Redox-active molecules as organocatalysts for selective oxidative transformations – an unperceived organocatalysis field

• Elena R. Lopat’eva,
• Igor B. Krylov,
• Dmitry A. Lapshin and
• Alexander O. Terent’ev

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2022, 18, 1672–1695, doi:10.3762/bjoc.18.179

• play an important role in redox-neutral asymmetric organocatalysis by forming nucleophilic enamine intermediates or electrophilic iminium cations. The same principles are used in oxidative transformations, where an amine can play the role of chirality source and the activator of substrate for oxidation

• (Scheme 2). In the enamine type of catalysis (Scheme 2A) the key enamine intermediate can undergo one-electron oxidation (route 1), electrophilic radical attack (route 2), or electrophile attack (route 3). The one-electron oxidation leads to the electrophilic cation radical which can further undergo

• addition to the electron-rich C=C bond [58] or proton loss followed by β-functionalization [59][60][61]. The iminium cation catalysis is used in the activation of electrophilic properties of enones for the nucleophilic epoxidation by hydroperoxides (Scheme 2B). N-Heterocyclic carbene (NHC) organocatalysis

Synthesis of (−)-halichonic acid and (−)-halichonic acid B

• Keith P. Reber and
• Emma L. Niner

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2022, 18, 1629–1635, doi:10.3762/bjoc.18.174

• -stereogenic center, which bears a methyl group, the electrophilic site (the iminium ion), and two possible nucleophilic sites (a prenyl group and a trisubstituted alkene within a cyclohexene ring). In conformer 12a, the prenyl group occupies a pseudo-axial position, the methyl group occupies a pseudo

Functionalization of imidazole N-oxide: a recent discovery in organic transformations

• Koustav Singha,
• Imran Habib and
• Mossaraf Hossain

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2022, 18, 1575–1588, doi:10.3762/bjoc.18.168

• reaction. However, in this reaction process, 2.0 equiv of CH-acids were needed against arylglyoxals since the electrophilic character of glyoxals is higher than that of aldehydes, generating less stable enones while reacting with CH-acids. First, 1.0 equiv CH-acid was reacted with 1.0 equiv arylglyoxal to

Simple synthesis of multi-halogenated alkenes from 2-bromo-2-chloro-1,1,1-trifluoroethane (halothane)

• Yukiko Karuo,
• Atsushi Tarui,
• Kazuyuki Sato,
• Kentaro Kawai and
• Masaaki Omote

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2022, 18, 1567–1574, doi:10.3762/bjoc.18.167

• involved a highly reactive difluoroethylene intermediate, which was produced by the reaction between halothane and KOH. Keywords: aryl 1-monofluorovinyl ether; electrophilic 1,1-difluoroethene; halothane; multi-halogenated alkene; phenol; Introduction 2-Bromo-2-chloro-1,1,1-trifluoroethane (halothane

• , respectively), which are susceptible to basic conditions, were tolerated in the reaction, but ortho substituents hindered the reaction to some extent (Table 2, entries 9 and 10). 2-Hydroxychalcone (3l), which has an electrophilic enone structure, was also tolerated. The Michael addition product was not

• mechanism shown in Scheme 2 [15][26]. In the reaction medium, 3 is deprotonated by KOH to generate phenoxide ion 4, which acts as a base and as a nucleophile. Removal of an acidic hydrogen from halothane provides 5, which is a key intermediate in the reaction. Intermediate 5 is sufficiently electrophilic to

A facile approach to spiro[dihydrofuran-2,3'-oxindoles] via formal [4 + 1] annulation reaction of fused 1H-pyrrole-2,3-diones with diazooxindoles

• Pavel A. Topanov,
• Anna A. Maslivets,
• Maksim V. Dmitriev,
• Irina V. Mashevskaya,
• Yurii V. Shklyaev and
• Andrey N. Maslivets

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2022, 18, 1532–1538, doi:10.3762/bjoc.18.162

• formal [4 + 1] cycloaddition (Scheme 1). Results and Discussion FPDs are highly reactive compounds [25][26] containing an highly electrophilic enone fragment which facilitates the course of cycloaddition and nucleophilic addition reactions. In recent years, some types of cycloaddition reactions were

Design, synthesis, and evaluation of chiral thiophosphorus acids as organocatalysts

• Karen R. Winters and
• Jean-Luc Montchamp

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2022, 18, 1471–1478, doi:10.3762/bjoc.18.154

• synthesized from 2-aminobiphenyl according to the literature [47]. Subsequent reaction with phosphorus trichloride and electrophilic aromatic substitution gave a chlorophosphine intermediate, which was directly reacted with (S)-1-phenylethylamine, then hydrogen peroxide. Phosphonamide diastereoisomers 17 were

1,4,6,10-Tetraazaadamantanes (TAADs) with N-amino groups: synthesis and formation of boron chelates and host–guest complexes

• Artem N. Semakin,
• Ivan S. Golovanov,
• Yulia V. Nelyubina and
• Alexey Yu. Sukhorukov

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2022, 18, 1424–1434, doi:10.3762/bjoc.18.148

• functionalized through the addition of electrophilic reagents, various functional arms can be attached. Moreover, N-TAAD derivatives were expected to be less prone to cage-opening reaction compared to 3O-TAADs. Here, we wish to report the synthesis of TAADs decorated with N-amino(amido) groups (3N-TAADs) by

Mechanochemical synthesis of unsymmetrical salens for the preparation of Co–salen complexes and their evaluation as catalysts for the synthesis of α-aryloxy alcohols via asymmetric phenolic kinetic resolution of terminal epoxides

• Shengli Zuo,
• Shuxiang Zheng,
• Jianjun Liu and
• Ang Zuo

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2022, 18, 1416–1423, doi:10.3762/bjoc.18.147

• due to the strong electron-withdrawing effect of bromine, enhancing the electrophilic property of bromo-substituted salicylaldehyde. Because of the poor solubility in the eluent, the yield of dichloro-containing 1c (88%) was lower than 1a after isolating by column chromatography. This was also found

Synthesis of C6-modified mannose 1-phosphates and evaluation of derived sugar nucleotides against GDP-mannose dehydrogenase

• Sanaz Ahmadipour,
• Alice J. C. Wahart,
• Jonathan P. Dolan,
• Laura Beswick,
• Chris S. Hawes,
• Robert A. Field and
• Gavin J. Miller

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2022, 18, 1379–1384, doi:10.3762/bjoc.18.142

• accepted. Evaluation of GDP 6-chloro-6-deoxy-ᴅ-mannose suggests that the ligand can bind to GMD, but that targeting inhibitive S-alkylation of an sp3-hybridised C6 electrophilic probe is ineffective here. a) Proposed oxidative pathway for provision of GDP-ManA 5 from GDP-Man 1, C6 stereochemistry of 3 is

Cytochrome P450 monooxygenase-mediated tailoring of triterpenoids and steroids in plants

• Karan Malhotra and
• Jakob Franke

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2022, 18, 1289–1310, doi:10.3762/bjoc.18.135

• compound 0. This nucleophilic and basic intermediate is prone to dehydration (step 6), leading to the strongly electrophilic and oxidising key intermediate G, which is commonly known as compound I (cpd I). Although there has been a lot of debate regarding the exact structure and electronic properties of

Ferrocenoyl-adenines: substituent effects on regioselective acylation

• Mateja Toma,
• Gabrijel Zubčić,
• Jasmina Lapić,
• Senka Djaković,
• Davor Šakić and
• Valerije Vrček

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2022, 18, 1270–1277, doi:10.3762/bjoc.18.133

• electrophilic substrates (Figure 2). The HOMO orbital is distributed over the purine ring with the largest amplitude on the N7 atom, which designates this position as the most nucleophilic in 1. The second most populated site is the N6 atom, which appears as more nucleophilic than N9 atom. To facilitate a

Modular synthesis of 2-furyl carbinols from 3-benzyldimethylsilylfurfural platforms relying on oxygen-assisted C–Si bond functionalization

• Sebastien Curpanen,
• Per Reichert,
• Gabriele Lupidi,
• Giovanni Poli,
• Julie Oble and
• Alejandro Perez-Luna

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2022, 18, 1256–1263, doi:10.3762/bjoc.18.131

• on the SiMe(OSiMe3)2 unit, which were readily converted through Pd- or Cu-catalyzed electrophilic substitution reactions into an array of furfurals decorated at C3 with carbon- or heteroatom-containing substituents (Scheme 1). Conversely, all of our subsequent efforts to achieve cross-coupling

• activation [19]. Thereby, C3-triorganosilyl-substituted furfurals could be suitable platforms to develop a two-step modular approach to 3-substituted 2-furyl carbinols, entailing nucleophilic addition to the aldehyde function and oxygen-assisted electrophilic substitution of the C–Si bond (Scheme 1). Results

• ). With the 3-silylated 2-furyl carbinol substrates at hand, we then considered C–Si bond activation strategies relying on the assistance of the oxygen atom to promote electrophilic substitution reactions with carbon electrophiles. C3–Si bond functionalization through intramolecular activation by

Vicinal ketoesters – key intermediates in the total synthesis of natural products

• Marc Paul Beller and
• Ulrich Koert

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2022, 18, 1236–1248, doi:10.3762/bjoc.18.129

• intermediates in the total synthesis of natural products utilizing their electrophilic keto group as reactive site. Suitable key reactions are, e.g., aldol additions, carbonyl ene reactions, Mannich reactions, and additions of organometallic reagents. The vicinal arrangement of carbonyl groups allows the

• bearing an electrophilic keto group as reactive site. The vicinal arrangement of carbonyl groups allows the stabilization of reactive conformations by chelation or dipole control. Suitable key reactions are e.g., aldol additions, carbonyl ene reactions, Mannich reactions, and additions of organometallic

Dienophilic reactivity of 2-phosphaindolizines: a conceptual DFT investigation

• Nosheen Beig,
• Aarti Peswani and
• Raj Kumar Bansal

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2022, 18, 1217–1224, doi:10.3762/bjoc.18.127

• which their observed relative dienophilic reactivities could be rationalized. Besides, the Fukui functions of the carbon/nitrogen and phosphorus atoms of the >C=P– and –N=P– functionalities were also computed which revealed their hard electrophilic character and accorded well with the dienophilic

• calculate various reactivity descriptors, such as electrochemical potential, electrophilicity and nucleophilicity indices, global hardness, electronegativity, etc. The concept of hard–soft acid–base (HSAB) was used to explain the reactivity of the organic molecules towards electrophilic and nucleophilic

• reagents [19]. Thus a quantitative descriptor, the Fukui function was defined as for nucleophilic attack and for electrophilic attack, where ρN+1(r), ρN(r), and ρN−1(r) are the electron densities at a point r in the system with N+1, N, and N−1 electrons, respectively, all with the ground-state geometry

Reductive opening of a cyclopropane ring in the Ni(II) coordination environment: a route to functionalized dehydroalanine and cysteine derivatives

• Oleg A. Levitskiy,
• Olga I. Aglamazova,
• Yuri K. Grishin and
• Tatiana V. Magdesieva

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2022, 18, 1166–1176, doi:10.3762/bjoc.18.121

• containing an unsubstituted cyclopropane ring (1) or bearing Me (2) and COOMe (3) groups were obtained using previously reported protocols [15][19]. Complex 4 is new. Compound 4 was obtained by the reaction of an electrophilic dehydroalanine complex with a bromomalonate anion (Scheme 1). The reaction

A Streptomyces P450 enzyme dimerizes isoflavones from plants

• Run-Zhou Liu,
• Shanchong Chen and
• Lihan Zhang

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2022, 18, 1107–1115, doi:10.3762/bjoc.18.113

• addition, radical cation addition, and electrophilic aromatic addition, have also been proposed [1][10][29]. A proposed mechanism is depicted in Scheme 2: First, the hydroxy group on the A- or B-ring is converted into a radical by a P450-induced single-electron transformation. The resulting radical then

Automated grindstone chemistry: a simple and facile way for PEG-assisted stoichiometry-controlled halogenation of phenols and anilines using N-halosuccinimides

• Dharmendra Das,
• Akhil A. Bhosle,
• Amrita Chatterjee and
• Mainak Banerjee

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2022, 18, 999–1008, doi:10.3762/bjoc.18.100

• , the optimal reaction conditions for the electrophilic monobromination was set as to grind the substrates (1 mmol) in an automated grinder with 1.1 mmol of NBS at 100 rpm in PEG-400 (0.2 mL per mmol of the substrate) as a grinding auxiliary. We next explored the substrate scope of the catalyst-free

• observed for 4-phenylphenol indicating this electrophilic halogenation is selective to electron-rich aromatic rings only (product 2f, Scheme 3). Also, aromatic halogenation prevails over α-halogenation of a ketomethyl group as was demonstrated by the formation of product 2m as the sole product for the

• just 2 min of grinding (products 2q and 2r, Scheme 3). Next, a series of aniline derivatives were taken as the substrates for this electrophilic bromination by NBS. To our delight, the corresponding bromo derivatives were formed in high yields (75–89%) within 5–15 min of grinding (products 2s–y, Scheme

First example of organocatalysis by cathodic N-heterocyclic carbene generation and accumulation using a divided electrochemical flow cell

• Daniele Rocco,
• Ana A. Folgueiras-Amador,
• Richard C. D. Brown and
• Marta Feroci

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2022, 18, 979–990, doi:10.3762/bjoc.18.98

• atom is reversed (umpolung) from electrophilic to nucleophilic (Scheme 3). This approach can be exploited in many organic reactions, such as: the benzoin condensation [16][17], esterification and amidation of benzaldehydes and cinnamaldehydes [18][19], synthesis of γ-butyrolactones [20], synthesis of

• [33]. Flow electrochemistry was applied to oxidize the Breslow intermediate to the corresponding electrophilic acylthiazolium intermediate, which then functioned as an acyl-transfer reagent, reacting with alcohols or amines. To the best of our knowledge, only one research group reported the cathodic

On Reuben G. Jones synthesis of 2-hydroxypyrazines

• Pierre Legrand and
• Yves L. Janin

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2022, 18, 935–943, doi:10.3762/bjoc.18.93

• amine) on the most electrophilic component of the α-ketoaldehyde (its aldehyde) to give intermediate 5. However, the ensuing cyclization (via a hydration of its imine bond to allow for a rotation) would then lead to compound 4 which is rarely the major reaction product. Since compound 3 is the main

Morita–Baylis–Hillman reaction of 3-formyl-9H-pyrido[3,4-b]indoles and fluorescence studies of the products

• Nisha Devi and
• Virender Singh

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2022, 18, 926–934, doi:10.3762/bjoc.18.92

• , it was observed that the MBH reaction of 6b with acrylonitrile A resulted in the formation of product 8bA which evidenced that 6b underwent Morita–Baylis–Hillman reaction at the electrophilic carbonyl center as well as Michael addition reaction at the nucleophilic nitrogen center (N-9). Similar

Synthetic strategies for the preparation of γ-phostams: 1,2-azaphospholidine 2-oxides and 1,2-azaphospholine 2-oxides

• Jiaxi Xu

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2022, 18, 889–915, doi:10.3762/bjoc.18.90

• intramolecular nucleophilic dearomatization and protonation or electrophilic alkylation reactions, affording the corresponding dihydronaphthylene-fused γ-phosphinolactams 135–142. Methanol was used as the electrophile for protonation, while methyl iodide and allyl bromide were used as electrophiles for

• proceed due to their reduced nucleophilicities, generating the corresponding phosphonamidates only through the reaction with the more electrophilic phosphonochloridate (Scheme 32) [57]. [4 + 1] Annulation via formations of both C–P and P–N bonds (1S,3R)-2-(tert-Butyldiphenylsilyl)-3-methyl-1-phenyl-2,3

• ortho-directed lithiation with tert-butyllithium with carbamate as the directing group followed by electrophilic quench with methyl chloroformate and intramolecular aminolysis. Finally, hydrolysis removed the directing group, affording the final product 239 in 50% yield (Scheme 38) [59]. Structurally

Cathodic generation of reactive (phenylthio)difluoromethyl species and its reactions: mechanistic aspects and synthetic applications

• Sadanobu Iwase,
• Shinsuke Inagi and
• Toshio Fuchigami

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2022, 18, 872–880, doi:10.3762/bjoc.18.88

• olefins in moderate yields [5]. Prakash et al. also achieved fluoride-induced nucleophilic (phenylthio)difluoromethylation of carbonyl compounds using PhSCF2SiMe3 [6]. Quite recently, Shen et al., developed various nucleophilic, electrophilic, and radical difluoromethylthiolating reagents [1]. However

Post-synthesis from Lewis acid–base interaction: an alternative way to generate light and harvest triplet excitons

• Hengjia Liu and
• Guohua Xie

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2022, 18, 825–836, doi:10.3762/bjoc.18.83

• , it is essential to explore the mechanisms. Welch et al. supposed that the strong electrophilic Lewis acid triggers charge transfer with nitrogen-containing heterocycles containing lone-pair electrons. Consequently, it reduces the electron density of the π-conjugated system and the characteristics of

• the addition of suitable Lewis acids can lead to a dramatic red-shift in the absorption and emission of the mixtures. The electrophilic Lewis acid as electron acceptor frequently reacts with the nitrogen-containing heterocyclic conjugated molecules, ascribed to the charge redistributions of the

Synthesis of α-(perfluoroalkylsulfonyl)propiophenones: a new set of reagents for the light-mediated perfluoroalkylation of aromatics

• Durbis J. Castillo-Pazos,
• Juan D. Lasso and
• Chao-Jun Li

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2022, 18, 788–795, doi:10.3762/bjoc.18.79

• , trifluoromethyl radicals and its longer-chain analogues, share a common electrophilic character and a stabilizing stereoelectronic effect [14], we envisioned that the “dummy group” methodology could be translated into the formation of sought after perfluoroalkyl radicals (Scheme 1). In this work, we report the

• perfluoroalkylsulfinates 2 and halogenated electrophilic partners. Left: isolated yields of synthesized perfluoroalkylating reagents: perfluorobutyl (1a), perfluorohexyl (1b), and perfluorooctyl (1c) analogues (after conversion of byproduct); middle: gram amounts of perfluorooctyl product 1c; right: UV–vis absorption of

Mechanochemical halogenation of unsymmetrically substituted azobenzenes

• Dajana Barišić,
• Mario Pajić,
• Ivan Halasz,
• Darko Babić and
• Manda Ćurić

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2022, 18, 680–687, doi:10.3762/bjoc.18.69

• ; N-halosuccinimide; palladium(II); Introduction Electrophilic aromatic substitution [1][2][3] and ligand-directed transition-metal-catalyzed reactions [4][5][6][7][8] are among the most widely used synthetic approaches for the preparation of halogenated arenes. They are important precursors in cross

• proceeds by electrophilic cleavage with neutral NBS or the hydrogen bond complex NBS∙∙∙TsOH as a bromine source. Here we present the mechanochemical selective halogenation of unsymmetrically substituted azobenzenes by NXS (X = Cl, Br, or I). The liquid-assisted grinding of para-halogenated derivatives of

• in the para position occurred in the absence of the added PdII catalyst and additives, in the ortho position to the substituent, which is typical for the products of electrophilic aromatic substitution. In addition, an additive- and solvent-free protocol without the added PdII catalyst was developed