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

• mechanistic scenario than that operating in solution [71], where photogenerated thiyl radicals proved crucial intermediates. Parallelly, Hernández reported a photomechanochemical approach for the borylation of aryldiazonium salts in a ball milling apparatus equipped with a transparent polymethylmethacrylate

• content is not subject to CC BY 4.0 Photomechanochemical borylation of aryldiazonium salts. The photo in Scheme 8 was reproduced from [72] (© 2017 J. G. Hernández et al., published by Beilstein-Institut, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, https

Synthesis of acenaphthylene-fused heteroarenes and polyoxygenated benzo[j]fluoranthenes via a Pd-catalyzed Suzuki–Miyaura/C–H arylation cascade

• Merve Yence,
• Dilgam Ahmadli,
• Damla Surmeli,
• Umut Mert Karacaoğlu,
• Sujit Pal and
• Yunus Emre Türkmen

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 3290–3298, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.273

• )Cl2·CH2Cl2 was used with 5 mol % catalyst loading (Table 1, entry 1). Next, we examined whether different thiophene-3-ylboronic esters could also be used under the same reaction conditions. A variety of borylation methods are capable of providing different boronic esters, such as pinacol [44][45][46

• -dihydroxynaphthalene (1,8-DHN, 19) [48][55], by N-iodosuccinimide (NIS) in 87% yield (Scheme 2). Afterwards, naphthylboronic ester 22 was obtained via the Miyaura borylation [44] of iodonaphthalene 21 in 62% yield. Whereas this compound acts as the boronic ester coupling partner of our fluoranthene synthesis

• was selectively iodinated from the para-position with respect to the -OMe group with the use of NIS to afford iodonaphthalene 25 in 88% yield. A subsequent Miyaura borylation of 25 using B2pin2 under Pd catalysis gave boronic ester 26 in 71% yield, which set the stage for the key fluoranthene

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

• combining the organocatalytic and photocatalytic potential of porphyrin macrocycles [98]. In 2024, Gupta and colleagues expanded on the success of free base porphyrin macrocycles as photoredox catalysts by introducing meso-arylcorroles (types A3 and A2B) for C–H arylation and borylation reactions activated

• porphyrins, and provided evidence for aryl radical formation through mass spectrometry and NMR analysis of the adduct formed from the reaction between the radical intermediate and the scavenger 2,2,6,6-tetramethyl-1-piperidin-1-oxyl (TEMPO). Furthermore, they used the catalysts for borylation of arylamines

C–C Coupling in sterically demanding porphyrin environments

• Liam Cribbin,
• Brendan Twamley,
• Nicolae Buga,
• John E. O’ Brien,
• Raphael Bühler,
• Roland A. Fischer and
• Mathias O. Senge

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 2784–2798, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.234

• , borylation of a dodecasubstituted porphyrin’s meso-phenyl position was explored and a subsequent C–C coupling showed the polarity of the reaction can be reversed resulting in higher yields. X-ray analysis of the target compounds revealed the formation of supramolecular assemblies, capable of accommodating

• reactivity [36]. Borolanylporphyrins can be synthesized by Miyaura-borylation of the halogenated porphyrin [24][37]. There are also reported instances of borolanylporphyrins being synthesized under condensation conditions [36][38]. Despite the many synthetic advancements for the decoration of porphyrins

• explored, or further changes in the pH of the solution. Enrichment to the αβαβ-atropisomer may also be favorable [50], as to alleviate the steric hindrance caused by the short distances (4.3–4.4 Å) between bromines in the α2β2-atropisomers (cf., Figure 5). Borylation and further coupling of

Transition-metal-free synthesis of arylboronates via thermal generation of aryl radicals from triarylbismuthines in air

• Yuki Yamamoto,
• Yuki Konakazawa,
• Kohsuke Fujiwara and
• Akiya Ogawa

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 2577–2584, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.216

• with halogen or triflate groups. Recently, transition-metal-catalyzed direct borylation of arenes via C–H bond activation has been reported, although the design of the substrate and ligands is somewhat complicated [16][17][18][19][20][21][22]. Since the complete removal of catalyst-derived metal

• borylation under an argon atmosphere. Radical-trapping experiments using TEMPO as a radical scavenger. A proposed reaction pathway for the synthesis of arylboronates. Optimization of the reaction conditions for synthesis of 3a from BiPh3 (1a) and (pinB)2 (2). Supporting Information Supporting Information

A review of recent advances in electrochemical and photoelectrochemical late-stage functionalization classified by anodic oxidation, cathodic reduction, and paired electrolysis

• Nian Li,
• Ruzal Sitdikov,
• Ajit Prabhakar Kale,
• Joost Steverlynck,
• Bo Li and
• Magnus Rueping

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 2500–2566, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.214

Multicomponent syntheses of pyrazoles via (3 + 2)-cyclocondensation and (3 + 2)-cycloaddition key steps

• Ignaz Betcke,
• Alissa C. Götzinger,
• Maryna M. Kornet and
• Thomas J. J. Müller

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 2024–2077, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.178

• . In cases where the α,β-unsaturated carbonyl compounds contain a heteroatom in the β-position, aromatization is triggered by elimination under redox-neutral conditions. Tasch et al. successfully coupled aryl halides with α-bromocinnamaldehyde (51) using a Masuda borylation Suzuki cross-coupling (MBSC

• ) [69] approach without reducing the reactivity of the Michael system. In this one-pot procedure, the borylation of aryl halides with pinacolborane gives aryl pinacolyl boronates 53, which are then coupled with bromoenal 51 to generate the intermediary enal 54. Subsequent cyclization with tosylhydrazine

pKalculator: A pK_a predictor for C–H bonds

• Rasmus M. Borup,
• Nicolai Ree and
• Jan H. Jensen

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 1614–1622, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.144

• pharmaceutical intermediates that undergo selective borylation to compare our QM workflow and ML model with experimentally determined reaction sites. The quantum chemistry-based workflow Following work by Ree et al. [12][13][14][15], we present a fully automated QM-based workflow for computing C–H pKa values. A

• classifier as Ree et al. [14] have shown the opposite to be true for electrophilic aromatic substitutions. However, our regression model serves a dual function, that is, it accurately predicts pKa values and identifies the reaction site. Prediction of aryl C–H borylation sites In the previous section, we

• showed that our ML model is able to predict the reaction site for pKa-dependent reactions. Now, we test the ML model on a more complex reaction type, namely, borylation reactions. Caldeweyher et al. [45] presented a workflow to predict the iridium-catalyzed borylation site of aryl C–H bonds (SoBo) [45

Generation of alkyl and acyl radicals by visible-light photoredox catalysis: direct activation of C–O bonds in organic transformations

• Mithu Roy,
• Bitan Sardar,
• Itu Mallick and
• Dipankar Srimani

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 1348–1375, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.119

• borylation of tertiary alcohols using oxalates as a radical source and Ir(ppy)3 as a photocatalyst (Scheme 12). At first, the tertiary alcohols were functionalized using Barton pyridine-2-thione-N-oxycarbonyl (PTOC) esters for tert-alkyl radical generation. Next, the oxalates were utilized for borylation in

• ) were found to be the best choices for a smooth reaction progress. In 2019, Studer et al. [49] reported a borylation reaction of alcohols by conversion into xanthates that act as alkyl radical source via photocatalytic deoxygenation (Scheme 15). Therein, silane was used as radical agent for the

• reduction of xanthates. Under blue-light irradiation, xanthates were reacted with B2cat2 (19) in dimethylacetamide (DMAc), providing the borylated product in decent yield. The methodology was metal-free and did not require conventional heating. Nevertheless, the borylation process was limited to secondary

Transition-metal-catalyst-free electroreductive alkene hydroarylation with aryl halides under visible-light irradiation

• Kosuke Yamamoto,
• Kazuhisa Arita,
• Masami Kuriyama and
• Osamu Onomura

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 1327–1333, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.116

• ][53]. Furthermore, odd-numbered [n]cumulenes have proven to be effective redox mediators for electroreductive radical borylation of unactivated aryl chlorides without visible-light irradiation by the group of Milner [54]. Herein, we report transition-metal-catalyst-free electroreductive alkene

Auxiliary strategy for the general and practical synthesis of diaryliodonium(III) salts with diverse organocarboxylate counterions

• Naoki Miyamoto,
• Daichi Koseki,
• Kohei Sumida,
• Elghareeb E. Elboray,
• Naoko Takenaga,
• Ravi Kumar and
• Toshifumi Dohi

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 1020–1028, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.90

• phenolic O–H group with a fluoride anion [11]. Additionally, Muñiz et al. found that the acetate counterion was more effective than chloride, hexafluorophosphate, and trifluoromethane sulfonate for the borylation of diaryliodonium(III) salts [12]. Recently, our group has developed a new method for phenol O

(Bio)isosteres of ortho- and meta-substituted benzenes

• H. Erik Diepers and
• Johannes C. L. Walker

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 859–890, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.78

• rearrangement, amine (±)-27 was then accessible in one additional step. Formation of redox active ester (±)-28 from acid (±)-26 allowed photochemical Minisci reaction to 1,2-BCH (±)-29 and borylation to boronic ester (±)-30. Synthesis of phenol isostere (±)-31 was possible through oxidation of boronic ester

• 105. Prior to Rigotti and Bach, a select few 1,4-BCHs had been synthesised by Qin and co-workers [41] and Blanchard [56]. Alternatively, Hartwig and co-workers developed a C–H borylation reaction to access bridgehead-borylated 1,4-BCHs from monosubstituted BCHs [57]. The synthesis of polysubstituted

• could also be oxidised to acid 112, from which redox active ester 118 could be accessed. An alternative approach to 2-oxa-1,4-BCHs involves the C–H-borylation of monosubstituted 2-oxa-BCHs developed by Hartwig and co-workers (Scheme 12C) [57]. Functional groups including halides (in 120b), alcohols (in

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

• concomitant formation of radical 69. Finally, aromatization of 69 via SET to NHPI ester 3, generates pyridinium 73 as a byproduct, while propagating the radical chain reaction. Aggarwal and co-workers discovered the photoinduced decarboxylative borylation of NHPI esters mediated by bis(catecholato)diboron

• isonicotinate tert-butyl ester) in C(sp2)-borylation methods under photochemical and thermal conditions, respectively [65][66]. The activation of NHPI esters through EDA complex formation is also possible by employing a catalytic donor species, which enables a range of redox neutral transformations. In 2019

• ), alkynylation [88] (Scheme 24C) and C(sp3)–C(sp3) cross-coupling [89] (Scheme 24D). Finally, similar chemistry has been extended to the decarboxylative borylation of RAEs under Ni [90] and Cu [91] catalysis (Scheme 24E). Importantly, the Wang group has independently studied the decarboxylative Negishi coupling

A deep-red fluorophore based on naphthothiadiazole as emitter with hybridized local and charge transfer and ambipolar transporting properties for electroluminescent devices

• Suangsiri Arunlimsawat,
• Patteera Funchien,
• Pongsakorn Chasing,
• Atthapon Saenubol,
• Taweesak Sudyoadsuk and
• Vinich Promarak

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 1664–1676, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.122

• -N-carbazole 2 in good yield (87%). Compound 2 was then converted to the boronic ester intermediate 3 in 41% yield over two steps: monobromination at the carbazole unit of 2 with NBS/THF at low temperature giving the unisolated mixed brominated product followed by borylation with bis(pinacolato

Application of N-heterocyclic carbene–Cu(I) complexes as catalysts in organic synthesis: a review

• Nosheen Beig,
• Varsha Goyal and
• Raj K. Bansal

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 1408–1442, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.102

• transformations of sterically congested substrates, including those carrying a quaternary center not only proceeded efficiently but also were more selective. The NHCs with larger aryl units deliver higher selectivity ((Z/E: >98:2). Cazin and co-workers [83] instead used [IMes–CuCl] as catalyst for the borylation

• of internal alkynes with bis(pinacolato)diboron to obtain vinylboranes. The reaction could be performed in air. Tsuji and co-workers [84] prepared 2-boryl-substituted 1,3-butadienes, which are otherwise difficult to synthesize, through NHC–CuCl-catalyzed borylation of α-alkoxyallenes with B2(pin)2

• loading. Substrates with electron-withdrawing groups are tolerated, whereas strong electron-releasing groups decrease the reactivity. Steric hindrance also plays a crucial role, with ortho-substitution resulting in reduced catalytic activity. Mankad and co-worker [89] developed dehydrogenative borylation

Photoredox catalysis harvesting multiple photon or electrochemical energies

• Mattia Lepori,
• Simon Schmid and
• Joshua P. Barham

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 1055–1145, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.81

• driving force (evolution of CO2). Triethylphosphite P(OEt)3 and bis(pinacolato)diboron B2pin2 were successfully applied as trapping reagents for redox-neutral photo-Arbuzov and borylation reactions with good to excellent yields (Figure 11D). Additionally, the authors were able to perform the net-reductive

• to 4-DPAIPN, both electron-poor and electron-rich aryl chlorides with reduction potentials up to Epred = −2.94 V vs SCE were readily reduced by *3CzEPAIPN•−. The authors demonstrated an impressive scope of borylation reactions with B2pin2 as well as other boronate esters (17h) and several examples of

• pathways are incredibly important for the development of new radical ion catalysts with improved photon economies and novel applications. Lee, Cho, You, and co-workers recently disclosed a fully elucidated mechanism of the reductive borylation of aryl halides using three newly developed photocatalysts

Pyridine C(sp²)–H bond functionalization under transition-metal and rare earth metal catalysis

• Haritha Sindhe,
• Malladi Mounika Reddy,
• Karthikeyan Rajkumar,
• Akshay Kamble,
• Amardeep Singh,
• Anand Kumar and
• Satyasheel Sharma

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 820–863, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.62

• , diversely functionalized pyridines have been synthesized via C–H activation under transition-metal and rare earth metal catalysis, including C–H alkylation, alkenylation, arylation, heteroarylation, borylation, etc. Recently, metal-free approaches have also been developed for the C–H functionalization of N

Enolates ambushed – asymmetric tandem conjugate addition and subsequent enolate trapping with conventional and less traditional electrophiles

• Péter Kisszékelyi and
• Radovan Šebesta

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 593–634, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.44

• activated alkenes has matured into a well-developed strategy (Scheme 35). Despite its ability to build complex structures, the conjugate borylation with subsequent enolate trapping has rarely been applied in the last decade. These few examples are mostly limited to aldol reactions. In 2009, Shibasaki and co

• -workers explored the copper-catalyzed asymmetric conjugate borylation of β-substituted cyclic enones using chiral bisphosphine ligand L21 [77]. Other than the oxidation and hydrolysis of the produced enantiomerically enriched tertiary boronates, in one example, they have demonstrated the utilization of

• the enolate intermediate in a cascade sequence, including borylation, aldol reaction, and finally oxidation (Scheme 36). The product 146 containing three consecutive stereocenters was obtained in a dr of 6.5 to 1 and with good yield and enantioselectivity. Lam and co-workers described a highly

Combretastatins D series and analogues: from isolation, synthetic challenges and biological activities

• Jorge de Lima Neto and
• Paulo Henrique Menezes

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 399–427, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.31

• (91) was prepared from the borylation reaction of 4-bromobenzaldehyde (52, Scheme 18) [50]. The coupling reaction [23][24][25] between 14 and 91 gave the corresponding diaryl ether 16 in 68% yield. Subsequent transesterification reaction [51] using dibutyltin oxide and allylic alcohol led to the

Group 13 exchange and transborylation in catalysis

• Dominic R. Willcox and
• Stephen P. Thomas

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 325–348, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.28

• experimentally determined free energy barrier of 28 kcal mol−1 for the second transborylation reaction (Scheme 3b) [60]. The seminal work from Fontaine reported that [1-(N-2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidinyl)-2-BH2-C6H4]2 catalysed the C–H borylation of heterocycles with HBpin [61], the first example of a catalytic

• ‒H borylation, with an initial B‒Y/B‒H transborylation activating the precatalyst [62][63][64][65]. Zhang showed that benzoic acid decomposed HBpin to BH3 in situ to catalyse the C2‒H borylation of indoles (Scheme 4b) [66][67]. Gellrich reported the bis(pentafluorophenyl)borane-catalysed dimerisation

• borylation of thiols with HBpin (Scheme 17) [79]. Through computational analysis, a mechanism was proposed whereby the ambiphilic amine-borane 73 underwent concerted addition to the thiol 74 S–H bond, to give a zwitterion 75. After loss of H2, a neutral thioborane 76 was generated, which underwent B‒S/B‒H

Dissecting Mechanochemistry III

• Lars Borchardt and
• José G. Hernández

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2022, 18, 1454–1456, doi:10.3762/bjoc.18.150

• halides as substrates in multiple reactions. For instance, within this Thematic Issue, the synthetic relevance of aryl halides was evidenced during the development of a protocol for the solid-state palladium-catalyzed borylation reported by Kubota, Ito, and co-workers (Scheme 2) [6]. Moreover, Štrbac and

• . Mechanochemical palladium-catalyzed borylation protocol of aryl halides. 1,2-Debromination of polycyclic imides, followed by in situ trapping of the dienophile by several dienes. Synthesis of g-h-PCN from sodium phosphide and trichloroheptazine mediated by mechanochemistry. Mechanochemical intra- and

Palladium-catalyzed solid-state borylation of aryl halides using mechanochemistry

• Koji Kubota,
• Emiru Baba,
• Tamae Seo,
• Tatsuo Ishiyama and
• Hajime Ito

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2022, 18, 855–862, doi:10.3762/bjoc.18.86

• mill; borylation; cross-coupling; mechanochemistry; solid-state reaction; Introduction Arylboronic acid and its derivatives are indispensable reagents in modern synthetic chemistry because they have been frequently used for the preparation of many bioactive molecules, natural products, and functional

• organic materials, typically through Suzuki–Miyaura coupling [1][2][3][4][5][6][7]. The palladium-catalyzed boryl substitution of aryl halides with boron reagents, termed Miyaura–Ishiyama borylation, is an efficient method for synthesizing arylboronates with high functional group compatibility [8][9][10

• ][11][12][13][14]. To date, many palladium-based catalytic systems in solution for the borylation of aryl halides have been reported [8][9][10][11][12][13][14]. However, these solution-based reactions usually require long reaction times and significant amounts of dry and degassed organic solvents

Borylated norbornadiene derivatives: Synthesis and application in Pd-catalyzed Suzuki–Miyaura coupling reactions

• Robin Schulte and
• Heiko Ihmels

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2022, 18, 368–373, doi:10.3762/bjoc.18.41

• the borylation reaction (see above). Photochromism of naphthylnorbornadiene 6b The photoisomerization reaction of substrate 5b was monitored by absorption spectroscopy (Figure 1) and by 1H NMR-spectroscopic analysis (see Supporting Information File 1, Figure S51). In MeCN solution, norbornadiene 5b

Unexpected chiral vicinal tetrasubstituted diamines via borylcopper-mediated homocoupling of isatin imines

• Marco Manenti,
• Leonardo Lo Presti,
• Giorgio Molteni and
• Alessandra Silvani

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2022, 18, 303–308, doi:10.3762/bjoc.18.34

• oxindole-based α-aminoboronates. The asymmetric synthesis of diverse α-aminoboronic acids by diastereoselective Cu(I)-catalyzed borylation of N-tert-butanesulfinyl aldimines was described by Ellman and co-workers for the first time in 2008 [15] and next further developed with a more stable Cu(II) catalyst

Catalyzed and uncatalyzed procedures for the syntheses of isomeric covalent multi-indolyl hetero non-metallides: an account

• Ranadeep Talukdar

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2021, 17, 2102–2122, doi:10.3762/bjoc.17.137

• ]. The reason behind the C-2 attachment of the boron atom rather than at the C-3 position of the indole ring was explained by McGough et al. [37]. They performed a base-free catalytic I2-assisted indole C–H functionalization (electrophilic borylation) using the N-protected indole 1 and NHC·borane 4a that

• excess of the indole reactant. It is seen that in the presence of a base the C-2 deprotonation becomes very fast in 9 (for regaining aromaticity) so the boron at the initial C-3-borylated intermediate 8 (formed via SEAr) cannot migrate fast enough, leading to a C-3 borylation product 10a (unlike Pd) [38

• ][39][40]. Here the absence of the base resulted in a slow or no C-2 deprotonation of 9, which in turn forces the boron to migrate to C-2 from C-3 (8, Scheme 2b) to result in the C-2 borylation (10b). Amines Bis(indolyl)amines have recently become important as organic electroluminescent materials [41