Visible-light-driven NHC and organophotoredox dual catalysis for the synthesis of carbonyl compounds

• Vasudevan Dhayalan

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 2584–2603, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.200

• chemistry. In particular, dual catalysis combining N-heterocyclic carbenes (NHCs) with organophotocatalysts (e.g., 4CzIPN, eosin Y, rhodamine, 3DPAFIPN, Mes-Acr-Me+ClO4−) has emerged as a powerful photocatalytic strategy for efficiently constructing a wide variety of carbonyl compounds via radical cross

• ]. The use of visible light as an energy source has significantly expanded the scope of organic molecule activation and its application in organic synthesis or medicinal chemistry [12], thereby driving the fast development of various photocatalytic transformations. Among these advances, dual catalysis

• equivalents, which is crucial in dual or triple catalytic cycles. The electron-rich carbene center facilitates faster SET processes in photocatalytic reactions. Triazolium-based NHCs exhibit higher oxidative and photochemical stability, making them well-suited for visible-light-driven catalytic

Insoluble methylene-bridged glycoluril dimers as sequestrants for dyes

• Suvenika Perera,
• Peter Y. Zavalij and
• Lyle Isaacs

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 2302–2314, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.176

• is, therefore, urgently needed. Numerous techniques have been explored and used for the removal of dyes from water including coagulation, flocculation, adsorption, oxidation, electrolysis, biodegradation, and photocatalytic approaches [4][5]. Among these approaches, adsorption is most commonly used

C2 to C6 biobased carbonyl platforms for fine chemistry

• Jingjing Jiang,
• Muhammad Noman Haider Tariq,
• Florence Popowycz,
• Yanlong Gu and
• Yves Queneau

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 2103–2172, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.165

•  15) [74][75][76]. Tang et al. recently reported the environmentally friendly production of glyceraldehyde and dihydroxyacetone from using glycerol through photocatalytic oxidation under visible light using a Cuδ+-decorated WO3 photocatalyst in the presence of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) [77]. The

• , with high selectivity towards HFO (83%) and high conversion of furfural (70%) (Scheme 32). Yuan et al. [112] reported the synthesis of γ-butyrolactone (GBL) by the hydrodeoxygenation of HFO prepared by photocatalytic conversion of furfural. HFO is converted to GBL by two pathways: the first one is

• hydroxy group on the carbonyl group of the ozonide triggers the formation of HFO in high yields (>90%) (Scheme 34) [113][114][115]. Kailasam and co-workers reported a heterogeneous photocatalytic oxidation of furfural towards HFO and maleic anhydride (MAN) [116]. This conversion is performed under

Photochemical reduction of acylimidazolium salts

• Michael Jakob,
• Nick Bechler,
• Hassan Abdelwahab,
• Fabian Weber,
• Janos Wasternack,
• Leonardo Kleebauer,
• Jan P. Götze and
• Matthew N. Hopkinson

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 1973–1983, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.153

• reactions have been developed. Employing the simple amine, DIPEA, as the terminal reductant, products resulting from overall 2-electron or 4-electron-reduction processes could be obtained using either a photocatalytic approach under blue light irradiation or directly under UV-A light irradiation without an

• Information File 1) allowed for the unambiguous identification of this product as the 2-benzylimidazolium compound 2. The formation of this species results from an overall 4-electron-reduction process, indicating that the photocatalytic system with DIPEA as the terminal reductant is capable of facilitating

• spectrum also indicating the presence of significant amounts of the imidazolium salt IMeH+ (characteristic C2–H signal at δ = 8.94 ppm; 28%) and benzoate species (BzO−, ortho-C–H signals at δ = 7.98 ppm; 50%). To confirm the photocatalytic nature of the novel carbonyl reduction process, a series of control

Photocatalysis and photochemistry in organic synthesis

• Timothy Noël and
• Bartholomäus Pieber

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 1645–1647, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.128

• thematic issue that visible light increases the reaction rate of palladium-catalyzed Negishi cross-couplings [34]. The integration of enabling technologies has also contributed to the success of photocatalytic organic synthesis [35]. Automated reaction platforms, high-throughput experimentation techniques

Formal synthesis of a selective estrogen receptor modulator with tetrahydrofluorenone structure using [3 + 2 + 1] cycloaddition of yne-vinylcyclopropanes and CO

• Jing Zhang,
• Guanyu Zhang,
• Hongxi Bai and
• Zhi-Xiang Yu

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 1639–1644, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.127

• , photocatalytic decarboxylation [34] delivered the desired product 1 in 74% yield, realizing a formal synthesis of the selective estrogen receptor modulator VI. Conclusion In conclusion, we achieved a formal synthesis of SERM molecule VI through a 11-step process to its precursor, molecule 1. Two key reactions

3-Aryl-2H-azirines as annulation reagents in the Ni(II)-catalyzed synthesis of 1H-benzo[4,5]thieno[3,2-b]pyrroles

• Julia I. Pavlenko,
• Pavel A. Sakharov,
• Anastasiya V. Agafonova,
• Derenik A. Isadzhanyan,
• Alexander F. Khlebnikov and
• Mikhail S. Novikov

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 1595–1602, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.123

• -containing compounds [1][2][3]. Such reactions can be initiated by electrophilic, nucleophilic or radical reagents, photoirradiation or proceed under acid-, metal-, or photocatalytic conditions. This strategy of azirine ring expansion is applicable to the synthesis of a variety of 4‒9-membered N-heterocycles

General method for the synthesis of enaminones via photocatalysis

• Paula Pérez-Ramos,
• Raquel G. Soengas and
• Humberto Rodríguez-Solla

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 1535–1543, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.116

• [37][38]. In this context, the reactivity of enaminones under visible-light-mediated reaction conditions has attracted significant attention [39]. However, it is rather surprising that a photocatalytic approach for the synthesis of enaminones has yet to be explored. Herein, we report the first light

• -mediated reaction for the synthesis of enaminones from 3-bromochromones (Scheme 1D). Initially, a Ni(II)-catalyzed hydroamination protocol affords the intermediate 2-amino-3-bromochromanones, which upon photocatalytic dehalogenation and subsequent opening of the heterocyclic ring provide the corresponding

• , the rate of the reaction is independent of the concentration of the 3-bromochromone substrate 7a and amine 8a (Figure S4, Supporting Information File 1). Based on the above experiments and prior work on the photocatalytic reductive halogenation using acridinium photocatalysts [45][46], a possible

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

• transfer (HAT) in photocatalytic reactions. These radicals display exceptional selectivity and efficiency in abstracting hydrogen atoms from C–H, Si–H, B–H, and Ge–H, positioning them as invaluable tools in synthetic chemistry. This review summarizes the latest advancements in the photocatalyzed generation

• insight in the development of novel methods for amidyl radical-mediated photocatalytic direct intermolecular hydrogen atom transfer. Although, amidyl radicals employed in many reactions as HAT reagents via heating conditions have been summarized in several studies [52][53][54][55][56][57][58]. To advance

• -Alkylbenzamide constitutes the primary structural unit of this class of compounds. The structures of these compounds are relatively simple and readily synthesizable. In these photocatalytic systems, direct single-electron oxidation of the amide HRP occurs in the presence of a photoredox catalyst and a base via a

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

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

• ], etc.) and strong oxidants (K2S2O8 [46][54], Mn(OAc)3 [56][57], organic peroxides [51][58][59], etc.) are employed in these approaches. Modern photocatalytic [47][50][60][61] and electrochemical [48][62] methods were also recently reported. Although several successful oxyphosphorylation reactions

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

• of D–A structures makes them the ideal structures to further understand the structure–property relationship of D–A molecules for optimizing their photocatalytic performance by simpler modification of the different D–A subunits. In particular, D–A structures featuring sulfur-based acceptors and

• demonstrate that these simple D–A structures exhibit promising photocatalytic properties, comparable to those of more complex D–A–D systems. Keywords: donor–acceptor system; photocatalyst design; photoredox catalysis; organic photocatalyst; Introduction In recent years, photocatalysis has emerged as a

• chemistry and photocatalysis is the carbazolyl dicyanobenzene (CDCB) family. Since the initial report on the synthesis and photoluminescence study of 4CzIPN (1, Figure 1a) [6], the scientific community has recognized its potential under photocatalytic manifolds. This interest is attributed to: i) its

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

• via a proton transfer promoted by diisopropylethylamine. In 2023, the Jiang research group achieved a chemically divergent photocatalytic asymmetric synthesis using a dual catalytic system consisting of a chiral phosphoric acid and dicyanopyrazine (DPZ) as the photosensitizer (Scheme 20) [49]. By

Photocatalyzed elaboration of antibody-based bioconjugates

• Marine Le Stum,
• Eugénie Romero and
• Gary A. Molander

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 616–629, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.49

• applied to ADCs [34][35][36], the discussion below focuses on photocatalytic approaches that have been used to date to elaborate antibodies, providing insight into those methods that aim to revolutionize approaches to cancer treatment and other medical applications via the use of synthetically

• summary of the limited photoredox approaches reported for antibodies. Finally, the potential benefits and cautionary details these chemical strategies possess for creating ADCs with well-defined DAR and enhanced selectivity are discussed. Photocatalytic modification of proteins Photoredox chemistry has

• opened new avenues for designing advanced biotherapeutics, including ADCs and targeted delivery systems. Photoinduced modification of antibodies Although the bioconjugation of proteins via photocatalytic pathways is well-documented, the application of this method to the functionalization of antibodies

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

• photochemical and photocatalytic methods [59], while others have used "mechanophotocatalysis" or "mechanophotochemistry" for greater specificity. Discussion Experimental setups for photomechanochemistry As mentioned above, the goal of the present perspective article is to put the spotlight on the technological

• exposing fresh material to light. In 2016, König and co-workers exploited rod milling to develop a photomechanochemical approach for the riboflavin tetraacetate (RFTA)-catalyzed photocatalytic oxidation of alcohols to the corresponding carbonyl compounds upon irradiation with five LEDs (λ = 455 nm) [69

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

• irradiation apparatus, e.g., UV radiation sources. Secondly, from a synthetic perspective, a broader range of substrates and catalysts can be considered as in most cases, they are incapable of absorbing red light and, consequently, cannot initiate a photocatalytic transformation, thereby minimizing the risk

• or side reactivity in a scope of around 50 examples with yields ranging from 27 to 97 % compared to the use of blue-light (Scheme 3a) [20]. In this way, T. Rovis et al. have exploited their photocatalytic system on the functionalization of drug-like scaffolds with moderate to good yields (Scheme 3b

• demonstrated the broad applicability of this photocatalytic system. It has to be noted that zinc-based photocatalysts with phthalocyanin ligands are not limited to energy-transfer pathways involving singlet oxygen generation. A recent work by Yoshimitsu et al. has shown that zinc(II)-based porphyrin complexes

Emerging trends in the optimization of organic synthesis through high-throughput tools and machine learning

• Pablo Quijano Velasco,
• Kedar Hippalgaonkar and
• Balamurugan Ramalingam

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 10–38, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.3

• photocatalytic reactions for water molecule cleavage to produce hydrogen. The mobile robot (Figure 2b) acted as a substitute of a human experimenter by executing tasks and linking eight separate experimental stations, including solid and liquid dispensing, sonication, several characterization equipments, and

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

• photocatalytic activation (Figure 1b) [17][18][19][20][21]. A photocatalytic HAT or SET generates the corresponding boryl, α-amino or silyl radical, which can abstract a halogen atom from alkyl halides to form the corresponding alkyl radical. However, the use of TTMS as a XAT reagent had already been established

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

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

• photocatalytic system under visible light irradiation (443 nm) [56]. Peroxidation of β-ketoesters, cyanoacetic esters, and malonic esters 37 was performed using the TBAI/TBHP system (Scheme 15) [57]. The highest product yields in the TBAI-catalyzed peroxidation were achieved with malonic acid esters, in contrast

• . Photocatalytic oxidation of radical A with [IrIV(ppy)3] regenerates [IrIII(ppy)3] and completes the photoredox catalytic cycle. The Bronsted acid catalyzes the formation of the isochroman oxocarbenium ion B, which is then nucleophilically attacked by TBHP to produce the target peroxide 69. Heteroatom (N, O

Synthesis of benzo[f]quinazoline-1,3(2H,4H)-diones

• Ruben Manuel Figueira de Abreu,
• Peter Ehlers and
• Peter Langer

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 2708–2719, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.228

• other compounds with medicinal or photophysical properties [52][53][54][55]. Compounds A are related to the class of natural products known as coumestans, while B resembles flavins. While the medical potential of coumestans is still the subject of current research, interesting photocatalytic properties

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

• the authors to propose the following mechanism: The process begins with the anodic oxidation of Mn(II) coordinated with N3− to generate a Mn(III) species. In the photocatalytic cycle, the excitation of DDQ (2,3-dicyano-5,6-dichlorobenzoquinone) as hydrogen-atom-transfer (HAT) catalyst results in the

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

• OH). The Achmatowicz product is formed by addition of water to oxocarbenium intermediate A followed by elimination of L. Conclusion In conclusion, an integrated continuous PFR platform for photocatalytic functionalization of furfuryl alcohols to dihydropyranones through an Achmatowicz rearrangement

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

• intramolecular nucleophilic attack induced by photocatalytic oxidation was reported by Yoon et al. with tosylamide derivatives [29]. Specifically, amides were employed in a photoredox cyclization process using a strong photooxidative acridinium catalyst such as the Fukuzumi catalyst (I, Figure 1B) [30][31

• starting from succinimide (Scheme 3). Through a simple reaction in toluene at 80 °C in the presence of Zn(OAc)2, the hemiaminal derivative 13 underwent substitution with cinnamyl alcohol, resulting in the isolation of 14 with a satisfactory yield. Under optimized reaction conditions, the photocatalytic

Catalysing (organo-)catalysis: Trends in the application of machine learning to enantioselective organocatalysis

• Stefan P. Schmid,
• Leon Schlosser,
• Frank Glorius and
• Kjell Jorner

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 2280–2304, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.196