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

• ” conjugation (Figure 4B). The “complete” conjugation implies shorter lifetimes, due to the ability to rearrange the electrons more efficiently, thus showing a stronger push character. A follow-up study showed that di-ortho-fluorination (9c and 9d) and di-ortho-methoxylation (9e) of the phenyl moiety of 4

Thermodynamics and polarity-driven properties of fluorinated cyclopropanes

• Matheus P. Freitas

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 1742–1747, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.137

• Matheus P. Freitas Department of Chemistry, Institute of Natural Sciences, Federal University of Lavras, 37200-900, Lavras, MG, Brazil 10.3762/bjoc.21.137 Abstract Cyclopropane is a significant alicyclic motif, widely utilized in medicinal chemistry, while fluorination serves as a powerful tool

• advanced materials, particularly those whose properties rely on the polarity and spatial arrangement of C–F bonds within a cyclopropane framework. Keywords: cyclopropane; fluorination; polarity; theoretical calculations; Introduction Cyclopropane, the smallest cycloalkane, has a rigid structure that

• reactants and products [15]. While such reactions are theoretically possible, they are not always experimentally feasible. Their primary purpose is to provide insight into the favorability of specific processes. In this study, we employ the following isodesmic reaction to assess whether the fluorination of

Orthogonal photoswitching of heterobivalent azobenzene glycoclusters: the effect of glycoligand orientation in bacterial adhesion

• Leon M. Friedrich and
• Thisbe K. Lindhorst

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 736–748, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.57

• conjugated to the 3- and the 6-position of a methyl mannoside scaffold (Figure 1, 1 (6βGlc3αMan)) [24]. Orthogonal photoswitching of the two glycoantennas is guaranteed by (i) ortho-fluorination of one azobenzene moiety and (ii) S-azobenzene versus O-azobenzene conjugation, resulting in significantly shifted

Origami with small molecules: exploiting the C–F bond as a conformational tool

• Patrick Ryan,
• Ramsha Iftikhar and
• Luke Hunter

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 680–716, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.54

• , fragrance chemicals, organocatalysts, and peptides. This comprehensive review summarises developments in this field during the period 2010–2024. Keywords: conformational analysis; medicinal chemistry; organofluorine chemistry; stereoselective fluorination; Introduction In the art of origami, a

• flexibility. In this section, we will investigate the conformational outcomes that follow from replacing one or more hydrogens of an alkane with fluorine. Depending upon the precise fluorination pattern, different conformational outcomes will follow; usually, but not always, greater rigidity is seen. This

• very high molecular dipoles. However, since the fluorination patterns in these cases do not really control or alter the ring pucker, they are outside the scope of this review. Finally, we will examine larger-ring cycloalkanes. Large rings have more degrees of freedom than small rings, and hence they

Photochemically assisted synthesis of phenacenes fluorinated at the terminal benzene rings and their electronic spectra

• Yuuki Ishii,
• Minoru Yamaji,
• Fumito Tani,
• Kenta Goto,
• Yoshihiro Kubozono and
• Hideki Okamoto

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 670–679, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.53

• fluorination on the electronic features of phenacene molecules. F8-Phenacenes were conveniently synthesized by the Mallory photoreaction of the corresponding fluorinated diarylethenes as the key step. Upon fluorination on the phenacene cores, the absorption and fluorescence bands of the F8-phenacenes in CHCl3

• systematically red-shifted by ca. 3–5 nm compared to those of the corresponding parent phenacenes. The vibrational progressions of the absorption and fluorescence bands were little affected by the fluorination in the solution phase. In the solid state, the absorption band of F8-phenacenes appeared in the similar

• significantly affects their electronic features as well as molecular and crystalline structures [30][31][32]. For example, the fluorination of oligoacene frameworks manipulates their electronic properties as well as their solid-state packing motifs [33][34][35][36]. The most pronounced example is that pentacene

Asymmetric synthesis of fluorinated derivatives of aromatic and γ-branched amino acids via a chiral Ni(II) complex

• Maurizio Iannuzzi,
• Thomas Hohmann,
• Michael Dyrks,
• Kilian Haoues,
• Katarzyna Salamon-Krokosz and
• Beate Koksch

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 659–669, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.52

• aromatic–aromatic interactions. For example, our group highlighted the influence of different fluorinated phenylalanine analogs on the aggregation rate of amyloid-forming NFGAIL peptides [14]. Amino acids 2 and 3, with their respective fluorination pattern, might be fascinating compounds in this context

Photomechanochemistry: harnessing mechanical forces to enhance photochemical reactions

• Francesco Mele,
• Ana M. Constantin,
• Andrea Porcheddu,
• Raimondo Maggi,
• Giovanni Maestri,
• Nicola Della Ca’ and
• Luca Capaldo

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 458–472, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.33

• (9.1) (Scheme 9) [75]. In this case the authors used a ball-mill reactor equipped with a blue LED, and the reaction was run in a glass vial with two transparent PMMA balls. The authors noted that fluorination of the vial and the use of silica gel to adjust texture were needed to prevent reagent

Emerging trends in the optimization of organic synthesis through high-throughput tools and machine learning

• Pablo Quijano Velasco,
• Kedar Hippalgaonkar and
• Balamurugan Ramalingam

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 10–38, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.3

• -flow pattern using a Y-shaped mixer, followed by the suspension of the catalyst via a T-mixer. This technology was utilized to develop selective and efficient decarboxylative fluorination reactions. Recently, a slug flow platform was developed (Figure 3a) by injecting segments of gas as a separating

Efficient synthesis of fluorinated triphenylenes with enhanced arene–perfluoroarene interactions in columnar mesophases

• Yang Chen,
• Jiao He,
• Hang Lin,
• Hai-Feng Wang,
• Ping Hu,
• Bi-Qin Wang,
• Ke-Qing Zhao and
• Bertrand Donnio

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 3263–3273, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.270

• '-bitriphenylene (Gnm, n,m = 4, 5, 6, Scheme 1), with the possibility to synthesize molecules with dissymmetrical chain substitution patterns. The investigation has two main objectives. First, it seeks to explore and understand the impact of the fluorination of the pendant ring on both the self-organization and

• (G55), 164 (G66), and ca. 120 °C (G48). Compared to the previously synthesized non-fluorous pentyloxy homolog, showing a monotropic Colrec phase [51][52], core fluorination surely plays a positive role in the induction of mesomorphism. The mesophases of Fn and Gnm compounds were fully characterized by

• , thus a very broad columnar mesophase range. Further, the sigma-bonded triphenylene dimers Gnm display an enantiotropic Colrec mesophase including room temperature. These π-conjugated materials are advantageous for further investigation in device applications. The aromatic core fluorination changes the

Controlled oligomerization of [1.1.1]propellane through radical polarity matching: selective synthesis of SF₅- and CF₃SF₄-containing [2]staffanes

• Jón Atiba Buldt,
• Wang-Yeuk Kong,
• Yannick Kraemer,
• Masiel M. Belsuzarri,
• Ansh Hiten Patel,
• James C. Fettinger,
• Dean J. Tantillo and
• Cody Ross Pitts

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 3134–3143, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.259

• synthetic challenge. Herein, we report proof-of-concept that our previous work on strain-release pentafluorosulfanylation of 1 [36] using SF5Cl (prepared in house [37] under mild oxidative fluorination conditions [38][39][40][41][42][43][44]) can be extended to the selective synthesis of the associated

Hypervalent iodine-mediated intramolecular alkene halocyclisation

• Charu Bansal,
• Oliver Ruggles,
• Albert C. Rowett and
• Alastair J. J. Lennox

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 3113–3133, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.258

• regeneration of 1-fluoro-3,3- dimethylbenziodoxole (12) in 91% yield from isolated benzyl alcohol after the fluorination reaction. A mechanism of the reaction was proposed (Scheme 13) in which the iodane-activated alkene is attacked by fluoride and the aromatic ring, to form a fluorinated phenonium

• (Scheme 20). The scope of the reaction was probed, showcasing the versatility and applicability of the method in synthesizing chiral fluorinated oxazines. The authors proposed the mechanism of the catalytic asymmetric nucleophilic fluorination to involve the activation of iodosylbenzene by BF3·Et2O which

• fluoroacetate as an internal standard). Electrochemical synthesis of fluorinated oxazolines. Electrochemical synthesis of chromanes. Synthesis of fluorinated oxazepanes. Enantioselective oxy-fluorination with a chiral aryliodide catayst. Catalytic synthesis of 5‑fluoro-2-aryloxazolines using BF3·Et2O as a

Recent advances in transition-metal-free arylation reactions involving hypervalent iodine salts

• Ritu Mamgain,
• Kokila Sakthivel and
• Fateh V. Singh

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 2891–2920, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.243

• salt, subsequently leading to decarboxylative C–C coupling. Notably, this method achieves the incorporation of two fluorine atoms in the benzyl position without resorting to hazardous fluorination reagents, transition-metal catalysts, or organometallic compounds. The utility of this reaction is

• bis(4-methoxyphenyl)iodonium diacetate (70) or ArI(OH)OTs highly regioselective gemfibrozil methyl ester derived iodonium salts 71 were obtained in moderate to good yield. These salts were then used for various modifications like alkynylation, arylation, esterification, etherification, fluorination

A review of recent advances in electrochemical and photoelectrochemical late-stage functionalization classified by anodic oxidation, cathodic reduction, and paired electrolysis

• Nian Li,
• Ruzal Sitdikov,
• Ajit Prabhakar Kale,
• Joost Steverlynck,
• Bo Li and
• Magnus Rueping

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 2500–2566, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.214

• bonds (Scheme 25a) [34]. Besides, the same group published a comprehensive analysis on N-ammonium ylide mediators, which were found to be superior to quinuclidine scaffolds for a chemoselective C(sp3)–H oxidation (Scheme 25b) [35]. The electrochemical C(sp3)–H fluorination of unactivated C–H bonds is

• was demonstrated to be scalable for natural products such as sclareolide and protected ʟ-valine. The proposed mechanism involves a radical chain process. Initiation occurs by nitrate-mediated or direct electrochemical anodic oxidation, followed by fluorination with Selectfluor. After fluorination, the

• Selectfluor reagent abstracts a hydrogen atom from the substrate, which can then undergo further fluorination. The nitrate additive proved helpful as an initiator but is not necessary for certain substrates like sclareolide and protected ʟ-valine (Scheme 26). An electrochemical C(sp3)–H cyanation for LSF was

Asymmetric organocatalytic synthesis of chiral homoallylic amines

• Nikolay S. Kondratyev and
• Andrei V. Malkov

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 2349–2377, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.201

• (trifluoromethylphenyl) group with other fluorinated aromatics (86–90) showed a gradual decrease in ee (92% ee in 90 to 68% ee in 86 and 88) depending on the degree of fluorination. Computational modelling for the 3,5-bis(trifluoromethylphenyl) catalyst 78 revealed that π-stacking interactions of the 4-pyrene group with

Hydrogen-bond activation enables aziridination of unactivated olefins with simple iminoiodinanes

• Phong Thai,
• Lauv Patel,
• Diyasha Manna and
• David C. Powers

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 2305–2312, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.197

• available in the absence of Lewis acid activation (Scheme 1a) [11][12]. A variety of Lewis acid activators have been reported [13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22] in an array of group-transfer reactions, including trifluoromethylation, cyanation, and fluorination. Brønsted acid activation has also been

Catalysing (organo-)catalysis: Trends in the application of machine learning to enantioselective organocatalysis

• Stefan P. Schmid,
• Leon Schlosser,
• Frank Glorius and
• Kjell Jorner

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 2280–2304, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.196

• enantioselectivities of a kinetic resolution of benzyl alcohols and an enantiodivergent fluorination of allylic alcohols, observing good correlations for both reactions. Since then, the proposed NCI descriptors have been successfully applied to multiple different reactions, such as an allenoate Claisen rearrangement

• mechanistic breaks in Hammett plots. However, deliberate data set design to systematically cover the relevant chemical space can aid in detecting outliers and aid in creating more relevant models, as demonstrated by Neel et al. for an enantiodivergent fluorination of allylic alcohols, catalysed by a CPA as

gem-Difluorination of carbon–carbon triple bonds using Brønsted acid/Bu₄NBF₄ or electrogenerated acid

• Mizuki Yamaguchi,
• Hiroki Shimao,
• Kengo Hamasaki,
• Keiji Nishiwaki,
• Shigenori Kashimura and
• Kouichi Matsumoto

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 2261–2269, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.194

• fluorobenziodoxole, are also utilized as F+ equivalents to introduce fluorine atoms into organic molecules. In addition, various trifluoromethylation reagents have been developed so far [5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18]. Transition-metal-catalyzed fluorination and trifluoromethylation methods have

• HF is still inevitable [40][41]. Quite recently, Crimmin and co-workers reported gem-difluorination by shuttling between fluoroalkanes and alkynes, in which catalytic HF played a key role [42]. In the course of our study on the fluorination reaction, we have envisioned that the combination of a

Oxidative fluorination with Selectfluor: A convenient procedure for preparing hypervalent iodine(V) fluorides

• Samuel M. G. Dearman,
• Xiang Li,
• Yang Li,
• Kuldip Singh and
• Alison M. Stuart

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 1785–1793, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.157

• ) fluorides in good isolated yields (72–90%). Stability studies revealed that bicyclic difluoro(aryl)-λ5-iodane 6 was much more stable in acetonitrile-d3 than in chloroform-d1, presumably due to acetonitrile coordinating to the iodine(V) centre and stabilising it via halogen bonding. Keywords: fluorination

• stability and is highly hygroscopic, it is often prepared in situ and Gilmour [3][4][5][6][7][8] has reported a range of fluorination protocols utilising hypervalent iodine(I/III) catalysis (Scheme 1A). Lennox has also demonstrated that 1 can be generated cleanly by electrochemical oxidation [9][10]. In an

• ring to stabilise the iodine(V) centre. Both sidearms were also changed to amides because the NR group is a point of diversity which could be used to modulate the sterics and electronics of these novel hypervalent iodine(V) compounds. Initially, we applied Togni’s oxidative fluorination protocol to

Regio- and stereochemical stability induced by anomeric and gauche effects in difluorinated pyrrolidines

• Ana Flávia Candida Silva,
• Francisco A. Martins and
• Matheus P. Freitas

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 1572–1579, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.140

• Ana Flavia Candida Silva Francisco A. Martins Matheus P. Freitas Department of Chemistry, Institute of Natural Sciences, Federal University of Lavras, 37200-900, Lavras, MG, Brazil Department of Chemistry, University of Houston, Houston, TX, USA 10.3762/bjoc.20.140 Abstract Selective fluorination

• stereochemical behavior. Consequently, various molecular properties, such as polarity, viscosity, and intra- and intermolecular interactions, are impacted by the C‒F bond. These features underlie the important role of selective fluorination in pharmaceuticals and agrochemicals development [1]. For instance

Benzylic C(sp³)–H fluorination

• Alexander P. Atkins,
• Alice C. Dean and
• Alastair J. J. Lennox

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 1527–1547, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.137

• Alexander P. Atkins Alice C. Dean Alastair J. J. Lennox University of Bristol, School of Chemistry, Bristol, BS8 1TS, U.K. 10.3762/bjoc.20.137 Abstract The selective fluorination of C(sp3)–H bonds is an attractive target, particularly for pharmaceutical and agrochemical applications. Consequently

• , over recent years much attention has been focused on C(sp3)–H fluorination, and several methods that are selective for benzylic C–H bonds have been reported. These protocols operate via several distinct mechanistic pathways and involve a variety of fluorine sources with distinct reactivity profiles

• . This review aims to give context to these transformations and strategies, highlighting the different tactics to achieve fluorination of benzylic C–H bonds. Keywords: benzylic; C–H functionalization; fluorination; photoredox catalysis; Introduction The development of new fluorination methodologies is

Selectfluor and alcohol-mediated synthesis of bicyclic oxyfluorination compounds by Wagner–Meerwein rearrangement

• Ziya Dağalan,
• Muhammed Hanifi Çelikoğlu,
• Saffet Çelik,
• Ramazan Koçak and
• Bilal Nişancı

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 1462–1467, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.129

• alkenes. We previously developed a dihomohalogenation method using selectfluor as an oxidant [27]. Herein, we synthesized bicyclic oxy- and alkoxyfluorine compounds using selectflour as an electrophilic fluorination reagent, water and various alcohols as an nucleophile. Results and Discussion In this

• study, benzonorbornadiene (1a) and the chiral natural product (+)-camphene (1b) were used as bicyclic alkenes. Safe, easily soluble, easy to use, stable solid, reactive and commercial available selectfluor [18][27][28] was selected for electrophilic fluorination source. Water and various alcohols were

• . An environmentally friendly approach was pursued by using safe, easily soluble, easy to use, stable, solid and reactive selectfluor as an electrophilic fluorination reagent, and water and various alcohols as a nucleophile source. Besides being novel, the presented oxyfluorination protocol provides

Direct synthesis of acyl fluorides from carboxylic acids using benzothiazolium reagents

• Lilian M. Maas,
• Alex Haswell,
• Rory Hughes and
• Matthew N. Hopkinson

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 921–930, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.82

• to acyl fluorides are inspiring greater interest in these compounds. Various synthetic approaches have been investigated with two main strategies being pursued: fluorine-transfer to acyl radicals and nucleophilic fluorination of acyl electrophiles [15]. The latter approach is the most intensively

• amides. Scope of the BT-SCF3-mediated deoxygenative fluorination of carboxylic acids 1. Reactions were performed on a 0.2 mmol scale. 19F NMR yields using α,α,α-trifluorotoluene as the internal standard. Scope of the one-pot BT-SCF3-mediated deoxygenative coupling of carboxylic acids and amines via acyl

• -trifluorotoluene as internal standard. Optimisation of the reaction conditions for the deoxygenative fluorination of 4-methylbenzoic acid using benzothiazolium reagents. Supporting Information Supporting Information File 36: Experimental procedures, characterisation data of all isolated products as well as copies

Skeletal rearrangement of 6,8-dioxabicyclo[3.2.1]octan-4-ols promoted by thionyl chloride or Appel conditions

• Martyn Jevric,
• Julian Klepp,
• Johannes Puschnig,
• Oscar Lamb,
• Christopher J. Sumby and
• Ben W. Greatrex

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 823–829, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.74

• the acetal in 3 and 6 to the neighbouring C4-position (Figure 1) [19][20]. A variety of products were reported resulting from fluorination as well as the skeletal rearrangement, with the reaction outcome highly substrate-dependent. A key finding in this work was that the configuration of the alcohol

Synthesis of 2,2-difluoro-1,3-diketone and 2,2-difluoro-1,3-ketoester derivatives using fluorine gas

• Alexander S. Hampton,
• David R. W. Hodgson,
• Graham McDougald,
• Linhua Wang and
• Graham Sandford

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 460–469, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.41

• generate a fluoride ion that facilitates limiting enolization processes, and an electrophilic N–F fluorinating agent that is reactive towards neutral enol species. Keywords: difluorination; difluoromethylene; direct fluorination; electrophilic fluorination; organofluorine; Introduction Fluorine is

• difluoromethylene units. To meet the demands of synthetic chemists within the life science discovery and manufacturing arenas, many fluorination methods have been developed over the years to introduce difluoromethylene groups into organic systems. Approaches using nucleophilic fluorination include halogen exchange

• agents offers an alternative fluorination route, for example, the reactions of MeCN solutions of 1,3-diketones with electrophilic fluorinating agents such as Selectfluor eventually give the corresponding 2,2-difluoro-1,3-diketone derivatives [12]. Monofluorination of the 1,3-diketone substrates is rapid

Radical ligand transfer: a general strategy for radical functionalization

• David T. Nemoto Jr,
• Kang-Jie Bian,
• Shih-Chieh Kao and
• Julian G. West

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 1225–1233, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.90

• : Groves reported decarboxylative fluorination employing catalyst V. III: Bao reported asymmetric decarboxylative azidation through use of BOX-derived iron catalyst IV. Our lab reported decarboxylative azidation of aliphatic and benzylic acids. I: The reaction proceeds via LMCT and RLT catalysis without