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

• 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

• electron transfer and forming a pair of radical ions trapped in the solvent cage. The pair of radical ions escapes the solvent cage by diffusion to give radical ions, which could initiate chemical reactions or reverse electron transfer (Scheme 1) [6]. The continuously increasing demand for sustainable

• -radical cascade reactions could efficiently construct various carbocycles and heterocycles with multifarious structures and complexity [59][60][61]. Centered on this context, we give a clear overview on a variety of novel cyclization reactions initiated by EDA complexes from the recent years. In 2016

Synthesis of β-triazolylenones via metal-free desulfonylative alkylation of N-tosyl-1,2,3-triazoles

• Soumyaranjan Pati,
• Renata G. Almeida,
• Eufrânio N. da Silva Júnior and
• Irishi N. N. Namboothiri

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2021, 17, 762–770, doi:10.3762/bjoc.17.66

• functionalization of triazoles under metal-free conditions has been reported. These include the Broensted acid-catalysed N2 alkylation [27], organocatalytic N1 alkylation [28][29], N2-arylation using hypervalent iodine (Scheme 1c) [30], N2-alkylation involving radical intermediate [31], pyridine-N-oxide-mediated N1

α,γ-Dioxygenated amides via tandem Brook rearrangement/radical oxygenation reactions and their application to syntheses of γ-lactams

• Mikhail K. Klychnikov,
• Radek Pohl,
• Ivana Císařová and
• Ullrich Jahn

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2021, 17, 688–704, doi:10.3762/bjoc.17.58

• , 12843 Prague 2, Czech Republic 10.3762/bjoc.17.58 Abstract Pyrrolidones are common heterocyclic fragments in various biologically active compounds. Here, a two-step radical-based approach to γ-lactams bearing three to four stereocenters starting from epoxides, N-allylic silylacetamides and TEMPO is

• reported. The sequence starts with a new tandem nucleophilic substitution/Brook rearrangement/single electron transfer-induced radical oxygenation furnishing orthogonally protected α,γ-dioxygenated N-allylamides with wide scope, mostly good yields, and partly good diastereo- and enantioselectivity for

• defined combinations of chiral epoxides and chiral amides. This represents a very rare example of an oxidative geminal C–C/C–O difunctionalization next to carbonyl groups. The resulting dioxygenated allylic amides are subsequently subjected to persistent radical effect-based 5-exo-trig radical cyclization

[2 + 1] Cycloaddition reactions of fullerene C₆₀ based on diazo compounds

• Yuliya N. Biglova

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2021, 17, 630–670, doi:10.3762/bjoc.17.55

• give methanofullerenes Scientists are currently focusing on methods for the functionalization of the fullerene core that provide a high selectivity and yield. The electron-deficient polyene C60 readily undergoes radical addition, nucleophilic addition, and cycloaddition processes. Therein, the decrease

Metal-free visible-light-enabled vicinal trifluoromethyl dithiolation of unactivated alkenes

• Xiaojuan Li,
• Qiang Zhang,
• Weigang Zhang,
• Jinzhu Ma,
• Yi Wang and
• Yi Pan

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2021, 17, 551–557, doi:10.3762/bjoc.17.49

• successfully studied. However, the disproportionate dithiolation of alkenes is unknown. Herein, a transition-metal-free protocol is presented for the vicinal trifluoromethylthio–thiolation of unactivated alkenes via a radical process under mild conditions with a broad substrate scope and excellent tolerance

• -Markovnikov hydrotrifluoromethylthiolation of alkenes utilizing trifluoromethanesulfonic anhydride (Tf2O) as a radical trifluoromethylthiolating reagent through a deoxygenative reduction and a photoredox radical pathway (Scheme 1b). The C–S bond [44][45] is an important structural motif that is widely present

• in natural products, drug molecules, biologically active molecules, and functional materials. However, the highly selective incorporation of two different sulfur-bearing moieties across double bonds remains challenging [42]. Herein, we describe a visible-light-enabled cascade radical

A new and efficient methodology for olefin epoxidation catalyzed by supported cobalt nanoparticles

• Lucía Rossi-Fernández,
• Viviana Dorn and
• Gabriel Radivoy

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2021, 17, 519–526, doi:10.3762/bjoc.17.46

• . reported on a Co3O4/TiO2-catalyzed solvent-free version that allowed the use of molecular oxygen together with sub-stoichiometric amounts of TBHP as radical initiator at 80 °C, with conversions lower than 40% and ca. 20% selectivity in the epoxidation of 1-decene as the only substrate tested [42]. On the

• previously made by other authors [15][16][17][41][42][43][44], we assumed that a radical oxidation process could be taking place. To test this assumption, the epoxidation of styrene was carried out under the optimized conditions by adding hydroquinone (5 mg, 0.045 mmol) as radical scavenger. After 8 h of

• reaction time only 9% conversion into styrene oxide (2a) was observed, thus evidencing the presence of radical species as reaction intermediates. The reusability of the CoNPs/MgO catalyst was then studied for styrene (1a) epoxidation as model reaction. After each cycle, the catalyst was separated from the

Helicene synthesis by Brønsted acid-catalyzed cycloaromatization in HFIP [(CF₃)₂CHOH]

• Takeshi Fujita,
• Noriaki Shoji,
• Nao Yoshikawa and
• Junji Ichikawa

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2021, 17, 396–403, doi:10.3762/bjoc.17.35

• reactions (Scheme 1a). Diels–Alder (Scheme 1b) [15] and radical reactions (Scheme 1c) [16] directed toward helicene synthesis require high temperature conditions even for low to moderate yields. Olefin metathesis (Scheme 1d) [17] and alkyne trimerization (Scheme 1e) [18][19] require the use of expensive

CF₃-substituted carbocations: underexploited intermediates with great potential in modern synthetic chemistry

• Anthony J. Fernandes,
• Armen Panossian,
• Bastien Michelet,
• Agnès Martin-Mingot,
• Frédéric R. Leroux and
• Sébastien Thibaudeau

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2021, 17, 343–378, doi:10.3762/bjoc.17.32

• nonfluorinated analogues (Eox (PhNMe2) = +0.71 V (SCE)), the radical cation 180 is formed under the reaction conditions, and deprotonation at the methylene unit near the CF3 group is highly favored because of the higher acidity, accounting for the observed high regioselectivity. In addition, the transient

• stabilization of radical 181 by the captodative effect could also favor the general process. Lewis acid activation of trifluoromethylated hemiaminal ethers has also been studied by Fuchigami et al. [115][116]. For instance, when 179b is treated with a slight excess of TiCl4 in dichloromethane, iminium ion 182b

• methoxylation or acetoxylation, respectively (Scheme 53). The driving force in this reaction is assumed to be the deprotonation of radical cation 215, a highly destabilized species due to the presence of the strongly electron-withdrawing CF3 substituent, which leads to radical 216, synergistically stabilized by

¹⁹F NMR as a tool in chemical biology

• Diana Gimenez,
• Aoife Phelan,
• Cormac D. Murphy and
• Steven L. Cobb

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2021, 17, 293–318, doi:10.3762/bjoc.17.28

Diels–Alder reaction of β-fluoro-β-nitrostyrenes with cyclic dienes

• Savva A. Ponomarev,
• Roman V. Larkovich,
• Alexander S. Aldoshin,
• Andrey A. Tabolin,
• Sema L. Ioffe,
• Jonathan Groß,
• Till Opatz and
• Valentine G. Nenajdenko

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2021, 17, 283–292, doi:10.3762/bjoc.17.27

• one of the most widely used fluorine-containing building blocks [48][49]. Recently, we have developed an efficient stereoselective synthesis of β-fluoro-β-nitrostyrenes 1 based on the radical nitration of 2-bromo-2-fluorostyrenes [50]. This process takes place with simultaneous elimination of bromine

Annulation of a 1,3-dithiole ring to a sterically hindered o-quinone core. Novel ditopic redox-active ligands

• Sergey V. Norkov,
• Anton V. Cherkasov,
• Andrey S. Shavyrin,
• Maxim V. Arsenyev,
• Viacheslav A. Kuropatov and
• Vladimir K. Cherkasov

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2021, 17, 273–282, doi:10.3762/bjoc.17.26

• coordination ability towards metal ions. The versatile chemistry of precursors used for annulation of the 1,3-dithiole moiety to an o-quinone ring allows a wide variety of substituents at the 2-position of the 1,3-dithiole cycle, including additional redox-active, coordination-capable or free-radical functions

The preparation and properties of 1,1-difluorocyclopropane derivatives

• Kymbat S. Adekenova,
• Peter B. Wyatt and
• Sergazy M. Adekenov

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2021, 17, 245–272, doi:10.3762/bjoc.17.25

• -difluorocyclopropanecarboxylic acid derivatives 58 by the Michael addition of ester and amide enolates to 2,4,6-trimethylphenyl 4-bromo-4,4-difluorocrotonate (57) followed by an Et3B-initiated radical cyclization (Scheme 24) [68]. Furthermore, when the sodium salt of dimethyl malonate was used as the Michael donor the

• , carbanion, and radical chemistry. Furthermore, gem-difluorocyclopropanes readily go through carbonylation, dehalogenation, and annulation, resulting in various useful materials. 2.1 Thermal rearrangements The substitution of hydrogen with fluorine in cyclopropane leads to a significant weakening of the C–C

• disrotation at C2 and C3 during stereomutation in 1,1-difluorocyclopropanes [85]. An important feature in the fluorinated system was the stabilization of the intermediate 2,2-difluorotrimethylene radicals due to the conjugation of the radical centers with the σ*-orbital of C–F bond, which can be represented

Total synthesis of decarboxyaltenusin

• Lucas Warmuth,
• Aaron Weiß,
• Marco Reinhardt,
• Anna Meschkov,
• Ute Schepers and
• Joachim Podlech

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2021, 17, 224–228, doi:10.3762/bjoc.17.22

• . [3][5][6], and from the endophytic fungus Botryosphaeria dothidea in Melia azedarach [7] it turned out to be a widely occurring natural product. It shows marked DPPH radical scavenging activities with determined IC50 values of 18.7 ± 0.2 μM [7] and 148 ± 3 μM [2], respectively, and displays

Insight into functionalized-macrocycles-guided supramolecular photocatalysis

• Minzan Zuo,
• Krishnasamy Velmurugan,
• Kaiya Wang,
• Xueqi Tian and
• Xiao-Yu Hu

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2021, 17, 139–155, doi:10.3762/bjoc.17.15

• by the reduction through ascorbic acid. Then, the resulting Chl-b radical anion could catalyze the reduction of the respective metal. Photocatalysis with pillararenes often makes use of host-induced self-assemblies. However, their hydrophobic cavity may also act as a confined nanospace for

Synthesis of aryl 2-bromo-2-chloro-1,1-difluoroethyl ethers through the base-mediated reaction between phenols and halothane

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

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2021, 17, 89–96, doi:10.3762/bjoc.17.9

• substrates that are susceptible to radical conditions, afforded the corresponding iodo- and alkenyl-substituted products, suggesting the reaction proceeds through an ionic process. 2-Hydroxychalcone (1o), which is a good Michael acceptor, also participated in the reaction to give the product 2o in 56% yield

• substituted phenols giving the products in moderate to good yields. Additionally, the products are expected to undergo a variety of functionalization using ionic and radical processes. Further studies on the chemical transformations of the ether products are currently underway. Experimental General

Benzothiazolium salts as reagents for the deoxygenative perfluoroalkylthiolation of alcohols

• Armin Ariamajd,
• Nils J. Gerwien,
• Benjamin Schwabe,
• Stefan Dix and
• Matthew N. Hopkinson

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2021, 17, 83–88, doi:10.3762/bjoc.17.8

• avoids pre-functionalization of the substrate, has been hindered by the lack of suitable reagents. In recent years, however, a selection of mostly electrophilic and radical sources has been introduced [27]. Nucleophilic perfluoroalkylthiolation is especially challenging due to the low nucleophilicity of

Progress in the total synthesis of inthomycins

• Bidyut Kumar Senapati

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2021, 17, 58–82, doi:10.3762/bjoc.17.7

• ,E,E)-triene (rac)-11 in 50% yield [59]. Since triene (rac)-11 has been previously transformed into inthomycin C, this study demonstrated the formal synthesis of racemic inthomycin C ((rac)-3) [21][22][43][50]. An interesting application of the O-directed free radical hydrostannation reaction was

• 82% yield (83% ee). Subsequent free radical hydrostannation on (−)-98 produced (+)-99 as the major product of a 46:1 mixture of (Z/E)-α-stannylated geometric isomers. The purified vinylstannane (+)-99 underwent iodination stereoselectively with excess N-iodosuccinimide to give (−)-100, which was then

Recent progress in the synthesis of homotropane alkaloids adaline, euphococcinine and N-methyleuphococcinine

• Dimas J. P. Lima,
• Antonio E. G. Santana,
• Michael A. Birkett and
• Ricardo S. Porto

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2021, 17, 28–41, doi:10.3762/bjoc.17.4

• desired homotropane. Ikeda synthesis – 2002 Ikeda et al. prepared azabicycle (±)-42, a protected form of (±)-euphococcinine (2) [45]. The author’s method focused on the radical reaction of 2-(but-3-ynyl)piperidine (±)-34 mediated by Bu3SnH. This "6-exo-dig" cyclization occurred in a regioselective way to

• provide the 9-azabicyclo[3.3.1]nonane system observed in (±)-35. The precursor (±)-34 was prepared from N-boc-pipecolinate, following a methodology previously described by the authors [46]. The radical Bu3SnH-mediated cyclization of (±)-34, occurred efficiently to provide (±)-35 with 95% yield in a 1:1

• innovative “6-exo-dig” cyclization to achieve the azabicyclic system. The route accomplished by Ikeda et al. led to the (±)-euphococcinine Bz-protected (±)-42 in 7 steps from the precursor 2-(but-3-ynyl)piperidine (±)-34, in an overall yield of 14.3%. The radical translocation and 6-exo-dig cyclization

Synthesis, crystal structures and properties of carbazole-based [6]helicenes fused with an azine ring

• Daria I. Tonkoglazova,
• Anna V. Gulevskaya,
• Konstantin A. Chistyakov and
• Olga I. Askalepova

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2021, 17, 11–21, doi:10.3762/bjoc.17.2

• electroactive materials [52][53][54]. Carbazole-based [6]helicenes [42] and [7]helicenes [50] showed deep blue electroluminescence and have been investigated in OLED devices. Some carbazole-based [5]- and [6]helicenes have been used as visible light photoinitiators for cationic and radical polymerization [41

• starting materials, rather expensive catalysts, harsh reaction conditions or low product yields. Transition-metal-catalyzed, electrophile-induced and oxidative radical cyclizations of ortho-alkynylated biaryls are widely used for the synthesis of polynuclear aromatics [57][58][59][60][61][62][63][64][65

Synthesis of tetrafluorinated piperidines from nitrones via a visible-light-promoted annelation reaction

• Vyacheslav I. Supranovich,
• Igor A. Dmitriev and
• Alexander D. Dilman

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 3104–3108, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.260

• photocatalyst activated by blue light. The annelation is a result of a radical addition at the nitrone, intramolecular nucleophilic substitution, and reduction of the N–O bond. Keywords: difluoroalkylation; nitrones; organofluorine compounds; photocatalysis; radical addition; Introduction Nitrogen-containing

• (CF2CF2) has advanced considerably over the last decade [20], and the use of preformed tetrafluorinated building blocks [21] provides the most efficient way of making these molecules. Recently, we disclosed a photoredox method for the reductive radical fluoroalkylation of nitrones [22][23][24]. We have

• conditions. In the previous research on the radical addition to nitrones we sometimes encountered a fluoroalkylation of the aromatic rings, if an excess of the fluorinated alkyl iodide was used [22][23][24]. This prompted us to attempt the reaction with an equimolar amount of the iodide 2b, which resulted in

Silver-catalyzed synthesis of β-fluorovinylphosphonates by phosphonofluorination of aromatic alkynes

• Yajing Zhang,
• Qingshan Tian,
• Guozhu Zhang and
• Dayong Zhang

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 3086–3092, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.258

• stereoselective manner under mild reaction conditions. This reaction is operationally simple and offers an excellent functional group tolerance as well as a broad substrate scope that includes both terminal and internal alkynes. The reaction proceeded through the oxidative generation of a P-centered radical and

• subsequent fluorine atom transfer. Keywords: β-fluorovinylphosphonates; fluorine atom transfer; P-centered radical; silver catalysis; three-component reaction; Introduction As one of the most important topics in organic chemistry, the introduction of fluorine and phosphorus atoms into double bonds is an

• introduction of two strong electron-withdrawing groups into double bonds has not yet been reported. With our continuous interest in, and inspiration from the well-established transition metal-catalyzed radical difunctionalization of unsaturated carbon–carbon bonds, specifically the work of Li’s group and

Amine–borane complex-initiated SF₅Cl radical addition on alkenes and alkynes

• Audrey Gilbert,
• Pauline Langowski,
• Marine Delgado,
• Laurent Chabaud,
• Mathieu Pucheault and
• Jean-François Paquin

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 3069–3077, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.256

• , France 10.3762/bjoc.16.256 Abstract The SF5Cl radical addition on unsaturated compounds was performed using an air-stable amine–borane complex as the radical initiator. This method showed to be complementary to the classic Et3B-mediated SF5Cl addition on alkenes and alkynes. A total of seven alkene and

• three alkyne derivatives were tested in the reaction, with yields ranging from 3% to 85%. Keywords: amine-borane complex; pentafluorosulfanyl chloride; pentafluorosulfanyl substituent; radical addition; radical initiation; Introduction The pentafluorosulfanyl (SF5) substituent has been attracting its

• limited, a few methods have been developed in the past 20 years in order to include a SF5 moiety on various organic substrates [27][28]. The main strategy towards pentafluorosulfanylated aliphatic compounds, reported for the first time by Dolbier and co-workers in 2002, is the Et3B-mediated radical

Deoxyfluorination of acyl fluorides to trifluoromethyl compounds by FLUOLEAD^®/Olah’s reagent under solvent-free conditions

• Yumeng Liang,
• Akihito Taya,
• Zhengyu Zhao,
• Norimichi Saito and
• Norio Shibata

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 3052–3058, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.254

• developed various efficient methodologies for the electrophilic [14][15], nucleophilic [16], and radical [17] trifluoromethylation reactions for more than a decade. In recent years, we also reported the direct introduction of an acyl fluoride unit into aromatic compounds by the Pd-catalyzed cross-coupling

Metal-free nucleophilic trifluoromethylselenolation via an iodide-mediated umpolung reactivity of trifluoromethylselenotoluenesulfonate

• Kevin Grollier,
• Alexis Taponard,
• Arnaud De Zordo-Banliat,
• Emmanuel Magnier and
• Thierry Billard

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 3032–3037, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.252

• has been developed, but in this case the use of a stoichiometric amount of the metal is required [37][38][39]. Only a few years ago, trifluoromethylselenotoluenesulfonate (1a) has been developed as an efficient reagent to perform electrophilic or radical trifluoromethylselenolations [42][43][44][45

• reagent able to perform electrophilic, radical or nucleophilic reactions depending on the conditions. The iodide-mediated, metal-free method is complementary to the previous one using TDAE. Thus, the umpolung reactivity of trifluoromethylselenotoluenesulfonate can be performed under reductive or oxidative

All-carbon [3 + 2] cycloaddition in natural product synthesis

• Zhuo Wang and
• Junyang Liu

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 3015–3031, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.251

• catalytic amount of tributylstannane [40] led to a radical cyclization, in which the resultant alkyl radical formed was trapped by AIBN to give a proposed nitrogen-centered radical 70. An 1,4-hydrogen abstraction of the nitrogen-centered radical on 70 produced carbon-centered radical 71, which underwent

• authors mentioned that the employment of the previously reported conditions for the radical cyclization in the synthesis of marcfortine B (8) led to the decomposition of the starting material. It was suggested that the MOM group of 80 may contribute to undesired side reactions. Synthesis of marcfortine C

• -membered carbocycles. These reactions have been applied successfully in the synthesis of complex natural products. In 2011, Curran and co-workers reported the synthesis of meloscine (158) featuring a tandem radical cyclization of a divinylcyclopropane [70] (Scheme 13A). Slow addition of tributylstannane