Oxetanes: formation, reactivity and total syntheses of natural products

• Peter Gabko,
• Martin Kalník and
• Maroš Bella

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 1324–1373, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.101

• homoallylic alcohols 18/19 via metal hydride atom transfer/radical polar crossover (MHAT/RPC) method (Scheme 6) [41]. This mild and high-yielding protocol displays good functional group tolerance and has a broad substrate scope, even providing access to medicinally relevant spirooxetanes. The proposed MHAT

• /RPC mechanism starts with a single-electron oxidation of the cobalt catalyst followed by a reaction with the siloxane to generate a cobalt–hydride complex. Subsequent hydride transfer to the alkene produces radical pair 23 which collapses to alkylcobalt intermediate 24. Another single-electron

• , amides or esters and occurs under very mild conditions that are also suitable for a late-stage functionalisation of complex molecules. The transformation is based on an H-atom transfer to photochemically oxidised quinuclidine followed by an annulation of the resulting ketyl radical 32 with

Recent advances in amidyl radical-mediated photocatalytic direct intermolecular hydrogen atom transfer

• Hao-Sen Wang,
• Lin Li,
• Xin Chen,
• Jian-Li Wu,
• Kai Sun,
• Xiao-Lan Chen,
• Ling-Bo Qu and
• Bing Yu

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 1306–1323, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.100

• abstract hydrogen atoms from these C–H bonds and directly functionalize these bonds via radical reactions (Figure 1c) [11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18]. This approach involves HAT reagents abstracting hydrogen atoms from C–H bonds to generate highly reactive C-centered radicals, which can subsequently form

• (Figure 1c) [19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27], serve as key species for the HAT process. These HR were generated from different HAT reagent precursors (HRP) in a variety of strategies. Among these, amidyl radical HRPs have gained significant attention in recent years due to their ease of HRP synthesis

• /mol (Figure 2a) [28][29][30]. Almost 5 kcal/mol difference between two species could spontaneously undergo a HAT process. That also justifies the selectivity and efficiency of amidyl radical serving as HAT reagent. 2) Recent research indicated a critical correlation between electronic effects and

Recent advances and future challenges in the bottom-up synthesis of azulene-embedded nanographenes

• Bartłomiej Pigulski

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 1272–1305, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.99

• by a naphthalene-to-azulene rearrangement. The alternative radical cation mechanism has a higher energy barrier than the arenium cation-mediated reaction. Notably, only one of the pentagon–heptagon pairs exhibits an azulene-like electronic structure and aromaticity, as confirmed by the analysis of

• calculated NICS values. Similarly, Liu and co-workers reported the synthesis of two related nanographenes from precursor 38 (Scheme 6) [47]. Oxidation using DDQ/TfOH yielded two PAHs 39 and 40 in 34% and 22% yield, respectively. The authors postulated here formation of azulene moiety through radical cation

• ]. Notably, PAH 109 forms an air-stable radical cation after oxidation. A similar intramolecular oxidation of two adjacent azulene units was also reported with the use of FeCl3 as an oxidant [73] or in one step during Suzuki coupling between 1,8-dibromonaphthalene and borylated azulene [74]. The ease of

Recent advances in oxidative radical difunctionalization of N-arylacrylamides enabled by carbon radical reagents

• Jiangfei Chen,
• Yi-Lin Qu,
• Ming Yuan,
• Xiang-Mei Wu,
• Heng-Pei Jiang,
• Ying Fu and
• Shengrong Guo

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 1207–1271, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.98

• , People’s Republic of China Zhejiang Lvgu Biopharmaceutical Co., Ltd., No.16 Bailian Road, Nanmingshan Street, Lishui City 323000, Zhejiang Province, China 10.3762/bjoc.21.98 Abstract The field of radical-mediated functionalization of N-arylacrylamides has experienced considerable advancements in recent

• years, particularly in the domain of oxidative radical difunctionalization reactions employing carbon radical reagents. This approach provides a powerful and versatile strategy for the concurrent introduction of two distinct functional groups across the double bond of N-arylacrylamides, facilitating the

• rapid construction of complex molecular architectures. This review aims to summarize the diverse strategies for inducing intramolecular transformations of N-arylacrylamides using various carbon radical reagents, including methods initiated by photonic, thermal, or electrochemical processes, which have

Synthesis of β-ketophosphonates through aerobic copper(II)-mediated phosphorylation of enol acetates

• Alexander S. Budnikov,
• Igor B. Krylov,
• Fedor K. Monin,
• Valentina M. Merkulova,
• Alexey I. Ilovaisky,
• Liu Yan,
• Bing Yu and
• Alexander O. Terent’ev

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 1192–1200, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.96

• efficiency, strong basic or acidic conditions, and excess of organohalides as starting materials. Recent years have witnessed the upsurge of free-radical oxidative phosphorylation transformations that became a reliable strategy for the construction of C–P bonds in organophosphorus chemistry [2][32][33][34

• leading to β-ketophosphonates have been reported [41][42][43][44][45][46][47][48][49][50][61], challenges in this area still exist primely in the search for new available synthetic equivalents of alkynes and alkenes for effective radical C–P bond formation. Enol acetates are potentially versatile

• precursors of α-substituted carbonyl compounds that have been recently applied as coupling partners for radical functionalization with the formation of C–C [63][64][65][66] and C–Het [67][68][69][70] bonds. The ready availability of enol acetates from the corresponding carbonyl compounds in just one

Recent advances in synthetic approaches for bioactive cinnamic acid derivatives

• Betty A. Kustiana,
• Galuh Widiyarti and
• Teni Ernawati

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 1031–1086, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.85

• O atom of the carboxylate group. For instance, Coote and co-workers (2019) reported electrochemical methylation of cinnamic acid 7 using the TEMPO-Me reagent via reactive radical cation 59 to give the corresponding methyl ester 44 in moderate yield (Scheme 21A) [53]. Wang and co-workers (2019

• CuBr promoted hydrogen atom abstraction from the amide 94 resulting in the benzylic radical species 95, followed by oxidation to give acyliminium species 96. Luque and co-workers (2020) developed a biogenic carbonate of CuO–CaCO3 to catalyze solvent- and additive-free amidation reactions in air

• proceeding via C–N-bond cleavage of the oxidized tertiary amine 116 (Scheme 35) [70]. Cinnamic acid (7) was activated by forming the acyl radical 118 after −OPyf group cleavage from 117. Recently, Li and co-workers (2024) studied visible-light-mediated FeCl3-catalyzed reductive transamidation of nitro

Biobased carbon dots as photoreductants – an investigation by using triarylsulfonium salts

• Valentina Benazzi,
• Arianna Bini,
• Ilaria Bertuol,
• Mariangela Novello,
• Federica Baldi,
• Matteo Hoch,
• Alvise Perosa and
• Stefano Protti

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 1024–1030, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.84

• , with particular attention to the 1,2-difunctionalization of olefins by alkyl halides via atom transfer radical addition processes in the presence of amorphous nitrogen-doped carbon dots (Scheme 1a) [20]. In the framework of this research topic, we decided to investigate the use of carbon dots as

• from direct photoreactivity [24][25], sulfonium salts can be easily reduced under photoredox-catalyzed conditions [20][21][22], and the resulting radical undergoes homolytic cleavage of one of the C–S bonds, releasing an aryl radical Ar• and a diaryl sulfide Ar2S. Subsequently, triarylsulfonium ions

• material was observed, thus pointing out the key role of CDs in the process. Some additional irradiation was carried out to identify the aryl radical released during the irradiation. Unfortunately, when the reaction was conducted in the presence of both furan and allyl phenyl sulfone [27] no arylation

Recent total synthesis of natural products leveraging a strategy of enamide cyclization

• Chun-Yu Mi,
• Jia-Yuan Zhai and
• Xiao-Ming Zhang

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 999–1009, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.81

• have attracted considerable attention due to their promise in the total synthesis of alkaloids [16]. Notably, these valuable compounds can be employed as efficient synthons in enamide–alkyne cycloisomerization, [n + m] cycloadditions, pericyclic reactions, and radical cyclizations. A comprehensive

• bridge cycle [36][37]. The excellent diastereoselectivity in this radical cyclization was further rationalized by DFT calculations, which suggests an energy discrepancy of the hydrogen atom transfer process from different faces of the resulting α-hydroxyl radical. Final reduction of the ketone and amide

On the photoluminescence in triarylmethyl-centered mono-, di-, and multiradicals

• Daniel Straub,
• Markus Gross,
• Mona E. Arnold,
• Julia Zolg and
• Alexander J. C. Kuehne

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 964–998, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.80

• unresolved questions that must be addressed to unlock the full potential of trityl-based radicals in advanced technological applications. Keywords: Chichibabin hydrocarbon; COF; Gomberg radical; MOF; Müller hydrocarbon; Thiele hydrocarbon; Introduction Gomberg-type, triarylmethyl-centered radicals

• ][14]. While first examples of radical emitters in light-emitting diodes (LEDs) only delivered around 12% internal quantum efficiency [7], representing no improvement compared to conventional emitters, optimization of the donor-functionalized TTM radical and of the device geometry quickly allowed

• demonstration of LEDs with 100% internal quantum efficiency [8][12]. Modern approaches also incorporate light-emitting TTM radical derivatives into LEDs based on thermally activated delayed fluorescence to moderate excited triplet, doublet, and singlet states in an attempt to improve the overall device and

Study of tribenzo[b,d,f]azepine as donor in D–A photocatalysts

• Katy Medrano-Uribe,
• Jorge Humbrías-Martín and
• Luca Dell’Amico

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 935–944, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.76

• computational study to design new PCs to be employed in atom transfer radical polymerization (O-ATRP) [17]. Notably, the sulfur-based structure 2 showed excellent performance for this transformation. One year later, the same research group reported its use in a reversible addition-fragmentation chain-transfer

• surprisingly, 5e showed only traces of 8, even with an E*ox of −1.85 V (Table 2, entry 5). Under the oxidative quenching study, we also evaluated the photocatalytic potential of the new family of D–A compounds in the atom transfer radical addition (ATRA) reaction involving styrene and tosyl chloride (TsCl), as

• facilitated by reduced photocatalyst (PC) and the interaction of 15 with the radical cation of DIPEA. The best result, again, was attributed to molecule 5a with 60% isolated yield (Table 5, entry 1). In contrast, molecule 5b showed the worst performance with 41% NMR yield (Table 5, entry 2). For compounds 5c

Recent advances in controllable/divergent synthesis

• Jilei Cao,
• Leiyang Bai and
• Xuefeng Jiang

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 890–914, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.73

• environment around the copper center disfavors a direct interaction with nucleophilic alkyl radicals. Instead, the reaction proceeds via an outer-sphere mechanism, where the alkyl radical reacts with the copper-activated C=N unsaturated bond, enabling stereocontrolled C(sp3)–C(sp3) coupling. In contrast, with

• L9, and reagents, delivering enantioenriched 2-/3-alkyl-substituted pyrrolidines with excellent regio- and enantioselectivity (up to 97% enantiomeric excess). Radical-clock experiments and deuterium-labeled silane studies revealed that cobalt catalysis proceeded via irreversible Co–H migratory

• ) and (3 + 2) cyclization strategies. Two distinct pathways were established: (1) The titanium-catalyzed ring opening of bicyclobutane (BCB) 32 generates a γ-carbonyl radical intermediate Int-42, which undergoes trapping by vinylazide 33. Subsequent dinitrogen extrusion produces an iminyl radical

Recent advances in the electrochemical synthesis of organophosphorus compounds

• Babak Kaboudin,
• Milad Behroozi,
• Sepideh Sadighi and
• Fatemeh Asgharzadeh

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 770–797, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.61

• that when the reaction was carried out in the presence of TEMPO as a radical scavenger, a side product, TEMPO-P(O)R2, was formed (it was confirmed using high-resolution mass spectrometry). The results revealed that the reaction proceeded in a radical pathway (Scheme 1). Based on the cyclic voltammetry

• nickel as the cathode in the presence of tetrabutylammonium bromide (TBAB) at the constant current of 6 mA. The electrodes used in the reaction are all in plate form. The presence of TBAB causes the resulting bromide anion to oxidize to bromine radical and react with R2P(O)–H to produce a radical

• performed in the presence of TEMPO, the product of TEMPO-P(O)R2 was formed, which showed that the process proceeded through a radical path. In addition, the reaction was carried out in an electrochemical environment with an undivided cell, using graphite and platinum plate electrodes as the anode and

Entry to 2-aminoprolines via electrochemical decarboxylative amidation of N‑acetylamino malonic acid monoesters

• Olesja Koleda,
• Janis Sadauskis,
• Darja Antonenko,
• Edvards Janis Treijs,
• Raivis Davis Steberis and
• Edgars Suna

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 630–638, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.50

• addressed. Initially, we hypothesized that 11a may form by a single-electron oxidation/decarboxylation (Kolbe reaction) of 9a to generate carbon-centered radical, followed by hydrogen abstraction from solvent. To verify the hypothesis, an electrolysis of acid 9d was performed under optimized conditions

• observed by LC–MS when the electrolysis was performed in 5:1 MeCN/D2O (Scheme 2, reaction 2). The considerably higher O–H bond dissociation energy (119 kcal/mol) [12] as compared to that of the C–H bond in MeCN (86 kcal/mol) [13] renders the hydrogen atom abstraction from water by a carbon-centered radical

Formaldehyde surrogates in multicomponent reactions

• Cecilia I. Attorresi,
• Javier A. Ramírez and
• Bernhard Westermann

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 564–595, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.45

• this case, the mechanism appears to proceed through the formation of free radical species, where APS plays the role of oxidant and radical activator of DMSO, generating reactive radical species of DMSO or dimethyl sulfone that react with the nitrogen of saccharine compound 19 without the need for a

• catalyst. Another recent example for the use of DMSO as C1 synthon was reported by Bhattacharjee et al. They used DMSO in a 3CR to install a methylene unit between an indazole 24 and a carboxylic acid 25 (Scheme 18) [52]. Under radical conditions using K2S2O8, they obtained a series of carboxylic acid

• salts and TEMPO as the radical initiator/oxidant couple that promoted the intramolecular radical cyclization of suitable 1,3-dicarbonyl Ugi adducts 54 and 55 (Scheme 45) [108][109]. The stabilization of the enol in the 1,3-dicarbonyl Ugi adduct allows single-electron transfer (SET) with the anion

Deep-blue emitting 9,10-bis(perfluorobenzyl)anthracene

• Long K. San,
• Sebastian Balser,
• Brian J. Reeves,
• Tyler T. Clikeman,
• Yu-Sheng Chen,
• Steven H. Strauss and
• Olga V. Boltalina

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 515–525, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.39

• higher selectivity with milder reaction temperatures. The weaker C(sp2)–Br bond is easier to cleave than a C(sp2)–H bond, resulting in a higher likelihood of radical substitution at those positions. To the best of our knowledge, there are no previous examples of perfluorobenzyl substitution of any PAH(Br

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

• benefits of the photomechanochemical approach in the field of synthesis [77]. Specifically, they developed photomechanochemical conditions for the atom-transfer-radical addition (ATRA) of sulfonyl chlorides to alkenes, pinacol coupling of carbonyl compounds, decarboxylative acylation, and photocatalyzed [2

• reactions: A) atom-transfer-radical addition, B) pinacol coupling, C) decarboxylative alkylation, D) [2 + 2] cycloaddition. The photo in Scheme 11 was reproduced from [77] (© 2024 F. Millward et al., published by Wiley-VCH GmbH, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0

Electrochemical synthesis of cyclic biaryl λ³-bromanes from 2,2’-dibromobiphenyls

• Andrejs Savkins and
• Igors Sokolovs

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 451–457, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.32

• starts with a single-electron oxidation of 4a on the electrode surface to form cation radical A, in which Br(II) is chelation-stabilized by the carboxyl group [21] and the neighbouring Br substituent [24]. Intermediate A rapidly undergoes irreversible chemical reaction by HFIP coordination to transient

• Br(II) followed by subsequent deprotonation to generate radical B. A following disproportionation of radical B would lead to the formation of Br(III) species C (anodic oxidation cannot be fully excluded), which undergoes intramolecular SNAr-type substitution to form cyclic λ3-bromane 1a and

Synthesis, characterization, antimicrobial, cytotoxic and carbonic anhydrase inhibition activities of multifunctional pyrazolo-1,2-benzothiazine acetamides

• Ayesha Saeed,
• Shahana Ehsan,
• Muhammad Zia-ur-Rehman,
• Erin M. Marshall,
• Sandra Loesgen,
• Abdus Saleem,
• Simone Giovannuzzi and
• Claudiu T. Supuran

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 348–357, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.25

• to inhibit p38α MAPK and 0.5 µM for TNF-α [10]. Pyrazolobenzothiazines containing a triazole moiety have also been studied as potential antibacterial drugs [7]. Other applications of N-substituted benzyl/phenyl acetamide pyrazolobenzothiazines include superoxide anion and DPPH radical scavenging

Red light excitation: illuminating photocatalysis in a new spectrum

• Lucas Fortier,
• Corentin Lefebvre and
• Norbert Hoffmann

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 296–326, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.22

• catalysis in recent years not only with heavy metals such as ruthenium and iridium [1][2][3][4][5], but also with lighter elements [6][7][8]. This field of light-mediated organic transformations relies on the use of a photocatalyst to promote radical reactions through electron transfer between this former

• 9,10-dicyanoanthracene radical anion (DCA•−) [29]. This system effectively drives photoredox-mediated reduction and C–C cross-coupling reactions under mild red-light conditions with various aryl halides, an aliphatic iodide, and O- and N-tosylated substrates (Scheme 4a). The authors discuss two

• plausible mechanisms: a photoinduced electron transfer (PET) between the 3MLCT state of the copper complex and DCA or a triplet–triplet energy transfer (TTET) between the 3MLCT state of the copper complex and DCA. In both of these mechanisms, the involvement of a doublet excited-state of the radical anion

Oxidation of [3]naphthylenes to cations and dications converts local paratropicity into global diatropicity

• Abel Cárdenas,
• Zexin Jin,
• Yong Ni,
• Jishan Wu,
• Yan Xia,
• Francisco Javier Ramírez and
• Juan Casado

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 277–285, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.20

• radical cations and dications of linear and angular [3]naphthylenes, consisting of fused aromatic naphthalenoid and antiaromatic cyclobutadienoid moieties and containing different degrees of paratropicity. Electronic absorption and vibrational Raman spectroscopies were used to describe the more relevant

• report that compounds 1 and 2 can both be easily oxidized to form relatively stable radical cations (1•+, 2•+) and dications (12+, 22+). Interestingly, oxidation reverses local antiaromaticity to aromaticity, a transition that is particularly noticeable in 1 → 1•+ → 12+, where stabilization of the

• dication is associated to the appearance of a global diatropic ring current which stabilizes the whole molecule. On the contrary, 22+ can be better viewed as two segregated radical cations with slight, but high enough, local diatropic character in each. Here, we use electronic UV–vis–NIR absorption and

Synthesis of disulfides and 3-sulfenylchromones from sodium sulfinates catalyzed by TBAI

• Zhenlei Zhang,
• Ying Wang,
• Xingxing Pan,
• Manqi Zhang,
• Wei Zhao,
• Meng Li and
• Hao Zhang

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 253–261, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.17

• (sp2)–H radical sulfenylation of enaminones or chromones has emerged as a popular strategy using various sulfenyl precursors such as thiophenols [38][39][40], sulfonyl hydrazides [41][42], disulfides [43], KSCN [44], S8 [45], methylsulfinyl derivatives [46], sodium sulfinates [47], and thiosulfonates

• whether the reaction proceeded through a free radical mechanism, different free radical inhibitors were added to the reaction (reaction 7, Scheme 5). The addition of TEMPO ((2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidin-1-yl)oxyl) resulted in complete inhibition of the reaction, while BHT (2,6-di-tert-butyl-4-methylphenol

• ) exhibited a lesser effect. Considering that TEMPO, as an oxidizing agent, affected the reaction, it could be concluded that the reaction did not proceed through a free radical mechanism. Based on the results of the control experiments and the related literature [26][30][41][52], a possible mechanism for the

Visible-light-promoted radical cyclisation of unactivated alkenes in benzimidazoles: synthesis of difluoromethyl- and aryldifluoromethyl-substituted polycyclic imidazoles

• Yujun Pang,
• Jinglan Yan,
• Nawaf Al-Maharik,
• Qian Zhang,
• Zeguo Fang and
• Dong Li

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 234–241, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.15

• , Palestine 10.3762/bjoc.21.15 Abstract An efficient and eco-friendly approach for synthesizing difluoromethyl- and aryldifluoromethyl-substituted polycyclic imidazoles was established via a visible-light-promoted radical cyclization reaction. This method employed the readily accessible and inexpensive

• target products in good to excellent yields. Mechanistic studies revealed that the reaction proceeds via a radical pathway. Keywords: cyclization; difluoromethylation; hypervalent iodine; polycyclic imidazole; visible light; Introduction Organofluorine compounds continue to play important roles in

• both difluoromethylated and aryldifluoromethylated benzimidazoles. Inspired by previous work in radical chemistry, we turned our attention to difluoroacetic acid (CF2HCOOH) and α,α-difluorobenzeneacetic acid (PhCF2COOH), both of which are inexpensive and readily available industrial raw materials. In

Dioxazolones as electrophilic amide sources in copper-catalyzed and -mediated transformations

• Seungmin Lee,
• Minsuk Kim,
• Hyewon Han and
• Jongwoo Son

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 200–216, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.12

• nitrenoid intermediate was characterized by the same group [75]. Further radical rebound from INT-4 induces the enantioselective C–N bond formation. Finally, the desired product 2 is released from INT-4, regenerating the active chiral copper species to participate in the catalytic cycle. 1.2 C(sp2)–H

• Synthesis of primary amides via the generation of copper–imidate radical intermediates In a subsequent study, the research group of Son developed a method for the reduction of dioxazolones to synthesize primary amides under mild reducing conditions in copper catalysis (Scheme 10) [103]. The reaction was

• was proposed for the copper-catalyzed synthesis of primary amides. Dioxazolone first binds to the copper catalyst, forming the dioxazolone-copper complex (INT-34). The silane reductant then reduces INT-34, forming the copper imidate radical species INT-35, furnishing the formation of primary amides 28

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

• remains a significant challenge owing to the high energy barrier required for oxidative addition and facile β-hydride elimination [12]. The development of radical approaches facilitated by transition-metal catalysis has provided a promising solution to overcome the limitations of conventional coupling

• reactions, particularly in controlling the high reactivity and selectivity of radical intermediates [13][14]. Early studies on copper-mediated radical reactions, such as Julia’s work on radical cyclization reaction [15], along with advancements in dimerization [16][17], oxidative cleavage [18][19], and

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

• or radical (Figure 1). The latter is typically operative when the reaction is carried out under oxidative conditions, usually in the presence of O2 and TEMPO, involving the formation of radical species through single-electron transfer (SET) from a copper catalyst to a precursor. Subsequent addition

• reaction proceeds through an initial single-electron transfer from NFBS assisted by the active copper species, followed by intermolecular hydrogen-atom transfer from the carbazate. The nitrogen radical intermediate I thus formed is decomposed into the acyl or alkyl radical intermediates II and III

• , respectively. The latter interacts with the alkene generating an alkyl radical IV that converts to the cationic intermediate V by single-electron oxidation by the Cu(II) species. Finally, the attack of the nucleophile leads to the desired products 6. Starting from aryl carbazates, intermediate II, adds