Recent advances in electrochemical copper catalysis for modern organic synthesis

• Yemin Kim and
• Won Jun Jang

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 155–178, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.9

• electrochemistry and copper catalysis for various organic transformations. Keywords: copper; electrochemistry; radical chemistry; single-electron transfer; sustainable catalysis; Introduction Transition-metal-catalyzed cross-coupling has emerged as an effective method for forming carbon–carbon (C–C) and carbon

• enantioselective radical cyanation. In the proposed catalytic cycle, Co(III)–H species 92 are initially formed from the anodically oxidized Co(III) complex 91 and hydrosilane 88 (Figure 15). Subsequently, the HAT between the Co(III)–H catalyst 92 and the alkene 27 generates a carbon-centered radical species 93

• radical, which adds to the alkene 97 to form carbon-centered radical intermediate 106 (Figure 17). The resulting alkyl radical intermediate 106 then reacts with the Cu(II)(CN)2 catalyst 109 to produce a Cu(III) species 107, which undergoes reductive elimination to deliver the desired product 105 and the

Nickel-catalyzed cross-coupling of 2-fluorobenzofurans with arylboronic acids via aromatic C–F bond activation

• Takeshi Fujita,
• Haruna Yabuki,
• Ryutaro Morioka,
• Kohei Fuchibe and
• Junji Ichikawa

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 146–154, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.8

• coupling reactions of aromatic C–F and C–Br bonds with arylboronic acids. Keywords: arylboronic acid; benzofuran; C–F bond activation; cross-coupling; nickel; Introduction The metal-catalyzed activation of aromatic carbon–fluorine (C–F) bonds is widely recognized as a challenging task in synthetic

• -deficient carbon atom owing to the nearby fluorine and oxygen atoms. We expected that 2-fluorobenzofurans 1 could form nickelacyclopropanes E upon treatment with zero-valent nickel species. Subsequent β-fluorine elimination from these intermediates E would facilitate the activation of aromatic C–F bonds

Cu(OTf)₂-catalyzed multicomponent reactions

• Sara Colombo,
• Camilla Loro,
• Egle M. Beccalli,
• Gianluigi Broggini and
• Marta Papis

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 122–145, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.7

• to multiple C–C bonds generates extended carbon radicals capable of giving further functionalization. Regarding the ionic mechanism, the key step generally comprises the complexation with the unsaturated substrate leading to activation of the alkenyl/alkynyl moiety towards a nucleophilic attack. In

• orientation between the electron-rich nitrogen of the diene and the electron-poor carbon of the alkyne. A different one-pot procedure affording tetrahydropyridines was developed employing two molecules of aromatic aldehydes, ethyl acetoacetate and two molecules of aniline. The copper triflate catalyst acts in

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

• different conditions. This parallel reactor setup was successfully utilized for the multistep synthesis of 18 compounds of an anticonvulsant drug, employing various reaction pathways to perform photoredox carbon–nitrogen cross-coupling reactions. A parallel droplet flow system was developed by Eyke et al

Synthesis, structure and π-expansion of tris(4,5-dehydro-2,3:6,7-dibenzotropone)

• Yongming Xiong,
• Xue Lin Ma,
• Shilong Su and
• Qian Miao

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 1–7, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.1

• Abstract The polycyclic skeleton of tris(4,5-dehydro-2,3:6,7-dibenzotropone) is a key structural fragment in carbon schwarzites, a theoretical form of negatively curved carbon allotrope. This report presents a new synthesis of this compound using a Ni-mediated Yamamoto coupling reaction and structural

• , expanding its π-skeleton through the Barton–Kellogg and Scholl reactions led to the successful synthesis of a curved polycyclic arene containing three heptagons and two pentagons. Keywords: carbon schwarzites; polycyclic arenes; Scholl reaction; seven-membered carbocycle; Yamamoto coupling; Introduction

• -tropone” in literature [1][2], although it should be named as 9H,18H,27H-hexabenzo[c,c′,c′′,f,f′,f′′]benzo[1,2-a:3,4-a′:5,6-a′′]triscycloheptene-9,18,27-trione according to the IUPAC nomenclature. We became interested in compound 1 because its polycyclic skeleton presents a key structural unit in carbon

Reactivity of hypervalent iodine(III) reagents bearing a benzylamine with sulfenate salts

• Beatriz Dedeiras,
• Catarina S. Caldeira,
• José C. Cunha,
• Clara S. B. Gomes and
• M. Manuel B. Marques

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 3281–3289, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.272

• conducted at room temperature for 20 hours, which resulted in a reduction of the yield for 5aa to 9% (Table 1, entry 5). This result might be due to the reactivity of this hypervalent iodine reagent. Indeed, we have previously observed that the transfer of the benzylamine moiety to carbon-based nucleophiles

• slight decrease observed for 5ac, with chiral (R)-1-((1-phenylethyl)amino)-1,2-benziodoxol-3-(1H)-one (2c), can be attributed to potential steric hindrance induced by the methyl group attached to the benzylic carbon, which may hinder the nucleophile’s access to the electrophilic center of the HIR. The

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

• along the main axes: ORTEP diagram showing 50% thermal ellipsoid probability: carbon (gray), fluorine (green), and hydrogen (white). POM textures, observed between crossed polarizers of Janus and dimer, F6, F12, G66, and G48, respectively, as representative examples. More images can be seen in

Non-covalent organocatalyzed enantioselective cyclization reactions of α,β-unsaturated imines

• Sergio Torres-Oya and
• Mercedes Zurro

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 3221–3255, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.268

• construction of carbon–carbon bonds [5][6][7][8][9][10]. The hetero-Diels–Alder reaction is therefore an attractive strategy for the synthesis of heterocyclic compounds. It involves the reaction of dienes or dienophiles which possess a heteroatom in their structure. In this reaction, the HOMO of the diene and

• enantioselectivities (90–99% ee). This result could be attributed to the higher steric hindrance at the carbon atom of the imine. On the other hand, the reaction of 3-isothiocyanatooxindoles 4 and dienimines 9 afforded the cascade cycloadducts 10 in high yields (74–94%) and excellent diastereoselectivities (>20:1 dr

• isocyanide carbon, behaves a C3 synthon affording benzo[d]isothiazole 1,1-dioxide-dihydropyrroles 27 bearing two adjacent stereocenters in high yields (27–98%) and with moderate to excellent stereoselectivities (54–97% ee) when using thiourea IX (Scheme 10). The cyclization was observed with all derivatives

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

• 2.43) and methylene carbon C-22 (δC 46.3), and between H2-22 (δH 3.73) and N-methylene carbon C-20 (δC 58.7), indicated that C-22 was connected to 20-N. Additionally, an HMBC correlation was observed between H2-22 and the non-hydrogen-bearing carbon C-23. Considering the chemical shift of C-23 (δC

• inductive effect is attached to the carbon bearing the cyano group, the intensity of the absorption derived from the cyano group in the IR spectrum decreases significantly. This phenomenon has been reported, particularly in compounds where halogen or oxygen atoms are bonded to the carbon bearing the cyano

• group [16]. A similar effect is considered to occur when a nitrogen atom, which has a greater electronegativity than carbon, is attached. In fact, it has been reported that in aminoacetonitrile derivatives, the absorption due to the cyano group in the IR spectrum is either very weak or not observed [15

Discovery of ianthelliformisamines D–G from the sponge Suberea ianthelliformis and the total synthesis of ianthelliformisamine D

• Sasha Hayes,
• Yaoying Lu,
• Bernd H. A. Rehm and
• Rohan A. Davis

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 3205–3214, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.266

• ]. Methylenes resonating at δH 3.14, 1.64 and 3.20 were assigned to a three-carbon alkyl spin system that was flanked by nitrogen atoms [NH–(CH2)3–N] based on COSY correlations from the amide proton at δH 8.04. A terminal pyrrolidone was assigned based on COSY data for the three remaining methylene protons (δH

• 3.33, 1.91, 2.21), and a three-bond HMBC correlation from δH 3.33, and a two-bond correlation from δH 2.20 to the carbonyl resonating at δC 173.9 [15]. The observation of a 3JCH correlation from δH 3.20 to the nitrogen-bearing carbon at δC 46.4 and to δC 173.9 supported the assignment of the

• pyrrolidone moiety. A 1,3,4,5-tetrasubstituted aromatic ring was assigned based on 3JCH correlations from the isolated aromatic signal (δH 7.89) to its symmetrically placed carbon (δC 131.6) and to an oxygen-bearing carbon (δC 153.9) along with 2JCH correlations to a brominated (δC 118.0) and sp2 phenyl

Direct trifluoroethylation of carbonyl sulfoxonium ylides using hypervalent iodine compounds

• Radell Echemendía,
• Carlee A. Montgomery,
• Fabio Cuzzucoli,
• Antonio C. B. Burtoloso and
• Graham K. Murphy

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 3182–3190, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.263

• versatile intermediates in organic synthesis due to their unique reactivity and ability to participate in a wide range of chemical transformations. In this scenario, sulfoxonium ylides are excellent substrates for bifunctionalization reactions, due to the ambiphilic character in their ylidic carbon [16

• ) hypervalent iodonium salts, for the efficient synthesis of fluorinated sulfoxonium ylides (Scheme 1c). Results and Discussion Since the introduction of hypervalent iodonium salts in organic chemistry, these valuable reagents have led to many new strategies for carbon–carbon bond formation [31][32]. Our

Surprising acidity for the methylene of 1,3-indenocorannulenes?

• Shi Liu,
• Märt Lõkov,
• Sofja Tshepelevitsh,
• Ivo Leito,
• Kim K. Baldridge and
• Jay S. Siegel

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 3144–3150, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.260

• is more nuanced [10][11]. Subsequently, literature and computational examples reveal a leitmotif for CpH-PAH-based redox-active carbon-rich materials. Results and Discussion From competitive titrations against 9-C6F5-fluorene (pKa = 28.14 in CH3CN) [12][13] and (4-Me-C6F4)(C6H5)CHCN (pKa = 26.98 in

• pentabenzocorannulene would produce air-stable radical and ionic PAHs, and that coupling such fragments would lead to stable redox-active carbon sheets. Conclusion In conclusion, the “surprise” in the surprising pKa for BIC and FIC was in our expectation of the deprotonated forms as poorly delocalized fluorenyl anions

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

• , the carbon-centered radicals in both INT1 and INT4 are closer to strong electron-withdrawing groups than are the radical centers in INT2 and INT5, rendering INT1 and INT4 relatively more electrophilic. Inductive effects drop off steeply with distance, and it is also established that a substituent (or

• , e.g., a radical or cation) on the transannular carbon atom of a bicyclopentyl moiety can interact through space [35][63][64]. The consequence is ostensibly that more "nucleophilic" INT2 and INT5 are better matched for Cl atom abstraction from the "electrophilic" reagent (SF5Cl or CF3SF4Cl). To test

• this hypothesis, we examined computed trends in various electronic parameters for the INT1–INT3 and the INT4–INT6 series (Table 3). For instance, across several charge models (i.e., Hirshfeld [65], NPA [66][67][68], and CHELPG [69]), the charge (q) on the carbon atom on which the radical is centered

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

• , the intramolecular HVI-mediated halocyclisation of alkenes using carbon, oxygen, nitrogen or sulfur nucleophiles. Herein, we describe the examples reported in the literature, which are organised by the different halogens involved and the internal nucleophiles. Keywords: cyclisation; halogenation

• fluoride and BF3·OEt2 as activator. A range of unsaturated amines 5 were cyclised to racemic β-fluorinated piperidines 6. Good yields were reported for all compounds except those with substituents present on the alkene. Homologation of the carbon chain from 5 to 6 carbons gave both 6- and 7-membered rings

• good yields, demonstrating the scope of the reaction. The authors proposed an alternative reaction mechanism to those already described, in which trans-aminopalladation of the alkene, mediated by Pd(II), occurs with intramolecular attack of the nitrogen on the terminal carbon, generating a 6-membered

Advances in the use of metal-free tetrapyrrolic macrocycles as catalysts

• Mandeep K. Chahal

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 3085–3112, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.257

• ]pyrroles, and at the same time their conformation is rigid due to the presence of sp2-hybridized carbon bridges between the pyrrole units and alkyl groups on two of the inner N atoms of the macrocycle [64][65][66]. Among the OxP derivatives tested for organocatalysis (48a–i and 49a–i), only N-dialkylated

Enantioselective regiospecific addition of propargyltrichlorosilane to aldehydes catalyzed by biisoquinoline N,N’-dioxide

• Noble Brako,
• Sreerag Moorkkannur Narayanan,
• Amber Burns,
• Layla Auter,
• Valentino Cesiliano,
• Rajeev Prabhakar and
• Norito Takenaka

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 3069–3076, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.255

• ][15][16][17][18][19], the separation of which is by no means trivial [20] (Scheme 1). Nonetheless, substituents at the carbon atom indicated by γ (R2) of these reagents have been shown to bias the metallotropic rearrangement and/or the kinetic reactivity of the competing regioisomeric intermediates

• benzaldehydes, which may be attributable to that they have smaller steric demands in the vicinity of the carbonyl carbon atom than benzaldehyde. Importantly, we did not observe the corresponding homopropargylic alcohols [51] in all cases. Since this work is the first asymmetric catalysis study of isomerically

Tunable full-color dual-state (solution and solid) emission of push–pull molecules containing the 1-pyrindane moiety

• Anastasia I. Ershova,
• Sergey V. Fedoseev,
• Konstantin V. Lipin,
• Mikhail Yu. Ievlev,
• Oleg E. Nasakin and
• Oleg V. Ershov

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 3016–3025, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.251

• the emission band was observed upon increasing the solvent polarity from carbon tetrachloride to DMSO, and the strongest fluorescence was registered in nonpolar medium (Φem = 87.5 % for compound 1c in toluene and Φem = 73.9% for compound 1i in CCl4). Slopes of the Lippert–Mataga plots (Figures S3 and

Advances in radical peroxidation with hydroperoxides

• Oleg V. Bityukov,
• Pavel Yu. Serdyuchenko,
• Andrey S. Kirillov,
• Gennady I. Nikishin,
• Vera A. Vil’ and
• Alexander O. Terent’ev

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 2959–3006, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.249

• tendency to recombine with C-centered radicals and add to unsaturated bonds with the formation of new carbon–oxygen bonds. However, alkoxy radicals, which are always present in such systems, are involved not only in the formation of ROO radicals but also in hydrogen atom transfer (HAT) processes and β

• alkenes 41 was disclosed (Scheme 17) [59]. The target 6-trifluoromethyl peroxides 42 were synthesized in good yields under mild conditions. The electrophilic CF3 radical A, generated from CF3SO2Na through single-electron oxidation by using Mnn/TBHP system, is captured by the carbon–carbon double bond to

• generate the nucleophilic carbon radical B. The intramolecular 1,5-HAT of B provided the alkyl radical C, which then cross-coupled with the in situ-generated high-valent Mnn+1OO-t-Bu species to form the 1,6-difunctionalized product 42 via peroxy-ligand transfer. The remote trifluoromethylthiolation

gem-Difluorovinyl and trifluorovinyl Michael acceptors in the synthesis of α,β-unsaturated fluorinated and nonfluorinated amides

• Monika Bilska-Markowska,
• Marcin Kaźmierczak,
• Wojciech Jankowski and
• Marcin Hoffmann

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 2946–2953, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.247

• series of new α,β-unsaturated amides, both fluorinated and nonfluorinated, were synthesized. Keywords: gem-difluorovinyl Michael acceptors; Michael addition; trifluorovinyl Michael acceptors; α,β-unsaturated amides; Introduction The Michael reaction, characterized by the addition of stable carbon

• nucleophiles to unsaturated compounds with electron-withdrawing groups, is a cornerstone in constructing carbon–carbon and carbon–heteroatom bonds [1]. It is instrumental in synthesizing natural products [2][3][4][5] and pharmaceuticals [6], underlining its significance in organic chemistry. Recent

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

• unsymmetrical forms of these salts serve as effective electrophilic arylating reagents in various organic syntheses. The use of diaryliodoniums in C–C and carbon–heteroatom bond formations, particularly under metal-free conditions, has further enhanced the popularity of these reagents. In this review, we

• concentrate on various arylation reactions involving carbon and other heteroatoms, encompassing rearrangement reactions in the absence of any metal catalyst, and summarize advancements made in the last five years. Keywords: arylation reaction; diaryliodonium salts; electrophilic arylation reagent; metal-free

• ]. They offer several advantages over traditional reagents, including low toxicity, high reactivity, and excellent selectivity [43] under simple reaction conditions. The distinctive reactivity of DIAS enables the smooth arylation of various carbon and heteroatom nucleophiles under gentle conditions, with

Synthesis of pyrrole-fused dibenzoxazepine/dibenzothiazepine/triazolobenzodiazepine derivatives via isocyanide-based multicomponent reactions

• Marzieh Norouzi,
• Mohammad Taghi Nazeri,
• Ahmad Shaabani and
• Behrouz Notash

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 2870–2882, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.241

• . The signal at δ = 3.42 is the NH group. All the protons of the aromatic rings are located from δ = 7.10 to 7.99. In its 13C NMR spectrum, all of the carbon signals appear at δ = 158.3, 152.5, 134.7, 134.2, 133.9, 133.2, 130.8, 130.4, 129.2, 129.1, 129.0 128.9, 128.4, 127.4, 125.8, 122.6, 121.1, 120.6

N-Glycosides of indigo, indirubin, and isoindigo: blue, red, and yellow sugars and their cancerostatic activity

• Peter Langer

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 2840–2869, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.240

• substituent. The carbohydrate moiety also has an influence on the antiproliferative activity. The best activities were observed for rhamnosides, while the lowest activity was observed for galactoside β-20a. The configuration of the anomeric carbon atom of the rhamnoside did not show a major influence as very

• from p-fluoroaniline which can be explained by the π-donating effect of fluorine which facilitates the cyclization via the ortho-position in case of m-, but not of p-fluoroaniline. It is worth to be noted that the formation of 23d proceeded with excellent regioselectivity via carbon C-6 rather than C-2

• isatin-N-glycosides derived from β-ᴅ-galactose, β-ᴅ-glucose, and β-ᴅ-xylose which might be due to their 1,2-trans configuration. An identical relative configuration (1,2-trans; 1,3-cis) is observed for the first three carbon atoms of β-ᴅ-galactose, β-ᴅ-glucose, and β-ᴅ-xylose. In contrast, for β-ᴅ

Multicomponent synthesis of α-branched amines using organozinc reagents generated from alkyl bromides

• Baptiste Leroux,
• Alexis Beaufils,
• Federico Banchini,
• Olivier Jackowski,
• Alejandro Perez-Luna,
• Fabrice Chemla,
• Marc Presset and
• Erwan Le Gall

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 2834–2839, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.239

• organolithium reagents, thus limiting functional-group tolerance [11][12][13]. By contrast, heteroleptic (mixed) alkylzinc species (i.e., RZnX) are readily available and can typically be prepared from alkyl halides by direct insertion of metallic zinc into the carbon–halogen bond [14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21

Synthesis of tricarbonylated propargylamine and conversion to 2,5-disubstituted oxazole-4-carboxylates

• Kento Iwai,
• Akari Hikasa,
• Kotaro Yoshioka,
• Shinki Tani,
• Kazuto Umezu and
• Nagatoshi Nishiwaki

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 2827–2833, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.238

• various nucleophiles. This is because the imino carbon atom of 2 is also highly electrophilic, similar to DEMO [23][24][25]. This method offers an advantage over conventional methods as the N-acyl group can be modified by altering the acid amide. In this study, lithium acetylides were employed as

• through successive nucleophilic additions to the central carbon atom of DEMO. Cyclization of 4a quenched by D2O. Plausible mechanisms for the ring closure of 4. Hydration of the ethynyl group of 4a. Optimization of the reaction conditions for the reaction of 1a with the lithium acetylide of 3a. Addition

Synthesis and antimycotic activity of new derivatives of imidazo[1,2-a]pyrimidines

• Dmitriy Yu. Vandyshev,
• Daria A. Mangusheva,
• Khidmet S. Shikhaliev,
• Kirill A. Scherbakov,
• Oleg N. Burov,
• Alexander D. Zagrebaev,
• Tatiana N. Khmelevskaya,
• Alexey S. Trenin and
• Fedor I. Zubkov

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 2806–2817, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.236

• C-3 of the imidazole core, would not be possible for the alternative imidazopyrimidine system. These results allowed us to reject the structure 11. The lack of correlation in the HMBC spectra between the protons of the amide fragment and the C-5 carbon atom, as well as the presence of cross-peaks of

• the H-5 proton with the C-8a nodal atom and the C-3 imidazole carbon atom, further supports the formation of product 4d. Strong interactions between protons of two methylene groups are the most noticeable features in the NOESY spectrum of the imidazo[1,2-a]pyrimidine 5d. Due to the conformational

• conformationally rigid seven-membered cycle. In the latter case, the picture would be different: the interaction of both methylene groups with the carbonyl carbon atom would be observed to an equal extent. In order to obtain additional information on the course of the reaction between 2-aminoimidazole 1 and imides