Synthesis and reactivity of the di(9-anthryl)methyl radical

• Tomohiko Nishiuchi,
• Kazuma Takahashi,
• Yuta Makihara and
• Takashi Kubo

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 2254–2260, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.193

• . Keywords: anthracene; cation; dimerization; radical; reactivity; Introduction Organic radicals have garnered significant attention in various research fields, including catalysis [1][2][3][4], chromophores [5][6][7][8], and as agents in dynamic nuclear polarization [9][10][11][12]. Recently, highly stable

• aromatic hydrocarbon radicals, which can persist in air-saturated solutions for several days to months, have been synthesized by employing bulky substituents around the spin-localized carbon center [13][14][15]. These stable radicals have paved the way to elucidate the nature of radical species, advancing

• the field of radical chemistry. However, reducing the reactivity of radical species can mean losing one of their most attractive properties. Therefore, it is very important to explore aromatic hydrocarbon radicals that are sufficiently stable for handling, yet reactive under specific conditions

Natural resorcylic lactones derived from alternariol

• Joachim Podlech

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 2171–2207, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.187

• -picrylhydrazyl radical (DPPH; IC50: 9.6 μM) and hydroxyl radicals (scavenging activity of 70% and 91% at 0.05 and 0.27 μg/mL, respectively) [169][176]. Furthermore, it turned out to be cytotoxic against SW1116 cells (IC50: 9.5 μg/mL) [168]. The trimethyl ether of 4-hydroxyalternariol was named ‘graphislactone H

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

• is a promising synthetic reagent not only as a one-carbon homologation reagent but also as a nitrogen source for nitrogen-containing molecules. Because of their isoelectronic structure with carbon monoxide, isocyanides also react with nucleophiles, electrophiles, carbon radicals, and transition metal

• reagents, and are widely used in organic synthesis. On the other hand, the use of isocyanides in reactions with heteroatom radicals is limited. However, the reaction of isocyanides with heteroatom radicals is a promising synthetic tool for the construction of nitrogen-containing organic molecules modified

• with a variety of heteroatoms. In this Perspective, we review the addition and cyclization reactions of heteroatom radicals with isocyanides and discuss the synthetic prospects of the reaction of isocyanides with heteroatom radicals. Keywords: aza-Bergman cyclization; heteroatom-mixed system; imidoyl

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

Understanding X-ray-induced isomerisation in photoswitchable surfactant assemblies

• Beatrice E. Jones,
• Camille Blayo,
• Jake L. Greenfield,
• Matthew J. Fuchter,
• Nathan Cowieson and
• Rachel C. Evans

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 2005–2015, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.176

• lipid tail length in the Z isomer [26]. Notably, these authors observed that the X-rays themselves also induced Z–E isomerisation in Azo-lipids, which they attributed to the X-ray radiolysis of water, which produces radicals and reactive species that can catalyse Z–E conversion [27]. This effect was

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

• aldehyde-derived N,N-dialkylhydrazones 123 under constant current with two carbon electrodes. Aromatic and aliphatic sodium sulfinates 124 were employed as sources of sulfinate radicals under electrolyte-free reaction conditions. The targeted product was obtained in high yield regardless of the electronic

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

• , initiating further radical reactions through the formation of radical cations B. Nucleophilic arylmethyl radicals C, which are generated from radical cations B by desilylation, undergo an addition reaction with 2-benzopyrylium intermediates A, giving rise to the corresponding radical cation. Catalytic cycle

Radical reactivity of antiaromatic Ni(II) norcorroles with azo radical initiators

• Siham Asyiqin Shafie,
• Ryo Nozawa,
• Hideaki Takano and
• Hiroshi Shinokubo

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 1967–1972, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.172

• radicals derived from azo radical initiators. The radical selectively attacked the distal α-position relative to the meso-position to construct a nonaromatic bowl-shaped structure. The photophysical and electrochemical properties of the obtained radical adducts were compared to those of the parent Ni(II

• subsequent demetallation. Conclusion In conclusion, we have investigated the addition reaction of electrophilic alkyl radicals derived from azo radical initiators to antiaromatic Ni(II) norcorroles. The reaction smoothly proceeded to afford bowl-shaped nonconjugated macrocycles 2a in excellent yield, which

Novel oxidative routes to N-arylpyridoindazolium salts

• Oleg A. Levitskiy,
• Yuri K. Grishin and
• Tatiana V. Magdesieva

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 1906–1913, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.166

• TsONa as a supporting electrolyte. As follows from Figure 3, the tertiary amine is inappropriate due to its too anodic oxidation potential whereas the two nitroxide radicals might be suitable. Indeed, an increase in the oxidation current of a mediator was observed in both cases after A3 has been added

• formed in oxidation. Since oxidation occurs in the bulk and the potential of the mediator is insufficient for the further oxidation of the electrophilic CF3-substituted diarylaminyl radicals to the corresponding cations, the N–N coupling of thus formed aminyl radicals dominates over the intramolecular

Electrochemical radical cation aza-Wacker cyclizations

• Sota Adachi and
• Yohei Okada

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 1900–1905, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.165

• organic chemistry [11][12][13][14][15]. Single-electron oxidation of bench-stable substrates can generate radical cations that offer unique reactivities as intermediates for various bond-formation processes (also true for reduction). Because the reactivities of radicals and ions are fundamentally

• ). For example, Moeller reported electrochemical reactions under basic conditions, which were proposed to proceed via radicals [16][17][18]. Xu also reported electrochemical reactions via radicals, which were generated through proton-coupled electron transfer [19]. On the other hand, Yoon reported

A facile three-component route to powerful 5-aryldeazaalloxazine photocatalysts

• Ivana Weisheitelová,
• Radek Cibulka,
• Marek Sikorski and
• Tetiana Pavlovska

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 1831–1838, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.161

• -deazaflavins [11][12][13]. Recently, it has been discovered that both 5-deazaflavins 1 and 5-deazaalloxazines 2, which have an aryl substituent in position C(5), form stable radicals that act as powerful reductive photocatalysts with a reducing power comparable to that of lithium [E*(1/1•) = −3.3 V vs SCE

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

• radicals and ions imparted through delocalisation with the adjacent π-system [13][14][15]. In general, the more stabilised the benzylic radical, the weaker the C(sp3)–H bond, as demonstrated when considering the BDEs of a series of phenyl-substituted methanes (Figure 1B). The changes in BDE correlate with

• the relative stability of primary, secondary and tertiary benzylic radicals and cations. As a result, the presence of benzylic C(sp3)–H bonds in bioactive molecules can be problematic as they are particularly labile to enzymatic oxidation [16], and hence, their functionalisation has become a strategy

• generation at the benzylic position is known to occur via multiple pathways [44][45][46][47]. These radicals can then undergo fluorination via fluorine-atom-transfer (FAT) with various reagents capable of SET pathways, such as Selectfluor and NFSI (Figure 10) [48]. By avoiding the need for strong bases and

Electrophotochemical metal-catalyzed synthesis of alkylnitriles from simple aliphatic carboxylic acids

• Yukang Wang,
• Yan Yao and
• Niankai Fu

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 1497–1503, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.133

• invention of cooperative catalysis with electrochemical transition metal catalysis, which generally has mild oxidation potential for the generation of persistent radicals in the form of nucleophile-bound metal complexes. We and other groups have successfully applied this reaction design to enantioselective

• investigated (Figure 2). Arylacetic acids with relatively stable benzylic radicals as the corresponding intermediates have been proved to be suitable substrates to the reaction, providing the desired decarboxylative cyanation products with generally good yields (2–18). To show the synthetic potential of this

• radicals are more challenging substrates. To our delight, both cyclic and acyclic secondary carboxylic acids performed well in our catalytic system, albeit with slightly reduced reaction efficiency (19–24). We also attempted simple primary carboxylic acids and got promising results. As outlined at the

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

• Mithu Roy Bitan Sardar Itu Mallick Dipankar Srimani Department of Chemistry, Indian Institute of Technology-Guwahati, Kamrup, Assam 781039, India 10.3762/bjoc.20.119 Abstract Alkyl and acyl radicals play a critical role in the advancement of chemical synthesis. The generation of acyl and alkyl

• radicals by activation of C–O bonds using visible-light photoredox catalysis offers a mild and environmentally benign approach to useful chemical transformations. Alcohols, carboxylic acids, anhydrides, xanthates, oxalates, N-phthalimides, and thiocarbonates are some examples of alkyl and acyl precursors

• that can produce reactive radicals by homolysis of the C–O bond. These radicals can then go through a variety of transformations that are beneficial for the construction of synthetic materials that are otherwise difficult to access. This study summarizes current developments in the use of organic

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

• that a reductive radical-polar crossover pathway is likely to be involved in this transformation. Keywords: aryl halides; C–C bond formation; electroreduction; radicals; visible light; Introduction Alkene hydroarylation is an attractive method for the construction of alkylarenes, which serve as

• chemical reagents; however, these methods have some drawbacks, such as reagent toxicity/stability and limited substrate scope [12][13][14]. While recent advances in photochemistry have remarkably expanded the synthetic utility of (hetero)aryl radicals in organic synthesis [15][16][17][18][19][20], visible

• the additional electron transfer to form the corresponding anions is a highly favorable pathway due to the more positive reduction potential of radicals than that of the starting halides [38], employing redox mediators enables the generated aryl radicals to participate in radical arylation reactions

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

• mechanism of the recently reported sulfonylation/arylation [45][46] reaction using laser flash photolysis (LFP). LFP is a powerful spectroscopic tool in photocatalysis that allows us not only to distinguish between energy and electron transfer but also to detect transient triplet states and radicals

• 0.34, is essentially non-reactive under our conditions. Cyanopyridine- and sulfinate-derived radicals are produced in equal concentrations in the catalytic cycle, suggesting that radical coupling is indeed the final reaction step to give the stable sulfonylation/arylation product. The triplet of Aza-H

• , hampering further kinetic and mechanistic investigations. Nevertheless, both radicals must be formed as quenching by-products based on our spectroscopic studies, either in the photoinduced or in the subsequent and rapid thermal electron transfer. For stoichiometry reasons, these radicals are formed in equal

Light on the sustainable preparation of aryl-cored dibromides

• Fabrizio Roncaglia,
• Alberto Ughetti,
• Nicola Porcelli,
• Biagio Anderlini,
• Andrea Severini and
• Luca Rigamonti

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 1076–1087, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.95

• . Useful alkenyl functional groups can also be obtained by means of elimination processes, if proper alkyl side chains are present. Additional opportunities offered by C(sp3)–Hal bonds arise from the ease of their homolytic cleavage, leading to the formation of reactive carbon-centred radicals. C(sp2)–Hal

• ] resulting in easier recyclability. Light irradiation often significantly influences the selectivity of halogenation processes. Photolytic cleavage of molecular halogens gives rise to radicals that are known to favour benzylic functionalisation [17]. Conversely, the same molecular halogens exhibit prominent

Direct synthesis of acyl fluorides from carboxylic acids using benzothiazolium reagents

• Lilian M. Maas,
• Alex Haswell,
• Rory Hughes and
• Matthew N. Hopkinson

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 921–930, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.82

• to acyl fluorides are inspiring greater interest in these compounds. Various synthetic approaches have been investigated with two main strategies being pursued: fluorine-transfer to acyl radicals and nucleophilic fluorination of acyl electrophiles [15]. The latter approach is the most intensively

(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

• -workers reported a method for the selective bridge bromination of BCPs, giving access to brominated 1,2-BCP (±)-16 (Scheme 2) [33]. By exploiting the homolytic cleavage of the C–Br bond using in situ-generated silyl radicals, they were then able to harness the installed bromide functionality in

• catalytic system of B2cat2 and 4-phenylpyridine to form pyridine-boryl radicals which initiated ring expansion. The method was shown to be similarly tolerable of functional groups as Procter’s synthesis. Intramolecular crossed [2 + 2] cycloadditions offer an alternative approach to 1,2-disubstituted BCHs

• was developed by Anderson and co-workers and was shown to be the more versatile than initiator-free activation. Both initiator-free and Et3B-initiated reactions only tolerated electrophilic radicals (to 134a and 134e), while photoredox catalysis also tolerated electron-rich radicals (to 134b). The

Ortho-ester-substituted diaryliodonium salts enabled regioselective arylocyclization of naphthols toward 3,4-benzocoumarins

• Ke Jiang,
• Cheng Pan,
• Limin Wang,
• Hao-Yang Wang and
• Jianwei Han

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 841–851, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.76

• , herein, we utilized a copper catalyst to activate the C–I bond of diaryliodonium salts in the generation of aryl radicals, thus resulting in an annulation reaction with naphthols and substituted phenols. This approach yielded a diverse array of 3,4-benzocoumarin derivatives bearing various substituents

Advancements in hydrochlorination of alkenes

• Daniel S. Müller

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 787–814, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.72

• carbenium ions are highly energetic species which tend to react unselectively according to the reactivity–selectivity principle. In contrast, MH HAT produces relatively stable radicals which is demonstrated by, e.g., the strong difference of heat of formation of the tert-butyl radical and cation (Figure 7B

• conclusion we wish to point out that this reaction provides a convenient procedure to achieve anti Markovnikov addition of alcohols to olefins which can presumably be extended to other systems. Furthermore, the addition of other nucleophiles to photochemically generated cation radicals would make this type

Research progress on the pharmacological activity, biosynthetic pathways, and biosynthesis of crocins

• Zhongwei Hua,
• Nan Liu and
• Xiaohui Yan

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 741–752, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.68

• also reported to inhibit cell invasion and metastasis [54][55]. Anti-inflammation and antioxidation Crocins exhibit anti-inflammation properties by scavenging free radicals and regulating the expression of antioxidant enzymes. Crocins can inhibit the NF-κB signaling pathway, thus downregulating the

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

• , greatly increasing the molecular complexity of the starting substrate. Using radical chemistry would lead to a regioselective addition of azide radicals to the alkene, forming selectively the most stabilized C-centered radical. A prominent method for the generation of azide radicals relies on hypervalent

• would initially involve the addition of azide radicals to an alkene, generating a carbon-centered radical. Then, different trapping of this intermediate could be performed (Scheme 1B). First, C-centered radicals are known to recombine with metal-acetylides, in particular copper [27]. Reductive

• generate a large quantity of iodanyl radical from Ts-ABZ (3) homolysis and from the addition–elimination on Ph-EBX (2). Since no quencher is present in the mixture, we wondered if the accumulation of those radicals could be responsible for the low yields obtained. Addition of (TMS)3SiH, a H• donor

Green and sustainable approaches for the Friedel–Crafts reaction between aldehydes and indoles

• Periklis X. Kolagkis,
• Eirini M. Galathri and
• Christoforos G. Kokotos

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 379–426, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.36

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

• reaction classes, we discuss the utility of the NHPI esters, with an eye towards their continued development in complexity-generating transformations. Keywords: decarboxylative couplings; mechanisms; NHPI-esters; radical reactions; Introduction The historical challenges of using radicals in synthetic

• chemistry is well documented [1][2]. Traditional approaches for radical generation relied on hazardous reagents and harsh conditions, resulting in low reaction efficiency and undesired byproduct formation [3][4][5][6]. As a consequence, the utility of radicals in organic synthesis remained limited for many

• years and in the past, they were perceived as fleeting reaction intermediates. Recent progress in photoredox catalysis [6][7][8], electrochemistry [9][10], and the use of transition-metal (TM) catalysts in radical cross-coupling reactions [11] have dramatically expanded the use of radicals in synthesis