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

• rearrangements. Most organic molecules are colorless and, in fact, do not absorb visible light: highly energetic UV irradiation is typically needed. A milder approach is offered by photocatalytic approaches. Here, a photocatalyst is added to the reaction mixture to convert light energy into chemical potential to

• transform molecules. Intriguingly, photocatalysts typically absorb harmless visible light and can be chosen ad hoc to trigger the desired chemistry. Indeed, the photocatalyst–substrate interaction can occur via energy transfer [4][5][6][7][8], single-electron transfer [9][10][11][12], or hydrogen-atom

• -workers in 2022. They reported the photo-thermo-mechanochemical approach for the synthesis of quinolines from sulfoxonium ylides and 2-vinylanilines promoted by an iron(II) phthalocyanine (FeIIPc) photocatalyst (Scheme 3) [65]. First, a mixture of 2-(1-phenylvinyl)aniline (3.1), sulfoxonium ylide 3.2, and

Beyond symmetric self-assembly and effective molarity: unlocking functional enzyme mimics with robust organic cages

• Keith G. Andrews

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 421–443, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.30

• -selective reactions [21][185][430][431][432][433]. Cage structure may also activate photocatalysts [434] or help restrict detrimental photocatalyst deactivation reactions [435]. We also point towards conformational autodesymmetrization [39] as a largely ignored strategy to develop low-symmetry cavities

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

• excitation to the triplet state from the ground state S0. This effect mitigates rapid back-electron transfer from the singlet excited state to the ground state, extending the excited-state lifetime of the photocatalyst. Since the T1 → S0 transition is spin-forbidden, the process increases the overall

• study found that by using [Os(phen)3]2+ as the photocatalyst and 660 nm red light, the reaction exhibited greater functional group tolerance, handling a variety of electron-deficient, neutral and rich (hetero)aryl bromides 9 and primary and secondary amine-based nucleophiles 10 with minimal degradation

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

• CF2HCO2H or PhCF2COOH, along with benzimidazoles bearing unactivated alkenes and PhI(OAc)2 as substrates, and proceeded without the need of any base, metal catalyst, photocatalyst or additive. In total, 24 examples were examined, and all of them successfully underwent cyclization reaction to produce the

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

• products and drugs has proven to be useful in these reactions. As shown in Figure 7, the photocatalyst sodium anthraquinone-2,7-disulfonate (AQDS) is excited by 395 nm light to form AQDS* and undergoes electron transfer with arylalkanes 20 to generate an ion-radical pair (AQDS•−, 20•+). This ion radical

• products with high enantioselectivity. The catalytic cycle is depicted in Figure 7. The photoexcited photocatalyst anthraquinone (AQ*) acts as a hydrogen-atom transfer (HAT) acceptor and transforms the alkylarene 20 into benzylic radical intermediate 23 together with reduced [AQ–H]•. The benzylic radical

• enantioenriched nitrile products 29. The proposed mechanism is illustrated in Figure 8. [Mes-Acr-Ph]+* is generated through the photoexcitation of the photocatalyst [Mes-Acr-Ph]+, which undergoes electron transfer to the heteroarene 28, resulting in the formation of the [Mes-Acr-Ph]• and heteroarene radical

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

• and sulfur dioxide afforded vinyl sulfones with excellent regio- and stereoselectivity (Scheme 9) [22]. The authors used DABCO(SO2)2 to generate sulfur dioxide, and visible light irradiation and the mandatory presence of a photocatalyst for this transformation suggested a radical mechanism. The

Recent advances in organocatalytic atroposelective reactions

• Henrich Szabados and
• Radovan Šebesta

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 55–121, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.6

Giese-type alkylation of dehydroalanine derivatives via silane-mediated alkyl bromide activation

• Perry van der Heide,
• Michele Retini,
• Fabiola Fanini,
• Giovanni Piersanti,
• Francesco Secci,
• Daniele Mazzarella,
• Timothy Noël and
• Alberto Luridiana

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 3274–3280, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.271

• photocatalyst (Figure 1d) [25]. Noël et al. [26] have further extended this approach to include alkyl bromides (Figure 1e) [26]. Despite the effectiveness of the photolysis, benzophenone derivatives have also been shown to enhance the productivity of silane-mediated conjugate additions, using alkyl halides [27

• initial reaction, using CH3CN as solvent, led to formation of methyl 3-cyclohexyl-2-(1,3-dioxoisoindolin-2-yl)propanoate (3, 51% yield, 85% conv.; Table 1, entry 1). To demonstrate the importance of the photocatalyst, BP l was excluded (Table 1, entry 2), resulting in a slightly higher conversion and a

• slight increase in chemical yield. Giese reaction: Radical addition on olefins with an electron-withdrawing group (EWG) followed by a HAT or SET and protonation; halogen-atom transfer: (a) tin-mediated XAT, (b) XAT initiated by a photocatalyst (PC) and mediated by boranes (B), silanes (Si) or alkylamines

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

• -workers reported using metal-free planar H2TPP (18) as a photocatalyst for the photoredox-α-alkylation of aldehydes with ethyl diazoacetate [91]. This reaction achieved an impressive product yield up to 84%. Control experiments showed that omitting any one of the reaction components – such as the

• various amines tested, only the secondary amines (morpholine) led to product formation, confirming the formation of enamine in the catalytic cycle. The proposed mechanism suggested that the amine, photocatalyst, and light each played crucial roles (Figure 14). The porphyrin acted as both a photoredox unit

Advances in radical peroxidation with hydroperoxides

• Oleg V. Bityukov,
• Pavel Yu. Serdyuchenko,
• Andrey S. Kirillov,
• Gennady I. Nikishin,
• Vera A. Vil’ and
• Alexander O. Terent’ev

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 2959–3006, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.249

• -AcrClO4 as the photocatalyst has been disclosed (Scheme 24) [67]. According to the authors, the irradiation of the photocatalyst (Acr+-Mes) A with a blue LED leads to the excited state (Acr·-Mes·+) B. The aliphatic carboxylic acid 66 is converted by deprotonation to the corresponding carboxylate, which is

• oxidized by the excited photocatalyst to give the benzyl radical D and CO2. Further, single electron transfer from (Acr·-Mes) C to TBHP results in the ground state photocatalyst (Acr+-Mes) A and tert-butoxy radical E, which abstracts the hydrogen atom from TBHP to yield tert-butylperoxy radical F. The

• recombination of radicals F and D leads to the product 67. Photochemical peroxidation of isochromans and other benzylic C(sp3)–H substrates 68 with TBHP was developed using Ir(ppy)3 as the photocatalyst and Bronsted acid as an additive (Scheme 25) [68]. Visible light irradiation of [IrIII(ppy)3] to give the

Recent advances in transition-metal-free arylation reactions involving hypervalent iodine salts

• Ritu Mamgain,
• Kokila Sakthivel and
• Fateh V. Singh

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 2891–2920, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.243

• position of quinoline N-oxides and pyridine N-oxides, utilizing hypervalent iodine salts as the arylation reagents. The reaction was facilitated by visible light in conjunction with a photocatalyst. The absence of either the photocatalyst or light resulted in only trace amounts of the product, underscoring

• their essential roles in product formation. Optimized conditions comprised the reaction of the quinoline N-oxides 25 (1 equiv) with diaryliodonium tetrafluoroborates 26 (2 equiv) as the arylating agent, 1,4-benzoquinone (BQ) as an additive (2 equiv), the photocatalyst eosin Y (10 mol %), and Cs2CO3 (1

• intermediate I. Furthermore, intermediate I subsequently undergoes another SET reaction, resulting in intermediate II and the regeneration of the photocatalyst. Intermediate II undergoes deprotonation, facilitated by the presence of Cs2CO3 as base, to yield the final products 27 or 29. Additives like BQ likely

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

• into a carbon radical intermediate. The photocatalyst then oxidizes this intermediate, leading to the final product (Scheme 45). This approach underscores the significant potential of combining electro- and photocatalysis to achieve selective and mild transformations in organic synthesis, particularly

• disclosed a similar trifluoromethylation of arenes under photoelectrochemical reaction conditions but without the addition of a photocatalyst, using trifluoroacetic acid as the CF3 source (Scheme 47b) [71]. This alternative approach further underscores the versatility and applicability of

• bonds is challenging due to the risk of overoxidation. Recently, Lambert and coworkers explored the photoelectrochemical multiple oxygenation of C–H bonds using trisaminocyclopropenium (TAC+) as a photocatalyst [74]. This method enables the transformation of alkylarenes into the corresponding di- or

Visible-light-mediated flow protocol for Achmatowicz rearrangement

• Joachyutharayalu Oja,
• Sanjeev Kumar and
• Srihari Pabbaraja

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 2493–2499, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.213

• ; photocatalyst; sunlight; Introduction The furan ring moiety is present in several natural products [1] and serves as a key precursor to 1,4-dicarbonyls [2], cyclopentanones [3], and carboxylic acids [4], in synthetic organic chemistry. Furfuryl alcohols, a family of 2-substituted furan molecules, are

• more efficient processes and potentially higher yields compared to the batch processes [23]. The first photoredox-mediated Achmatowicz reaction was reported by Gilmore et al. [13] in batch mode utilizing furfuryl alcohols with Ru(bpy)3Cl2·6H2O as photocatalyst, Na2S2O8 as an oxidant and H2O/DMSO/MeCN

• light and biomass-derived furfuryl alcohols as starting material making it more environmental benign. Results and Discussion A batch process Achmatowicz rearrangement mediated by less expensive rose bengal as photocatalyst (PC) was first reported by Vassilikogiannakis et al. [24] and was further

Photoredox-catalyzed intramolecular nucleophilic amidation of alkenes with β-lactams

• Valentina Giraldi,
• Giandomenico Magagnano,
• Daria Giacomini,
• Pier Giorgio Cozzi and
• Andrea Gualandi

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 2461–2468, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.210

• reactions limit the utility of this approach. Herein, we report an intramolecular photoredox cyclization of alkenes with β-lactams in the presence of an acridinium photocatalyst. The approach uses an intramolecular nucleophilic addition of the β-lactam nitrogen atom to the radical cation photogenerated in

• the linked alkene moiety, followed by hydrogen transfer from the hydrogen atom transfer (HAT) catalyst. This process was used to successfully prepare 2-alkylated clavam derivatives. Keywords: β-lactam; acridinium photocatalyst; alkenes; amides; intramolecular radical reaction; photoredox catalysis

Factors influencing the performance of organocatalysts immobilised on solid supports: A review

• Zsuzsanna Fehér,
• Dóra Richter,
• Gyula Dargó and
• József Kupai

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 2129–2142, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.183

• reactions in a less protic and less polar solvent. Attaching catalysts to solid supports also offers the potential for enhancing catalyst stability. Boyer and co-workers reported the use of silica nanoparticle-supported eosin Y 21 as a photocatalyst in reversible addition fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT

• ) photo-polymerisation reactions (Scheme 6) [24]. Previous endeavours utilising the homogeneous catalyst led to catalyst degradation or failure to remove the catalyst properly which resulted in the degradation of the polymer itself [66]. By employing the supported photocatalyst, reduced contamination was

Efficacy of radical reactions of isocyanides with heteroatom radicals in organic synthesis

• Akiya Ogawa and
• Yuki Yamamoto

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 2114–2128, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.182

• metal complex or functional dye as a photocatalyst (PC) [19][20]. Recently, some important reviews summarize and discuss the use of method 3 in synthetic organic chemistry [21][22]; in contrast, there is little detailed and coherent literature on the overall research trends regarding the latest research

• methods, methods 1 and 3 require the addition of a radical initiator and a photocatalyst, respectively. In contrast, method 2 does not require any additive, although, if the heating or photoirradiation is performed by electricity, the combustion of fossil fuels may cause environmental pollution. However

• • can be generated by photoirradiation. On the other hand, the photoinduced homolysis of groups 13 and 14 interelement compounds with B–B, Si–Si, Sn–Sn bonds, etc. is generally impossible, because such E–E compounds have no isolated electronic pair. Therefore, the use of a photocatalyst (method 3) or

Harnessing the versatility of hydrazones through electrosynthetic oxidative transformations

• Aurélie Claraz

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 1988–2004, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.175

• photocatalyst TAC+. The electrolysis was carried out at a constant cell potential of 1.5 V under white light irradiation. The carbonyl compound 144 was initially treated with tert-butyl carbazate (145) in acetonitrile in the presence of molecular sieves, followed by the addition of trifluoroacetic acid (TFA) to

• yield the unsubstituted hydrazone 146. Dropwise addition of this solution during the electrolysis to the anodic chamber containing the olefin 147, lithium perchlorate and the photocatalyst in acetonitrile delivered the desired olefin product 148. From a mechanistic point of view, the

Development of a flow photochemical process for a π-Lewis acidic metal-catalyzed cyclization/radical addition sequence: in situ-generated 2-benzopyrylium as photoredox catalyst and reactive intermediate

• Masahiro Terada,
• Zen Iwasaki,
• Ryohei Yazaki,
• Shigenobu Umemiya and
• Jun Kikuchi

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 1973–1980, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.173

• subsequent photochemical radical addition [46][47][48][49][50][51][52][53][54], which affords 1H-isochromene derivatives 3 through three catalytic cycles (Scheme 1a) [55]: catalytic cycles I and II and a photoredox cycle of the photocatalyst [56][57] (see Supporting Information File 1 for the overall

Benzylic C(sp³)–H fluorination

• Alexander P. Atkins,
• Alice C. Dean and
• Alastair J. J. Lennox

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 1527–1547, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.137

• pioneering report in 2013 that used photocatalyst 9-fluorenone under visible-light irradiation to generate a photoexcited aryl ketone, capable of HAT to promote benzylic fluorination with Selectfluor (Figure 23) [69]. The reaction tolerated an exceptional range of functional groups and enabled the

• fluorination of primary, secondary and tertiary benzylic substrates. The methodology was amenable to scale up, demonstrating the gram-scale synthesis of product 15 in 85% yield. The authors recognised the difficulty in sequential fluorination and noted that the use of a more electron-rich photocatalyst would

• be required to promote hydrogen abstraction. By changing the photocatalyst to xanthone and replacing Selectfluor with 3 equivalents of Selectfluor II, the authors afforded gem-difluoride products of primary and secondary benzylic substrates in high yields (Figure 24). In 2014, Lectka and co-workers

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

• catalysis In recent times, visible-light-mediated photoredox chemistry has evolved as a unique tool for various organic transformations. In contrast to traditional catalysis, the photochemical process uses an electron or energy transfer mechanism to form reactive intermediates. Typically, a photocatalyst is

• . Different photocatalysts, such as transition metal complexes [23][24], organic dyes [25], and semiconductors [26], can be employed for visible-light-induced chemical processes. The choice of photocatalyst depends on the specific requirements of the catalytic process, including the type of reaction, the

• . Appropriate selection of the phosphine reagent was the key to success in the process. Due to the lower oxidation potential, electron-rich PMe2Ph preferentially transferred a single electron to the excited state of the photocatalyst rather than the alkene, which was essential for obtaining the desired product

Mechanistic investigations of polyaza[7]helicene in photoredox and energy transfer catalysis

• Johannes Rocker,
• Till J. B. Zähringer,
• Matthias Schmitz,
• Till Opatz and
• Christoph Kerzig

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 1236–1245, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.106

• triplet reactivity of the Aza-H photocatalyst through spectroscopic measurements. The careful characterization of the versatile Aza-H photochemistry might contribute to the development of a new class of photoactive catalysts that can compete with traditional metal complexes and well-known organic

• chromophores (as listed above). Results and Discussion A thorough understanding of the operation principles of a photocatalyst is essential for the development of improved catalysts and efficient photoreactions. To this end, the photochemical properties of photocatalysts such as metal complexes and organic

• /H2O (9:1). The low reduction potential of singlet-excited Aza-H (PC•+/PC* = –1.87 V vs SCE) led us to propose that the singlet-excited photocatalyst is oxidized by 4-cyanopyridine (4CP) (4CP/4CP•− = −1.81 V vs SCE) as the first step in this multicomponent reaction (Scheme 1, left). The oxidized

Carbonylative synthesis and functionalization of indoles

• Alex De Salvo,
• Raffaella Mancuso and
• Xiao-Feng Wu

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 973–1000, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.87

• that kind of chemicals [74]. The reaction was cheap because it took place by irradiation with green light (5 W) in the presence of eosin Y as photocatalyst, under 70 bar of CO, in CH3CN at room temperature (Scheme 41). In 2018, Wu et al. published two papers about the functionalization of indoles. In

SOMOphilic alkyne vs radical-polar crossover approaches: The full story of the azido-alkynylation of alkenes

• Julien Borrel and
• Jerome Waser

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 701–713, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.64

• under blue light irradiation afforded 4a in 17% NMR yield (Table 2, entry 1). The major byproduct formed during the transformation was identified as diazide 6. When a copper photocatalyst is involved, a lot of diazidation can be observed. We assumed it could be caused by the reaction of Ts-ABZ (3) with

• and 5). Surprisingly, 5a could be used as limiting reagent without impacting the reaction (Table 4, entry 6). Carrying out the azido-alkynylation at low or high photocatalyst loading had no impact (Table 4, entry 7). Considering the robustness of the reaction to fluctuation in stoichiometry

• mixture was obtained due to the presence of the photocatalyst. Further investigation revealed that Ru(bpy)3Cl2·6H2O is not soluble in DME (Scheme 2B). In contrast, when it is in the presence of alkynyl-BF3K it readily dissolves. The addition of a couple of water drops to a suspension of photocatalyst 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

• absorption of light, an excited photocatalyst (*PC) engages in single-electron transfer (SET) with either donor (D) or acceptor (A) molecules (Scheme 3) [8][36]. Accordingly, a reductive quenching mechanism (path a) will operate when an excited photocatalyst effects the one-electron oxidation of a

• sacrificial donor giving rise to a strongly reducing catalytic species (PCn−1). On the other hand, in an oxidative quenching mechanism (path b) the excited photocatalyst directly induces the one-electron reduction of an acceptor substrate. Alternatively, the photocatalyst can mediate the formation of an

• type addition reactions (Scheme 4A). In 1991, Okada and co-workers reported the addition of alkyl radicals to α,β-unsaturated ketones, by subjecting NHPI esters to visible-light irradiation in the presence of the photocatalyst [Ru(bpy)3]Cl2 and the reductant 1-benzyl-1,4-dihydronicotinamide (BNAH) [37

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

• that omitting the photocatalyst led to an even higher yield (Table 1, entry 2), but light irradiation was essential to the reaction (Table 1, entries 3 and 4). Initially, some bases were added into the reaction system considering a deprotonation process, but subsequent investigations indicated that