Mechanisms for radical reactions initiating from N-hydroxyphthalimide esters

• Carlos R. Azpilcueta-Nicolas and
• Jean-Philip Lumb

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 346–378, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.35

• example, the NHPI ester derived from pivalic acid 58 and Hantzsch ester HE form EDA complex 59 which participates in radical mediated hydroalkylation reactions [60][61] (Scheme 13A). In the presence of electron deficient olefin 60, classic Giese-type addition takes place under photocatalyst-free

• conditions, affording product 61 [60]. On the other hand, reaction with 1,7-enyne 62 affords dihydroquinolinone product 63 via a cascade radical addition/cyclization process [61]. In both transformations, HE serves a dual role by activating the NHPI ester through EDA complex formation and providing a

• 65. Addition of radical 64 to enyne 62 followed by 6-exo-dig cyclization yields radical intermediate 66. Finally, species 65 acts as a hydrogen atom donor, delivering product 63 while forming pyridine 67 as a byproduct. A similar mechanism would in principle account for EDA-complex-mediated Giese

Visible-light-induced radical cascade cyclization: a catalyst-free synthetic approach to trifluoromethylated heterocycles

• Chuan Yang,
• Wei Shi,
• Jian Tian,
• Lin Guo,
• Yating Zhao and
• Wujiong Xia

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 118–124, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.12

• NMR (Figure S3 in Supporting Information File 1) [30] and high-resolution mass spectrometry. You and co-workers proposed a reaction pathway involving the combination of the indole substrate and Umemoto’s reagent to form an electron donor–acceptor (EDA) complex [31]. We excluded the possibility of an

Recent advancements in iodide/phosphine-mediated photoredox radical reactions

• Tinglan Liu,
• Yu Zhou,
• Junhong Tang and
• Chengming Wang

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 1785–1803, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.131

• smoothly delivered an electron donor–acceptor (EDA) complex II via coulombic interactions. Upon 456 nm blue LED light irradiation, the EDA complex II underwent a single electron transfer (SET) process, followed by subsequent decarboxylation to produce the alkyl radical intermediate A, accompanied by

• esters 8, 9 without the requirements of phosphine or other photocatalysts (Scheme 5). Through the use of density functional theory (DFT) calculations, they elucidated the mechanism behind this process. It was revealed that the formation of a photoactive EDA complex, which subsequently generated alkyl

• . An EDA complex was formed through non-covalent interaction between the redox ester 10 and n-Bu4NI (Scheme 7). Subsequently, upon the photoexcitation, radical pairs I were generated via a SET process, accompanied by the liberation of CO2 and the phthalimide anion. The recombination of the alkyl

Visible-light-induced nickel-catalyzed α-hydroxytrifluoroethylation of alkyl carboxylic acids: Access to trifluoromethyl alkyl acyloins

• Feng Chen,
• Xiu-Hua Xu,
• Zeng-Hao Chen,
• Yue Chen and
• Feng-Ling Qing

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 1372–1378, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.98

• trifluoromethyl alkyl acyloins in good yields with broad substrate compatibility. The complex bioactive molecules were also compatible with this catalytic system to afford the corresponding products. Keywords: alkyl carboxylic acids; cross coupling; EDA complex; nickel catalysis; trifluoromethyl acyloins

• -difluoroethoxyphthalimide as the fluoroalkylating reagent failed to afford the desired product. According to our previous work [39] and literature precedent [27][35][38], a possible mechanism is proposed in Figure 2. The interaction between 2 and HE generates an electron donor–acceptor (EDA) complex A, which undergoes a

Exploring the role of halogen bonding in iodonium ylides: insights into unexpected reactivity and reaction control

• Carlee A. Montgomery and
• Graham K. Murphy

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 1171–1190, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.86

• proposed that electron donor–acceptor (EDA) complex 36 was initially formed between 32 and a sacrificial equivalent of 31, and that 36 underwent a SET to give radical anion 37 and radical cation 38 (Figure 8). While one equivalent of the ylide orchestrated a series of proton transfer (PT) and SET events

• ). Control experiments showed that the reaction failed in the dark at room temperature, and they concluded that blue light activation of the initially-formed EDA complex (analogous to 36) promoted the onset of SET events. As this latter protocol also required two equivalents of ylide 39, the authors proposed

• a near identical mechanism to that of Wang (Figure 8). Strong evidence for formation of an initial EDA complex was found when measuring the UV–vis absorption spectra of 39, alone and in the presence of 32. The latter showed a significant absorption red shift, which implied a structural change in 39

Direct C2–H alkylation of indoles driven by the photochemical activity of halogen-bonded complexes

• Martina Mamone,
• Giuseppe Gentile,
• Jacopo Dosso,
• Maurizio Prato and
• Giacomo Filippini

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 575–581, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.42

• ). Mechanistic investigations are reported. These studies provide convincing evidences for the photochemical formation of reactive open-shell species. Keywords: alkylation; EDA complex; halogens; indoles; photochemistry; Findings Direct replacement of carbon–hydrogen (C–H) bonds with new carbon–carbon (C–C

• substrates [13][14][15][16][17][18]. In this approach, an electron acceptor substrate (“A”) and a donor molecule (“D”) interact to form a new aggregate defined as EDA complex (Figure 1a). Although the two molecular entities might not directly absorb visible light, the newly formed complex usually presents a

• charge transfer state which results in a bathochromic shift of the absorption towards the visible range [19][20]. Upon light irradiation, the EDA complex may undergo an intramolecular single-electron-transfer (SET) process to produce a radical ion pair (D•+, A•−). To avoid the occurrence of a back

NaI/PPh₃-catalyzed visible-light-mediated decarboxylative radical cascade cyclization of N-arylacrylamides for the efficient synthesis of quaternary oxindoles

• Dan Liu,
• Yue Zhao and
• Frederic W. Patureau

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 57–65, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.5

• ethers and N-heteroarenes by using a novel catalytic system based on sodium iodide (NaI) and triphenylphosphine (PPh3), suggested to function as an electron donor–acceptor (EDA) complex [55][56][57][58][59][60]. Compared to previously reported radical reactions, this novel catalytic system has the key

Synthetic reactions driven by electron-donor–acceptor (EDA) complexes

• Zhonglie Yang,
• Yutong Liu,
• Kun Cao,
• Xiaobin Zhang,
• Hezhong Jiang and
• Jiahong Li

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2021, 17, 771–799, doi:10.3762/bjoc.17.67

• , Chengdu 610100, China 10.3762/bjoc.17.67 Abstract The reversible, weak ground-state aggregate formed by dipole–dipole interactions between an electron donor and an electron acceptor is referred to as an electron-donor–acceptor (EDA) complex. Generally, upon light irradiation, the EDA complex turns into

• in line with the theme of green chemistry. This review discusses the synthetic reactions concerned with EDA complexes as well as the mechanisms that have been shown over the past five years. Keywords: EDA complex; electron acceptor; electron donor; radical; visible light; Review Introduction

• phenomena based on the electron-donor–acceptor (EDA) complex [1][2][3]. Significantly, a broad absorption peak unrelated to the structure, called charge-transfer band, is typically located in the visible region of the UV–vis spectrum [4], which manifests the color variability of the mixed solution of the

Recent developments in enantioselective photocatalysis

• Callum Prentice,
• James Morrisson,
• Andrew D. Smith and
• Eli Zysman-Colman

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 2363–2441, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.197

• ][33]. When an alkylating agent containing an aryl ring 40 (e.g., phenacyl/benzyl bromides) is used, the enamine intermediate 41 forms a coloured electron-donor acceptor (EDA) complex that can absorb visible light via an intermolecular charge-transfer state (EDA route) [14][34]. Mechanistic

• investigations [21] showed that after excitation of the EDA complex, the electrophilic radical 40• that is formed enters the same chain propagation cycle as in Scheme 1, whereas the radical cation 41•+ is proposed to be unstable and decomposes. The third approach, also developed by Melchiorre et al., was based

• on their observation of similar reactivity when using bromomalonates 42 as substrates (direct excitation route) [35]. As no aryl ring is present, no EDA complex is formed, and thus direct excitation of the photoactive enamine intermediate affords an excited state enamine 41* that can reduce 42 to

Photosensitized direct C–H fluorination and trifluoromethylation in organic synthesis

• Shahboz Yakubov and
• Joshua P. Barham

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 2151–2192, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.183

Oxime radicals: generation, properties and application in organic synthesis

• Igor B. Krylov,
• Stanislav A. Paveliev,
• Alexander S. Budnikov and
• Alexander O. Terent’ev

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 1234–1276, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.107

• radical mechanism in which the iminoxyl radical is generated from the oxime anion under the action of perfluorobutyl iodide through the formation of an EDA complex (electron donor–acceptor complex, which is also called charge-transfer complex). The perfluorobutyl radical formed at this step served for the

Photocatalytic deaminative benzylation and alkylation of tetrahydroisoquinolines with N-alkylpyrydinium salts

• David Schönbauer,
• Carlo Sambiagio,
• Timothy Noël and
• Michael Schnürch

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 809–817, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.74

• (EDA) complexes [39] was established between Hantzsch esters and pyridinium salts generating radicals, which were coupled with several substrates [40]. Later, methods without sacrificial reductant were also established, forming an EDA complex between the used substrates. Examples of this strategy are