Pyrazole is a five-membered heterocycle bearing two adjacent nitrogen atoms. Both pharmaceutical agents and natural products with pyrazole as a nucleus have exhibited a broad spectrum of biological activities. In the last few decades, more than 40 pyrazole-containing drugs have been approved by the FDA for the treatment of a broad range of clinical conditions including celecoxib (anti-inflammatory), CDPPB (antipsychotic), difenamizole (analgesic), etc. Owing to the unique physicochemical properties of the pyrazole core, pyrazole-containing drugs may exert better pharmacokinetics and pharmacological effects compared with drugs containing similar heterocyclic rings. The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of all the existing drugs bearing a pyrazole nucleus that have been approved or in clinical trials, involving their pharmacological activities and SAR studies.

The introduction of trifluoromethyl groups into organic molecules has attracted great attention in the past five years. In this review, we describe the recent efforts in the development of trifluoromethylation via copper catalysis using nucleophilic, electrophilic or radical trifluoromethylation reagents.

An enantioselective conjugate addition of boron to α,β-unsaturated ketones catalysed by either a N-heterocyclic carbene or a copper–carbene complex generated in situ from a new chiral bicyclic triazolium based on [2.2]paracyclophane is presented. The dual chiral carbene–copper catalyst has significant advantages over its carbene counterpart as an organocatalyst in asymmetric β-boration of acyclic enones, giving a variety of chiral β-boryl ketones in good yields and enantioselectivities. This is a successful example of employing the same N-heterocyclic carbene in one catalytic reaction as both an organocatalyst and a ligand for transition metal catalysis.