The Ritter reaction for the synthesis of heterocycles

This minireview covers the applications of the Ritter reaction for the construction of different aza-heterocycles published in the time frame from 1988 to 2016. During this period, the Ritter reaction was extensively used for the synthesis of oxazolines, imidazolines, isoindolinones, and other heterocycles. The Ritter reaction was also applied in a series of tandem reactions to produce tetrahydropyrans, piperidines, dihydroisoquinolines, and 1-spiro-2,5-cyclohexadienones.