Rotaxanes with integrated photoswitches: design principles, functional behavior, and emerging applications

• Jullyane Emi Matsushima,
• Khushbu,
• Zuliah Abdulsalam,
• Udyogi Navodya Kulathilaka Conthagamage and
• Víctor García-López

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 2345–2366, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.179

• –guest interaction induces a chiral signal, while the azobenzene chromophore imparts photoswitching properties to the molecule. Furthermore, solvent-mediated hydrogen-bonding interactions tailored within the inner cyclodextrin cavity, combined with photocontrolled isomerization of the azo moiety, enable

Recent advances in Norrish–Yang cyclization and dicarbonyl photoredox reactions for natural product synthesis

• Peng-Xi Luo,
• Jin-Xuan Yang,
• Shao-Min Fu and
• Bo Liu

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 2315–2333, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.177

• spiroacetal core using multi-functionalized 1,2-naphthoquinone substrates [51]. This study focused on substituent effects of methoxy groups at different positions (C5–C8) on the naphthoquinone chromophore (Scheme 13b). Key findings revealed that substrates bearing methoxy groups at C5, C6, or C8 (108a, 108b

• : reactive substrates exhibited λmax < 460 nm (yellow-orange), whereas unreactive ones showed λmax > 460 nm (dark red-purple). This suggests insufficient excitation energy for Norrish type-II hydrogen abstraction in the latter. Such chromophore-dependent reactivity provides critical insights for designing

Pd-catalyzed dehydrogenative arylation of arylhydrazines to access non-symmetric azobenzenes, including tetra-ortho derivatives

• Loris Geminiani,
• Kathrin Junge,
• Matthias Beller and
• Jean-François Soulé

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 2234–2242, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.170

• of applications, including molecular switches, sensors, and light-controlled materials [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8]. The photoswitching behavior arises from the reversible photoisomerization between the E- and Z-forms of the azobenzene chromophore, driven by the isomerization of the N–N double bond. This

A m-quaterphenyl probe for absolute configurational assignments of primary and secondary amines

• Yuka Takeuchi,
• Mutsumi Kobayashi,
• Yuuka Gotoh,
• Mari Ikeda,
• Yoichi Habata,
• Tomohiko Shirai and
• Shunsuke Kuwahara

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 2211–2219, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.168

• bond. Therefore, the π-electron conjugation is widespread almost over the chromophores. However, the UV spectrum of 1–ʟ-alaninol conjugate (S)-2a shows an intense absorption, maintaining the nature of methoxybiphenyl chromophore. The absorption band at 259 nm is attributed to the π–π* transition

Electrochemical cyclization of alkynes to construct five-membered nitrogen-heterocyclic rings

• Lifen Peng,
• Ting Wang,
• Zhiwen Yuan,
• Bin Li,
• Zilong Tang,
• Xirong Liu,
• Hui Li,
• Guofang Jiang,
• Chunling Zeng,
• Henry N. C. Wong and
• Xiao-Shui Peng

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 2173–2201, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.166

• F and cryptotrione have fused and spiro five-membered rings, respectively [25][26]. Strepsesquitriol bearing bridged five-membered rings was firstly synthesized by Li in 2024 [27]. The green fluorescent protein (GFP) core chromophore (o-LHBDI) displayed a potential application in organic light

Solar thermal fuels: azobenzene as a cyclic photon–heat transduction platform

• Jie Yan,
• Shaodong Sun,
• Minghao Wang and
• Si Wu

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 2036–2047, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.159

• . Grossman et al. synthesized azobenzene-functionalized single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) (Figure 3a) and demonstrated their application as solar thermal fuels [43]. The conformational restriction imposed by the chromophore-template structure combined with photochemically generated spatial strain

• polymer solar thermal fuels Conjugated azobenzene polymer solar thermal fuels [47][48] utilize π-conjugated systems as templates for azobenzene chromophore photoisomerization, as schematically illustrated in Figure 4. Han et al. developed azobenzene-functionalized polydiacetylene-based solar thermal fuels

Photoswitches beyond azobenzene: a beginner’s guide

• Michela Marcon,
• Christoph Haag and
• Burkhard König

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 1808–1853, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.143

• conjugated with the chromophore structure, will influence its absorption spectrum and stability [4]. The solvent will also affect the properties, as it can stabilise or destabilise either the ground or the excited state, resulting in a red- or blue shift of the spectra. The thermal half-life (t1/2) measures

• -shift the absorption of the ππ* absorption band, which overlaps with the nπ*, resulting in a decrease in the PSS (Scheme 11), while they are well tolerated when separated from the chromophore backbone [50][52][53][54]. Electron-withdrawing groups seem not to perturb much the absorption spectra [55

Tautomerism and switching in 7-hydroxy-8-(azophenyl)quinoline and similar compounds

• Lidia Zaharieva,
• Vera Deneva,
• Fadhil S. Kamounah,
• Nikolay Vassilev,
• Ivan Angelov,
• Michael Pittelkow and
• Liudmil Antonov

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 1404–1421, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.105

• -influenced tautomerism takes place, but its interpretation is not a trivial work. The curves, shown in Figure 1, indicate why. It seems that the spectra of KE and KK are almost identical as position and intensity, which is reasonable, because they share the same chromophore system and, due to the stabilizing

Optimized synthesis of aroyl-S,N-ketene acetals by omission of solubilizing alcohol cosolvents

• Julius Krenzer and
• Thomas J. J. Müller

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 1201–1206, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.97

• -on of emission upon induced aggregation in alcohol–water mixtures [1]. This chromophore class has been extensively developed in recent years, even to aggregation-induced emissive (AIE) multichromophores [2] and even bichromophoric fluorimetric sensors [3][4]. The retrosynthesis of the title compounds

Recent advances in the electrochemical synthesis of organophosphorus compounds

• Babak Kaboudin,
• Milad Behroozi,
• Sepideh Sadighi and
• Fatemeh Asgharzadeh

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 770–797, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.61

• , the C3-phosphorylated product was also formed. In 2024, Mdluli et al. [67] reported an electrochemical method for synthesizing iminophosphoranes. In this method, iminophosphorane was investigated due to its air stability and the presence of a UV–vis chromophore, which enables the analysis of the

Unprecedented visible light-initiated topochemical [2 + 2] cycloaddition in a functionalized bimane dye

• Metodej Dvoracek,
• Brendan Twamley,
• Mathias O. Senge and
• Mikhail A. Filatov

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 500–509, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.37

• between these bonds is outside the acceptable range (4.2 Å) [24]. This finding, along with the re-examination of several previously synthesized bimane compounds, suggests that substituting the bimane chromophore with groups that sufficiently redshift the absorption maximum could result in a wide range of

Red light excitation: illuminating photocatalysis in a new spectrum

• Lucas Fortier,
• Corentin Lefebvre and
• Norbert Hoffmann

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 296–326, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.22

Streamlined modular synthesis of saframycin substructure via copper-catalyzed three-component assembly and gold-promoted 6-endo cyclization

• Asahi Kanno,
• Ryo Tanifuji,
• Satoshi Yoshida,
• Sota Sato,
• Saori Maki-Yonekura,
• Kiyofumi Takaba,
• Jungmin Kang,
• Kensuke Tono,
• Koji Yonekura and
• Hiroki Oguri

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 226–233, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.14

• at 375 nm), the chromophore of the pentacyclic intermediate 18 suggests a potential as a fluorescent probe. Conclusion In summary, we have developed a novel synthetic approach for the efficient construction of the substructure of saframycin A (1). Our strategy streamlines the three key

Ceratinadin G, a new psammaplysin derivative possessing a cyano group from a sponge of the genus Pseudoceratina

• Shin-ichiro Kurimoto,
• Kouta Inoue,
• Taito Ohno and
• Takaaki Kubota

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 3215–3220, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.267

• existence of a substituted benzenoid chromophore was suggested by the UV absorption maximum at 258 nm. The presence of hydroxy and/or amino groups and a carbonyl group was indicated by IR absorptions at 3337 cm−1 and 1671 cm−1, respectively. The analysis of the HSQC spectrum, along with the 1H and 13C NMR

Investigation of a bimetallic terbium(III)/copper(II) chemosensor for the detection of aqueous hydrogen sulfide

• Parvathy Mini,
• Michael R. Grace,
• Genevieve H. Dennison and
• Kellie L. Tuck

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 2818–2826, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.237

• an antenna chromophore and a receptor for Cu2+ ions; the Cu2+ complex was shown to be a chemosensor for the detection of aqueous hydrogen sulfide. The chemosensor exhibited significant reversibility over multiple cycles, observed with the sequential addition of Na2S followed by Cu2+ ions. The limit

• 4-(2-pyridyl)-1,2,3-triazole). A europium(III)/copper(II) complex [Eu(triazole-DPA)3·3Cu]3+(Figure 1), functionalized with 4-(2-pyridyl)-1,2,3-triazole serving as both an antenna chromophore and a receptor for Cu2+ ions, previously demonstrated theoretical limits of detection (LoD) of 1.1 μM for

Synthesis of indano[60]fullerene thioketone and its application in organic solar cells

• Yong-Chang Zhai,
• Shimon Oiwa,
• Shinobu Aoyagi,
• Shohei Ohno,
• Tsubasa Mikie,
• Jun-Zhuo Wang,
• Hirofumi Amada,
• Koki Yamanaka,
• Kazuhira Miwa,
• Naoyuki Imai,
• Takeshi Igarashi,
• Itaru Osaka and
• Yutaka Matsuo

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 1270–1277, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.109

• around 1000 cm−1 for t-Bu-FIDS. Ultraviolet–visible (UV–vis) spectroscopy of t-Bu-FIDS in o-DCB exhibited two prominent UV absorption bands with peaks at 257 nm and 320 nm (Figure 1b). The absorption at 257 nm indicated the integrity of the fullerene cage chromophore. The absorption peak at 320 nm was

Mechanistic investigations of polyaza[7]helicene in photoredox and energy transfer catalysis

• Johannes Rocker,
• Till J. B. Zähringer,
• Matthias Schmitz,
• Till Opatz and
• Christoph Kerzig

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 1236–1245, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.106

• thorough photochemical characterization is essential for efficient light-driven applications. In this article, the mode of action of a polyazahelicene catalyst (Aza-H) was investigated using laser flash photolysis (LFP). The study revealed that the chromophore can function as a singlet-state photoredox

• chromophores and their roles in catalytic cycles have been extensively studied leading to numerous findings and novel reaction pathways [55][58][59][60][61]. Lately, polyazahelicenes have gained some attention by synthetic groups [62][63][64][65][66]. However, this chromophore class is underexplored concerning

Synthesis of π-conjugated polycyclic compounds by late-stage extrusion of chalcogen fragments

• Aissam Okba,
• Pablo Simón Marqués,
• Kyohei Matsuo,
• Naoki Aratani,
• Hiroko Yamada,
• Gwénaël Rapenne and
• Claire Kammerer

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 287–305, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.30

• , in matrices [22][23][24][25] or in a single crystal [26]. This strategy has also been extended to the synthesis of dyads involving an acene moiety combined with a chromophore [27]. Alternatively, when inserting a monoketone bridging fragment, i.e., a norbornadien-7-one moiety, in the soluble

Photochromic derivatives of indigo: historical overview of development, challenges and applications

• Gökhan Kaplan,
• Zeynel Seferoğlu and
• Daria V. Berdnikova

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 228–242, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.23

• involved in the main indigo chromophore comprising a C=C double bond substituted by two acceptors and two donor groups (Figure 4) [18]. Notably, the benzene rings make just a small contribution to the chromophore. In other words, the primary chromophore of indigo consists of two intersecting merocyanine

• hypsochromic shifts of the absorption maxima [24]. These effects can be easily explained considering the direction of the charge transfer in the H-chromophore of indigo upon excitation. Thus, in the excited state, the electron density shifts from the N towards the O atom (Figure 4). Therefore, an increase in

• lifetimes, radiative and non-radiative relaxation pathways of the indigo chromophore [26][27][30][31][32][33][34][35] as well as to estimate ionization potentials and electronic structures [28][29], singlet oxygen generation capacity [31], QSAR properties [25], and others. In both solution and solid state

Perspectives on push–pull chromophores derived from click-type [2 + 2] cycloaddition–retroelectrocyclization reactions of electron-rich alkynes and electron-deficient alkenes

• Michio Yamada

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 125–154, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.13

• . Additional skeletal transformation reactions in TCBD structures, such as those shown in Scheme 12, have also been reported [113][114][115][116], which enable the construction of a wide array of push–pull chromophore structures. For instance, Shoji et al. reported that the reaction between 3(4-(N,N

• multiple chromophore units induces complexity in the interpretation of the resulting circular dichroism (CD) spectra because of the overlap of several exciton couplets. Thus, exciton coupling CD signals were not discernible for 51–55. Further, regarding 56, the exciton coupling CD signal in the ICT region

• the plausible energy transfer from the local charge-separated (CS) state of the push–pull chromophore (namely N,N-diethylanilino (DEA)•+–TCBD•−) to the singlet excited state of C60 (1C60*). In transient absorption spectral measurements conducted via the femtosecond laser-flash photolysis of compound

Using the phospha-Michael reaction for making phosphonium phenolate zwitterions

• Matthias R. Steiner,
• Max Schmallegger,
• Larissa Donner,
• Johann A. Hlina,
• Christoph Marschner,
• Judith Baumgartner and
• Christian Slugovc

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 41–51, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.6

• Figure 3). The blue shift is more pronounced for those zwitterions not bearing any hydrogen-bond-donating functional groups. Accordingly, it is plausible to explain the blue-shifted absorption maxima of 2b and 2h in chloroform by a more polar environment of the chromophore caused by the hydrogen-bond

Charge carrier transport in perylene-based and pyrene-based columnar liquid crystals

• Alessandro L. Alves,
• Simone V. Bernardino,
• Carlos H. Stadtlober,
• Edivandro Girotto,
• Giliandro Farias,
• Rodney M. do Nascimento,
• Sergio F. Curcio,
• Thiago Cazati,
• Marta E. R. Dotto,
• Juliana Eccher,
• Leonardo N. Furini,
• Hugo Gallardo,
• Harald Bock and
• Ivan H. Bechtold

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 1755–1765, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.128

• given in Table 1. Raman spectra of both compounds were acquired off-resonance (Figure 1). Compound 1 presents the main peak at 1609 cm−1 assigned to C=C stretching from the chromophore, a peak of intermediate intensity at 1292 cm−1 assigned to C–H bending and ring stretching, and a less intense peak at

A deep-red fluorophore based on naphthothiadiazole as emitter with hybridized local and charge transfer and ambipolar transporting properties for electroluminescent devices

• Suangsiri Arunlimsawat,
• Patteera Funchien,
• Pongsakorn Chasing,
• Atthapon Saenubol,
• Taweesak Sudyoadsuk and
• Vinich Promarak

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 1664–1676, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.122

• . It has been reported that the performance of HLCT fluorophores greatly depends on the strength of donors, acceptors, and π spacers and the building blocks of HLCT should be carefully selected to regulate appropriate electron push–pull strength [32][35][47][48]. Here, a novel chromophore, 4,9-bis(9-(4

• interactions between the solvent and dipole moment of the chromophore (Figure 3b). The Lippert–Mataga plot showed two linear slopes indicating the presence of two different excited states in the molecule. In the high-polarity region, the excited-state dipole moment (μe) was 19.04 D, which was close to that of

• device. b) EL spectra at various applied voltages. c) Current density–voltage–luminance (J–V–L) characteristics. d) External quantum efficiency–luminance (EQE–L) plot (insert: photograph of OLED under operation). Synthesis of D–A–D chromophore TPECNz. Optical and physical data of TPECNz. Supporting

Tying a knot between crown ethers and porphyrins

• Maksym Matviyishyn and
• Bartosz Szyszko

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 1630–1650, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.120

• . Osuka and co-workers provided novel insight into the meso-appended crown ether porphyrins, namely, chromophore-incorporated and polymer-based systems capable of acting as multitopic receptors for transition, alkali, and alkali-earth metal cations, which were proved as optical sensing agents among other

Enabling artificial photosynthesis systems with molecular recycling: A review of photo- and electrochemical methods for regenerating organic sacrificial electron donors

• Grace A. Lowe

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 1198–1215, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.88

• systems and photosensitizers to enable direct electron transfer between them. In contrast to the system of Domen where the photoexcitation only occurs at the Al-SrTiO3 particle [53], the system developed by Ishitani included a second ruthenium chromophore linked the TaON particle to a ruthenium carbonyl

• catalyst [56]. This allowed the electron to be promoted by 2 photon absorption events, making it a Z-scheme. It can be argued that the linking ruthenium chromophore was acting as a redox mediator. Rather than using water as the sacrificial donor in this work, they used methanol which can be produced by