Synthetic applications of the Cannizzaro reaction

• Bhaskar Chatterjee,
• Dhananjoy Mondal and
• Smritilekha Bera

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 1376–1395, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.120

• . developed an asymmetric iron catalyst with the aim of expanding the platform of metal catalysis. Catalysts 14 and 15 proved to be effective in the transformation of glyoxal monohydrates 1a and alcohol 2, to deliver mandelate esters 3a in good yields and enantioselectivities via an enantioselective

A laterally-fused N-heterocyclic carbene framework from polysubstituted aminoimidazo[5,1-b]oxazol-6-ium salts

• Andrew D. Gillie,
• Matthew G. Wakeling,
• Bethan L. Greene,
• Louise Male and
• Paul W. Davies

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 621–627, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.54

• ; imidazolium; NHC; Introduction Imidazolium-derived nucleophilic heterocyclic carbenes (NHCs) have had a sustained impact across the fields of organometallic and main group chemistry, transition-metal catalysis, materials synthesis and organocatalysis [1]. Laterally annellated polycyclic NHCs offer a useful

• provide scope to influence the reactivity profile of their resulting metal complexes through steric shielding, direct stabilising interactions with the metal, or by proximal effects to reactive species. Given the sensitivity of metal catalysis to even subtle steric and electronic changes in the ligand

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

• overview of the diverse mechanisms that have been proposed for radical based transformations initiating from NHPI esters. The discussion is organized into four sections: (i) mechanisms under photochemical conditions, (ii) initiation by metal catalysis and stoichiometric reductants, (iii) N-heterocyclic

• desaturation of aliphatic carboxylic acids [83]. Initiation by metal catalysts and stoichiometric reductants The activation of NHPI esters under transition metal catalysis without the need of light is also feasible, and generally, two types of coupling reactions can be envisioned. On one hand, the

Catalytic multi-step domino and one-pot reactions

• Svetlana B. Tsogoeva

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 254–256, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.25

• ; multi-step reactions; multicomponent reactions; one-pot synthesis; organocatalysis; tandem reactions; transition-metal-catalysis; The synthesis of pharmaceutical ingredients, natural products, agrochemicals, ligand systems, and building blocks for materials science has reached a high level of

Chiral phosphoric acid-catalyzed transfer hydrogenation of 3,3-difluoro-3H-indoles

• Yumei Wang,
• Guangzhu Wang,
• Yanping Zhu and
• Kaiwu Dong

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 205–211, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.20

• relatively strict reaction conditions (up to 150 bar H2). In 2022, Liu’s group reported an asymmetric hydrogenation of 3H-indoles catalyzed by a chiral Mn complex, which showed good yield and enantioselectivity [25]. In addition to metal catalysis for the enantioselective reduction, asymmetric

Recent advancements in iodide/phosphine-mediated photoredox radical reactions

• Tinglan Liu,
• Yu Zhou,
• Junhong Tang and
• Chengming Wang

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 1785–1803, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.131

• materials science. In recent years, the combination of dual photoredox with first-row transition-metal catalysis has emerged as a powerful tool for achieving various cross-coupling reactions involving C–N, C–O, C–S, and other chemical bonds [3][23]. In this context, Guan et al. theoretically designed a

• academic research and industrial applications. As a result, significant efforts have been devoted to the development of various methods for the reduction of nitroarenes [39]. Recent advancements in the catalytic reduction of nitroarenes largely rely on transition-metal catalysis through direct

Consecutive four-component synthesis of trisubstituted 3-iodoindoles by an alkynylation–cyclization–iodination–alkylation sequence

• Nadia Ledermann,
• Alae-Eddine Moubsit and
• Thomas J. J. Müller

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 1379–1385, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.99

• transition-metal catalysis [31], we disclosed an activating group-free alkynylation–cyclization sequence to (aza)indoles [32][33] that could be readily concatenated with a concluding N-alkylation of the 7-azaindole intermediate in the sense of consecutive three-component coupling–cyclization–alkylation

Non-noble metal-catalyzed cross-dehydrogenation coupling (CDC) involving ether α-C(sp³)–H to construct C–C bonds

• Hui Yu and
• Feng Xu

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 1259–1288, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.94

• drug and natural compounds containing functionalized ether α-C(sp3)–H bonds CDC reactions can be applied. This review mainly focuses on the CDC reactions of ether oxygen α-C(sp3)–H bonds via non-noble metal-catalysis (Scheme 1d). Review Non-noble metal-catalyzed CDC reactions involving ether α-C(sp3)–H

• is similar to the CDC reaction of simple ethers by transition-metal catalysis. First, Ag triggers the oxidant to produce oxidant radicals, and the corresponding ether radicals are obtained by extraction of H atoms from the ether substrates by the oxidant radicals. Then, the addition of the radicals

Selective and scalable oxygenation of heteroatoms using the elements of nature: air, water, and light

• Damiano Diprima,
• Hannes Gemoets,
• Stefano Bonciolini and
• Koen Van Aken

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 1146–1154, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.82

• phosphine oxide, and selenides to selenoxides. Sulfoxide, phosphine oxide, and selenoxide-containing molecules have diverse applications in the pharmaceutical industry [10], as chiral auxiliaries or as ligands for asymmetric metal catalysis [11], and in materials such as polymers [12][13] and flame

• retardants [14]. Sulfoxides are prominent pharmaceutical ingredients, while phosphine oxides improve solubility of corresponding compounds [15] and have applications in catalysis and materials science [16]. Selenoxides find use as oxygen transfer agents and donor ligands in metal catalysis and organic

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

• widely used as reagents, organocatalysts, or phase transfer reagents [58][59][60][61] were synthesized from aryl chlorides in various yields (20–87%) under mild photocatalytic conditions whereas previously reported protocols typically relied on transition metal catalysis or high temperature processes [62

Aromatic C–H bond functionalization through organocatalyzed asymmetric intermolecular aza-Friedel–Crafts reaction: a recent update

• Anup Biswas

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 956–981, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.72

• the tremendous progress in organic chemistry over the last few decades, metal catalysis has been increasingly and successfully replaced by organocatalysis, i.e., accelerating the rate of chemical transformations by using small organic molecules as catalysts. Although being discovered more than 100

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

• , acrylates, allenes, and alkynes as coupling partners achieving the functionalized C(sp2)–H-olefinated pyridine frameworks via metal catalysis. ortho-C–H Alkenylation In 2012, Huang and co-workers [74] disclosed a ligand-free oxidative cross-coupling reaction of pyridine with acrylates, acrylamides, and

Strategies in the synthesis of dibenzo[b,f]heteropines

• David I. H. Maier,
• Barend C. B. Bezuidenhoudt and
• Charlene Marais

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 700–718, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.51

• by Kricka and Ledwith [28] in 1974, is recommended. While the review is lacking modern metal catalysis, it is still an excellent work covering early syntheses and properties. An analogous review published by Olivera et al. [29] covers the topic of dibenzo[b,f]oxepines (1b) up to 2002. Other

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

• α,β-unsaturated carbonyl compounds [2]. In particular, the last-mentioned method is highly synthetically relevant. This approach has the advantage of being more selective and affording more molecular complexity in one step. In addition, transition-metal catalysis allows the introduction of

Transition-metal-catalyzed domino reactions of strained bicyclic alkenes

• Austin Pounder,
• Eric Neufeld,
• Peter Myler and
• William Tam

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 487–540, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.38

• transition-metal catalysis. Nickel lies directly above palladium in the periodic table, as such, it readily performs many of the same elementary reactions. Because of their reactive commonalties, nickel is often seen as the budget-friendly replacement; however, this misconception will clearly be refuted in

Transition-metal-catalyzed C–H bond activation as a sustainable strategy for the synthesis of fluorinated molecules: an overview

• Louis Monsigny,
• Floriane Doche and
• Tatiana Besset

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 448–473, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.35

• [6][7][8][9][10][11]. Among them [2][5][12][13][14][15][16][17][18], the direct functionalization of a simple C–H bond by transition-metal catalysis [19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43] became an important tool offering new

• in the field have been interested in the design of original methodologies for the trifluoromethylthiolation and more recently the difluoromethylthiolation of various compounds by transition-metal catalysis [78]. Moreover, a recent interest was devoted to the trifluoromethylselenolation reaction as

• moderate yields. Finally, the SeCF3-containing β-methylacrylamide 40n was also obtained in 37% yield. II. Transition-metal-catalyzed fluoroalkoxylation of (hetero)arenes by C–H bond activation II.1) Fluoroalkoxylation of aromatic C(sp2)–H bonds by transition-metal catalysis Over the last years, key

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

• for catalysis, due to the generally higher abundance and lower toxicity of these elements. Group 13 elements have a rich catalogue of stoichiometric addition reactions to unsaturated bonds but cannot undergo the redox chemistry which underpins transition-metal catalysis. Group 13 exchange reactions

Strategies to access the [5-8] bicyclic core encountered in the sesquiterpene, diterpene and sesterterpene series

• Cécile Alleman,
• Charlène Gadais,
• Laurent Legentil and
• François-Hugues Porée

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 245–281, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.23

Total synthesis of insect sex pheromones: recent improvements based on iron-mediated cross-coupling chemistry

• Eric Gayon,
• Guillaume Lefèvre,
• Olivier Guerret,
• Adrien Tintar and
• Pablo Chourreu

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 158–166, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.15

• exogenous N- or P-based ligands, highlighting the efficiency of iron as a credible alternative to noble metal catalysis in cross-coupling chemistry [13]. Cahiez’ pioneering work highlighted the potential of iron catalysis in organic chemistry and generated a new interest for the study of iron-catalyzed

A facile approach to spiro[dihydrofuran-2,3'-oxindoles] via formal [4 + 1] annulation reaction of fused 1H-pyrrole-2,3-diones with diazooxindoles

• Pavel A. Topanov,
• Anna A. Maslivets,
• Maksim V. Dmitriev,
• Irina V. Mashevskaya,
• Yurii V. Shklyaev and
• Andrey N. Maslivets

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2022, 18, 1532–1538, doi:10.3762/bjoc.18.162

• compounds to molecules containing an enone fragment. Cycloaddition reactions involving diazo and enone moieties are usually carried out using transition-metal catalysis [18][19][20], with catalyst-free reactions being carried out only with the participation of reactive unsubstituted diazomethane [21][22][23

An alternative C–P cross-coupling route for the synthesis of novel V-shaped aryldiphosphonic acids

• Stephen J. I. Shearan,
• Enrico Andreoli and
• Marco Taddei

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2022, 18, 1518–1523, doi:10.3762/bjoc.18.160

• three novel aryl diphosphonate esters which were subsequently transformed to phosphonic acids through silylation and hydrolysis. Keywords: arylphosphonic acids; cross-coupling reaction; phosphonate esters; transition-metal catalysis; Introduction Phosphonates and phosphonic acids are a very

Molecular and macromolecular electrochemistry: synthesis, mechanism, and redox properties

• Shinsuke Inagi and
• Mahito Atobe

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2022, 18, 1505–1506, doi:10.3762/bjoc.18.158

• , polymer electrolyte membrane electrolysis technology, and new methods coupled with photoredox catalysts or transition metal catalysis, resulting in remarkable progress in organic electrosynthetic processes. Theoretical calculations have also led to a better understanding of the electron transfer behavior

1,4,6,10-Tetraazaadamantanes (TAADs) with N-amino groups: synthesis and formation of boron chelates and host–guest complexes

• Artem N. Semakin,
• Ivan S. Golovanov,
• Yulia V. Nelyubina and
• Alexey Yu. Sukhorukov

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2022, 18, 1424–1434, doi:10.3762/bjoc.18.148

• Tripodal molecules are widely used as chelating ligands for transition metal catalysis [1][2][3], sensors for ions and small molecules [4][5], reagents for surface grafting [6], building blocks for the construction of supramolecular structures [7], polycyclic cage molecules [8], and porous materials [9

B–N/B–H Transborylation: borane-catalysed nitrile hydroboration

• Filip Meger,
• Alexander C. W. Kwok,
• Franziska Gilch,
• Dominic R. Willcox,
• Alex J. Hendy,
• Kieran Nicholson,
• Andrew D. Bage,
• Thomas Langer,
• Thomas A. Hunt and
• Stephen P. Thomas

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2022, 18, 1332–1337, doi:10.3762/bjoc.18.138

• relies upon stoichiometric reagents or transition-metal catalysis. Herein, a borane-catalysed hydroboration of nitriles to give primary amines is reported. Good yields (48–95%) and chemoselectivity (e.g., ester, nitro, sulfone) were observed. DFT calculations and mechanistic studies support the proposal

• research into the development of new catalytic methodologies, specifically those that use Earth-abundant and low toxicity elements, as an alternative to transition-metal catalysis [9][10]. Using metal-free catalytic systems, including boron-based catalysts, circumvents some of the issues associated with

• traditional metal catalysis, including trace metal contamination [11][12] and volatility of supply. Whilst there are several examples of main-group catalysed nitrile hydroboration reactions [13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26], currently, there are only two reported metal-free catalytic

Inductive heating and flow chemistry – a perfect synergy of emerging enabling technologies

• Conrad Kuhwald,
• Sibel Türkhan and
• Andreas Kirschning

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2022, 18, 688–706, doi:10.3762/bjoc.18.70

• reaction. Reactions with soluble metal complexes or metal nanoparticles, utilized in transition-metal catalysis, are often avoided, especially if the metal contamination in the product exceeds certain limits. This is particularly true for the pharmaceutical industry. A continuous flow protocol for

• combination of SPIONs and transition-metal catalysis opens up when both concepts are combined architecture-wise [83]. For instance, catalytically active metal nanoparticles, e.g., consisting of Pd(0), can be deposited on the silicate surface of MagSilicaTM, so that the required heat for Pd(0)-mediated