Recent advances in Norrish–Yang cyclization and dicarbonyl photoredox reactions for natural product synthesis

• Peng-Xi Luo,
• Jin-Xuan Yang,
• Shao-Min Fu and
• Bo Liu

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 2315–2333, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.177

• ][2][3]. These studies revealed distinct reaction types, with the Norrish type II reaction being one of the most extensively characterized. The mechanism underlying the Norrish type II reaction proceeds via the following steps (Scheme 1a): photoexcitation of carbonyl compound A generates an excited

• pyrrolidine-derived phenyl keto amide substrate 91 with blue LEDs produces the pyrrolidine-fused 4-oxazolidinone (N,O-acetal) 92, precluding preparation of the pyrrolidine analog of lycoplatyrine A (94) by this method. Compound 92 is presumably formed via either the radical mechanism [41] or possibly

• stereoretentive photoredox reaction of naphthoquinones initiated by Norrish type-II hydrogen abstraction [45][46][47][48][49][50][51]. The mechanism involves three consecutive photoinduced events: (1) hydrogen abstraction by the excited quinone to generate a biradical species; (2) intramolecular SET process

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

• , graphene functionalized with β-cyclodextrins [18], a starch-based β-cyclodextrin polymer [19], and pillar[5]arene-based crosslinked polymers have also been investigated as sequestrants for dyes [20]. The Isaacs group has a longstanding interest in the synthesis and mechanism of formation of macrocyclic

Enantioselective radical chemistry: a bright future ahead

• Anna C. Renner,
• Sagar S. Thorat,
• Hariharaputhiran Subramanian and
• Mukund P. Sibi

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 2283–2296, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.174

• one way to convert a free radical to a more stable intermediate, which can subsequently undergo coupling with another radical via an SH2 (bimolecular homolytic substitution) mechanism. Lastly, some noteworthy radical processes proceed through a radical–polar crossover pathway, in which one-electron

• oxidation or reduction of the radical yields a cationic or anionic intermediate that participates in a subsequent step through a polar mechanism. An important aspect of many of these radical reactions is that they can result in the formation of new carbon–carbon bonds, a fundamental goal in organic

• mechanism involving single-electron oxidation of an enamine intermediate, addition of the resulting radical to the olefin, single-electron oxidation of the adduct to form a carbocationic intermediate, and intramolecular nucleophilic attack on the carbocation to form the pyrrolidine ring. The reaction

Pd-catalyzed dehydrogenative arylation of arylhydrazines to access non-symmetric azobenzenes, including tetra-ortho derivatives

• Loris Geminiani,
• Kathrin Junge,
• Matthias Beller and
• Jean-François Soulé

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 2234–2242, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.170

• . Finally, di-ortho-substituted azobenzene 5d was also successfully prepared using this approach, achieving an excellent yield of 80%. The mechanism of the reaction was further outlined to explain the formation of all identified main and side-products (Figure 2). A two-step cascade Pd-catalyzed reaction is

• ) undergoes dehydrogenation via a mechanism involving Pd and O2, similar to the process reported by Huang and co-workers [59]. Initially, Pd(0) species E is oxidized to Pd(II) by O2, forming a Pd-peroxo complex F [60]. Subsequently, ligand exchange occurs between the deprotonated N,N-diarylhydrazine and

Electrochemical cyclization of alkynes to construct five-membered nitrogen-heterocyclic rings

• Lifen Peng,
• Ting Wang,
• Zhiwen Yuan,
• Bin Li,
• Zilong Tang,
• Xirong Liu,
• Hui Li,
• Guofang Jiang,
• Chunling Zeng,
• Henry N. C. Wong and
• Xiao-Shui Peng

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 2173–2201, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.166

• in 66%–87% yields. Boc-amino ester (2e), dipeptide (2f), apivalate ester (2g) and ethinyl estradiol (2h) skeletons were also tolerated well. According to the previous works [163] and the experimental results, the authors proposed a plausible mechanism. Firstly, the anodic oxidation of [Cp2Fe

• in 89% and 63% yield, respectively. Based on the results of control experiments and the previous reports [186], a plausible reaction mechanism was deduced. Firstly, treatment of [RuCl2(p-cymene)]2 with NaOAc afforded the ruthenium diacetate species A, which underwent complexation with 4 and

• ][194][195][196][197][198][199][200], the authors proposed a possible reaction mechanism. For the synthesis of 11a in Pt plate electrodes, two-electron anodic oxidation of I− formed I+. Addition of I+ to C≡C in 10 resulted in the production of A. Meanwhile, continuous reduction of H2O at the cathode

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

• ) [71]. The Bobleter and Feather groups investigated the reaction mechanism of the conversion of these C3 compounds. The acid-catalyzed equilibrium between 1,3-dihydroxy-2-propane and 2,3-dihydroxypropanal involves an ene-triol intermediate which leads to methylglyoxal by a dehydration reaction at

• catalysis. The mechanism first involves the isomerization of xylose into xylulose under Lewis acid-type catalysis, and the subsequent dehydration of xylulose into furfural under Brønsted acid-type catalysis (Scheme 47). Humins are naturally formed in all processes involving the acid-catalyzed degradation of

• isomerization and hydrogenation (Scheme 70, route b2). The accepted mechanism of the rehydration of HMF under acidic conditions leading to the formation of levulinic acid and formic acid proposed by Horvat [224] is depicted in Scheme 71. Levulinic acid can be converted into various derivatives, such as esters

Discovery of cytotoxic indolo[1,2-c]quinazoline derivatives through scaffold-based design

• Daniil V. Khabarov,
• Valeria A. Litvinova,
• Lyubov G. Dezhenkova,
• Dmitry N. Kaluzhny,
• Alexander S. Tikhomirov and
• Andrey E. Shchekotikhin

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 2062–2071, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.161

• tumor cells may proceed via an alternative, DNA-independent mechanism. Conclusion In this study, a diverse set of indolo[1,2-c]quinazoline derivatives was synthesized through functionalization at positions 5, 6, and 12 of the polyannelated scaffold. The work highlights the synthetic versatility of the

• development. Further investigations are warranted to elucidate their precise mechanism of action and optimize their therapeutic profile. Structure of indolo[1,2-c]quinazoline, its selected derivatives, and related structures with biological activity. Fluorescence quenching of compounds 7a–c (2 μM) upon

Solar thermal fuels: azobenzene as a cyclic photon–heat transduction platform

• Jie Yan,
• Shaodong Sun,
• Minghao Wang and
• Si Wu

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 2036–2047, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.159

• ]. Since Olmsted’s pioneering exploration of azobenzene compounds as solar thermal fuels in 1983 [42], significant breakthroughs have been achieved through interdisciplinary integration of organic synthesis, functional materials engineering, photophysical mechanism analysis, and computational chemistry. So

• and Visible Light Storage”, Adv. Energy Mater., with permission from John Wiley and Sons. Copyright © 2016 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim. This content is not subject to CC BY 4.0. (c) Schematic of the mechanism for photothermal energy and phase change energy storage of azopyridine

Understanding the origin of stereoselectivity in the photochemical denitrogenation of 2,3-diazabicyclo[2.2.1]heptene and its derivatives with non-adiabatic molecular dynamics

• Leticia A. Gomes and
• Steven A. Lopez

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 2007–2020, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.156

• synthetic organic chemists. We report a computational study on the mechanism of diazabicyclo[2.2.1]heptenes to address long standing mechanistic questions. Indeed, the mechanism of these reactions has been disputed for over six decades. We employed non-adiabatic molecular dynamics (NAMD) simulations

• preference for inversion across several derivatives of 1 [77][78]. These studies suggest that the thermal denitrogenation of diazabicyclo[2.1.1]hep-2-ene undergoes a concerted mechanism of elimination of nitrogen, while the photochemical reaction proceeds via a stepwise mechanism. Quantum mechanical

• the denitrogenation mechanism of 7,7‐diethoxy‐2,3‐diazabicyclo[2.2.1]hept‐2‐ene, showing that a stepwise C–N-bond cleavage is energetically favored using broken‐symmetry (BS)‐(U)CCSD/6‐31G(d) and suggested that an equatorial conformation of the diazinyl diradical leads to the formation of the inverted

Measuring the stereogenic remoteness in non-central chirality: a stereocontrol connectivity index for asymmetric reactions

• Ivan Keng Wee On,
• Yu Kun Choo,
• Sambhav Baid and
• Ye Zhu

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 1995–2006, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.155

• above (Figure 1). These transformations scattered across a broad area: 10 showed 20 × i > N >10 × i, and 9 showed 10 × i > N > 5 × i. Although neither Nnon-H of the catalyst nor the index [ij] is related to the mechanism of stereocontrol, a low N-to-i ratio could occur when attractive secondary

Aryl iodane-induced cascade arylation–1,2-silyl shift–heterocyclization of propargylsilanes under copper catalysis

• Rasma Kroņkalne,
• Rūdolfs Beļaunieks,
• Armands Sebris,
• Anatoly Mishnev and
• Māris Turks

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 1984–1994, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.154

• chemoselectivity towards diene formation (Table 1, entries 15 and 16). In accordance with the proposed reaction mechanism (Scheme 2), an equimolar amount of protons is generated in the reaction, which would likely induce the formation of additional side-products either by protodecupration [27] or the acid

• -butyldimethylsilyl)hex-5-yn-1-yl)-N-phenylaniline (15). Thus, acylamides were found to have optimal pKa and nucleophilicity to react according to our desired pathway (Scheme 4). For the heterocyclization mechanism under arylating conditions, we propose a Cu(I/III) catalyzed pathway (Scheme 5). Firstly, the copper(I

• mmol/mL; c) 1.2 equiv I-1, [CuOTf]2·PhH (2.5 mol %), 70 °C, 22 h, c7g = 0.1 mmol/mL; d) 1.2 equiv I-1, [CuOTf]2·PhH (2.5 mol %), 70 °C, 3 h, c7h = 0.1 mmol/mL. Proposed arylation–heterocyclization mechanism for internal nucleophile-containing silanes 7. Arylation of C5-chain containing acylamides 16a–c

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

• substrate (Figure 1b). This led to the successful development of a novel dual NHC/light-mediated reduction process using either the simple tertiary amine, NEt(iPr)2 (DIPEA) or the widely available silane HSiEt3, as the only reductant. Moreover, interesting insights into the reaction mechanism supported by

• 1,2,3,5-tetrakis(carbazol-9-yl)-4,6-dicyanobenzene (4CzIPN), which has been commonly employed in dual NHC/photoredox-catalyzed coupling reactions, cleanly provided the fully reduced species in 50% 1H NMR yield (Table 1, entry 19). Comments on the reaction mechanism At this stage of the study, our

• attention turned to a consideration of the reaction mechanism. As has been well documented in the photoredox literature [47][48][49][50][51][52][53], excitation of a photocatalyst ([PC]) in the presence of DIPEA can result in reductive quenching of the excited state, affording the corresponding

Asymmetric total synthesis of tricyclic prostaglandin D2 metabolite methyl ester via oxidative radical cyclization

• Miao Xiao,
• Liuyang Pu,
• Qiaoli Shang,
• Lei Zhu and
• Jun Huang

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 1964–1972, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.152

• proposed mechanism to 21 involved the formation of an electron-deficient, resonance-stabilized radical species, followed by intramolecular alkylation of the unactivated alkene to generate radical 29 via a diastereoselective 5-exo-trig cyclization step. Radical intermediate 29 was trapped by 2,4,6

Enantioselective desymmetrization strategy of prochiral 1,3-diols in natural product synthesis

• Lihua Wei,
• Rui Yang,
• Zhifeng Shi and
• Zhiqiang Ma

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 1932–1963, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.151

• general mechanism of a reaction catalyzed by lipases is illustrated in Scheme 1. Additionally, the diverse three-dimensional structures of lipases confer enantioselectivity in lipase-catalyzed esterification [24][25]. Moreover, their commercial availability makes lipases an attractive option for preparing

• progress is still needed in the methodological development for the enantioselective desymmetrization of prochiral 1,3-diols. General mechanism of a lipase-catalyzed esterification. Shishido’s synthesis of (−)-xanthorrhizol (4) and (+)-heliannuol D (8). Shishido’s synthesis of a) (−)-heliannuol A (15) and b

Synthesis of N-doped chiral macrocycles by regioselective palladium-catalyzed arylation

• Shuhai Qiu and
• Junzhi Liu

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 1917–1923, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.149

• University of Hong Kong (HKU) and ITC to the SKL. The work described in this paper was partially supported by a grant from the Co-funding Mechanism on Joint Laboratories with the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) sponsored by the Research Grants Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China

Stereoselective electrochemical intramolecular imino-pinacol reaction: a straightforward entry to enantiopure piperazines

• Margherita Gazzotti,
• Fabrizio Medici,
• Valerio Chiroli,
• Laura Raimondi,
• Sergio Rossi and
• Maurizio Benaglia

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 1897–1908, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.147

• , respectively, compared to those obtained in the batch reaction (Table 3). To gain a deeper understanding of the mechanism behind the observed reaction, a plausible reaction pathway is proposed, as illustrated in Scheme 7. The process presumably involves the activation of the diimine substrate 1a by

• electrochemically reduced to give the carbon-centered diradical intermediate 5a and the spatial proximity of these two radical centers allows a rapid intramolecular radical–radical coupling resulting in the formation of the desired piperazine 2a. The feasibility of this mechanism is supported by literature

• on a 0.1 mmol scale. Proposed reaction mechanism. Cyclic voltammetry investigation. Cyclic voltammetry of a 0.325 M solution of Et4NBF4 in DMF (light-blue line). Cyclic voltammetry of diimine 1a (10 mM) recorded in a 0.325 M solution of Et4NBF4 in DMF (dark-blue line). Cyclic voltammetry of diimine

Chiral phosphoric acid-catalyzed asymmetric synthesis of helically chiral, planarly chiral and inherently chiral molecules

• Wei Liu and
• Xiaoyu Yang

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 1864–1889, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.145

• removing the less soluble racemic products. Detailed studies were conducted to explore the reaction mechanism, focusing specifically on the role of the 2-acylanilines 73 as co-catalysts. Based on the experimental results and previous research, a plausible mechanism was proposed. Isomerization of substrates

Systematic pore lipophilization to enhance the efficiency of an amine-based MOF catalyst in the solvent-free Knoevenagel reaction

• Pricilla Matseketsa,
• Margret Kumbirayi Ruwimbo Pagare and
• Tendai Gadzikwa

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 1854–1863, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.144

• and the amine catalyst (Scheme 1A) [47][48]. However, there is another possible mechanism where malononitrile is deprotonated by the amine catalyst. Here, the resulting carbanion would attack benzaldehyde to form 2-(hydroxy(phenyl)methyl)malononitrile (HPMM) as an intermediate that then loses a water

• ×20 magnification. Right: ratios of BMN:HPMM products for each catalyst. Probable mechanisms for the Knoevenegel condensation reaction between benzaldehyde and malononitrile catalyzed by a MOF-immobilized amine to form benzylidenemalononitrile (BMN). A) Mechanism in which the amine catalyst first

• undergoes imine condensation with benzaldehyde. B) Mechanism in which the amine acts as a base, deprotonating malononitrile. Estimated conversions of the reactions of isocyanates with the –OH and –NH2 groups of KSU-1 to form carbamates and ureas, respectively.a Comparison of Knoevenagel catalysis results

Photoswitches beyond azobenzene: a beginner’s guide

• Michela Marcon,
• Christoph Haag and
• Burkhard König

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 1808–1853, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.143

• ; synthesis of photoswitches; switching mechanisms; tutorial review; Introduction Photophysical properties and switching mechanism Key learning points Switching mechanisms and the change in properties. Overview of the major classes of photoswitches beyond azobenzenes. Main synthetic pathways for their

• photoswitches (Figure 6) [5]. N-Methylation of indole 2b increases the lifetime due to a preference for the inversion with respect to the rotation mechanism. Interestingly, the isomerisation of the non-methylated 2a is also strongly influenced by protic solvents, by the pH of the solution, and by the

• thus rapid conversion to the E-isomer. A follow-up study calculated the activation energies of inversion, rotation, and tautomerisation of a number of previously reported and newly synthesised heteroaryl azo-switches, correlating the preferred mechanism of thermal back isomerisation to the reported

Fe-catalyzed efficient synthesis of 2,4- and 4-substituted quinolines via C(sp²)–C(sp²) bond scission of styrenes

• Prafull A. Jagtap,
• Manish M. Petkar,
• Vaishnavi R. Sawant and
• Bhalchandra M. Bhanage

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 1799–1807, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.142

• protocol, a set of control experiments was conducted to gain insight into the reaction mechanism, as depicted in Scheme 4. To clarify the significance of oxidative conditions, the standard reaction was initially conducted under an inert atmosphere by replacing oxygen with nitrogen (reaction 1). Under these

• reaction mixture was stirred at 120 °C for 24 hours, resulting in the formation of 27% of 3a along with 33% of 3a′. To further investigate the role of the solvent in the reaction mechanism, a deuterium-labeling experiment was performed by reacting 1a with 2a in deuterated methanol (CD3OD) under standard

• conditions. In this reaction, 4a-D was not detected, indicating that methanol is not utilized as a C1 source. Considering this experimental evidence and existing literature [57][54], a plausible mechanism is depicted in Scheme 5. The reaction likely proceeds through forming benzaldehyde (2a′) (detected

[3 + 2] Cycloaddition of thioformylium methylide with various arylidene-azolones in the synthesis of 7-thia-3-azaspiro[4.4]nonan-4-ones

• Daniil I. Rudik,
• Irina V. Tiushina,
• Anatoly I. Sokolov,
• Alexander Yu. Smirnov,
• Alexander R. Romanenko,
• Alexander A. Korlyukov,
• Andrey A. Mikhaylov and
• Mikhail S. Baranov

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 1791–1798, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.141

• thiohydantoin 7, on the contrary, have a trans configuration of two vicinal stereocenters (Scheme 3 and Figure 1). Thus, in all cases we have obtained, probably, the most thermodynamically favorable isomers. This result allows us to assume a stepwise mechanism of the ylide addition to the double bond of

• thiohydantoin derivatives, since the initial compounds 2 had a predominant Z-configuration. At the same time, for cases 1, 3 and 4, both a synchronous and stepwise mechanism are possible. The discovered stereochemistry of the reaction correlates well with the previously obtained data, when the most

Synthesis of chiral cyclohexane-linked bisimidazolines

• Changmeng Xi,
• Qingshan Sun and
• Jiaxi Xu

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 1786–1790, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.140

• -protected amino group. On the basis of the previous report [28], a possible reaction mechanism is presented in Scheme 3. The reaction of triphenylphosphine oxide and triflic anhydride first generates an activating agent, the Hendrickson reagent (A). The amide in cyclohexane-1,2-dicarboxamides 4

• )-cyclohexane-1,2-dicarboxylic acid followed by the Hendrickson reagent-mediated final cyclization. Bisoxazoline and bisimidazoline ligands. Synthesis of chiral cyclohexane-linked bisimidazoline ligands. Attempted synthesis of chiral cyclohexane-linked bisimidazoline 5h. Proposed reaction mechanism. Synthesis

Research progress on calixarene/pillararene-based controlled drug release systems

• Liu-Huan Yi,
• Jian Qin,
• Si-Ran Lu,
• Liu-Pan Yang,
• Li-Li Wang and
• Huan Yao

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 1757–1785, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.139

• or guest molecules are altered upon exposure to specific stimuli, such as light, pH changes, or enzymes. This modification induces the disassembly of the host–guest complex, thereby releasing the encapsulated drugs. Fundamentally, this mechanism relies on controlling the assembly and disassembly

• balance is disrupted, leading to the dissociation of the complex and the release of the drug. This pH-sensitive "charge switch" mechanism enables CA8 to precisely control the release behavior of CPF, providing new insights for the development of environmentally responsive antibiotic delivery systems

• (Figure 3) [101]. This pH-sensitive "charge switch" mechanism enables CA8 to precisely control the release behavior of CPF, providing new insights for the development of environmentally responsive antibiotic delivery systems. Water-soluble aromatic macrocycles are commonly utilized in drug delivery

Preparation of a furfural-derived enantioenriched vinyloxazoline building block and exploring its reactivity

• Madara Darzina,
• Anna Lielpetere and
• Aigars Jirgensons

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 1737–1741, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.136

• potent gonadotropin-releasing hormone receptor antagonists with potential application as anticancer drugs [25] and as nucleoside analogs with antiviral potency [26]. According to the reaction mechanism proposed by Elliott et al., the aza-Diels–Alder reaction of vinyloxazoline S-6 with TsNCO is a step

• proposed mechanism of product 7 formation. Electrochemical oxidation of protected amino alcohol 2d to ester 3d. Supporting Information Supporting Information File 8: Experimental procedures, characterization data and copies of NMR spectra. Funding This project has received funding from the European

Approaches to stereoselective 1,1'-glycosylation

• Daniele Zucchetta and
• Alla Zamyatina

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 1700–1718, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.133

• exhibits activity against multidrug-resistant Streptococci and Staphylococci including S. aureus via a unique mechanism involving binding to an exclusive site on the bacterial ribosome [10][59]. Accordingly, the β-anomeric configuration in the 3-O-p-methoxybenzyl-protected mannose lactol 31 was fixed by

• , a mechanism known as HAD (H-bond-mediated aglycone delivery) [68]. The picoloyl protecting group at the remote C4–OH position has also been successfully employed to stabilize the anomeric configuration in 2,3,6-tri-O-benzylated TMS-glycoside acceptors [69]. This unusual stability of the anomeric

• functional and protecting groups on the pyranose scaffold can profoundly influence the reaction mechanism, toggling it between SN2 and SN1 pathways [104][105]. Supporting this, the torsional restriction imparted by the 4,6-O-benzylidene group in 2-azido-substituted GlcN lactols was found to favor the