Recent Advancements in Strategies for the Synthesis of Imidazoles, Thiazoles, Oxazoles, and Benzimidazoles

Abstract Nitrogen‐containing heterocycles such as imidazoles, thiazoles, and oxazoles play a significant role in the fields of biological and pharmaceutical chemistry. These compounds were widely used for agrochemical, pesticide, medicinal, and industrial applications. Due to the wide spectrum of structural diversity as well as the biological and pharmaceutical activity of N ‐heterocycles, a plethora of reports on their synthesis have appeared in the last few decades. However, developments in various bond‐forming strategies such as C−C, C−N, C−O, C−S, and N−N, as well as C−H activation, have been used as a powerful synthetic tool to derive copious N ‐heterocycles. The most prominent and fascinating reports on the synthesis of imidazole, thiazole, oxazoles, and benzimidazole moieties by C−C and C−N coupling reactions, multi‐component and cycloaddition reactions, C−H activation, etc. are discussed in this study. These studies demonstrated the enormous potential of such methods for accelerating modern chemical synthesis and establishing molecular beauty through bonding. The various aspects of the methodologies, like optimized conditions, substrate scope, and mechanistic investigations, are discussed in detail.