sultams, which are of great interest for medicinal chemistry, are summarized in the review by V. A. Rassadin, D. S. Groshev, A. A. Tomashevskii, and V. V. Sokolov. Special attention is paid to advances in metal-complex catalysis and asymmetric synthesis.

sym-Tetrazine has always intrigued heterocyclic chemists by its crimson color and remarkable reactivity, particularly in [4+2] cycloaddition reactions. Two articles of this issue, presented by the research groups of Prof. V. N. Charushin and Prof. S. A. Shevelev, are devoted to various aspects of the chemistry of this heterocycle.

Issues concerning the cyclization and recyclization of acetylene derivatives of the heterocyclic series are examined in the reviews by Prof. A. V. Gulevskaya (in cooperation with R. Yu. Lazarevich) and Prof. S. F. Vasilevskiy (in cooperation with D. S. Baranov). New methods for the synthesis of azepine systems by [1,7] electrocyclization of unsaturated azomethine ylides and azatriene anions are the subjects of an interesting review by N. A. Nedolya and B. A. Trofimov.

The issue concludes with a detailed review by a group of Spanish chemists headed by Profs. J. Elguero and R. Claramunt, in which the latest data on the structure, NMR spectra, and theoretical calculations for three key heterocycles of the benzazole series (benzimidazole, indazole, and benzotriazole) are summarized.

In conclusion, I would like to wish on behalf of the editorial staff and myself a happy New Year to the readers of the journal as well as the authors of the remarkable reviews presented in this issue, and to anticipate many original discoveries and first-rate publications. I would also like to express the hope that our journal will continue its successful course to increased ratings, recently started by its leadership, through the introduction of international standards and the selection of truly pioneering publications.

Editor of the Second Special Review Issue of Chemistry of Heterocyclic Compounds, Prof., Doctor of Chemical Sciences, A. F. Pozharskii, Southern Federal University