Valorisation of plastic waste via metal-catalysed depolymerisation

• Francesca Liguori,
• Carmen Moreno-Marrodán and
• Pierluigi Barbaro

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2021, 17, 589–621, doi:10.3762/bjoc.17.53

• added-value chemicals (see Figure 1). Scientific achievements will be described according to the plastic substrate, irrespective of the metal catalyst. Uncatalysed depolymerisations, full chain-cracking or unselective processes, acid–base treatments, as well as the production of fuels from plastics

Synthesis of legonmycins A and B, C(7a)-hydroxylated bacterial pyrrolizidines

• Wilfred J. M. Lewis,
• David M. Shaw and
• Jeremy Robertson

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2021, 17, 334–342, doi:10.3762/bjoc.17.31

• that Snider’s attempt to oxidize, by epoxidation, the N,O-diacetyl derivative of compound 14 was not successful. Indeed, in our own work, the use of either NBS, MCPBA, or O2 with a transition-metal catalyst also gave unpromising results in attempts to oxidize compound 17. Future work will explore

Synthesis of aryl 2-bromo-2-chloro-1,1-difluoroethyl ethers through the base-mediated reaction between phenols and halothane

• Yukiko Karuo,
• Ayaka Kametani,
• Atsushi Tarui,
• Kazuyuki Sato,
• Kentaro Kawai and
• Masaaki Omote

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2021, 17, 89–96, doi:10.3762/bjoc.17.9

• and highly functionalized aryl 2-bromo-2-chloro-1,1-difluoroethyl ethers has been developed. This approach exhibits a broad reaction scope, a simple operation and without the need of any expensive transition-metal catalyst, highly toxic or corrosive reagents. Notably, we demonstrate the potential

Metal-free synthesis of biarenes via photoextrusion in di(tri)aryl phosphates

• Hisham Qrareya,
• Lorenzo Meazza,
• Stefano Protti and
• Maurizio Fagnoni

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 3008–3014, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.250

• Truce–Smiles rearrangement in aryl sulfonamides and aryl phenylsulfonates [44][45][46] or the [3,3]-sigmatropic rearrangement of sulfonium salts arising from the reaction of aryl sulfoxides and phenols [47]. To overcome this problem, the use of a metal catalyst (mainly Ni) was mandatory as reported for

Bifurcated synthesis of methylene-lactone- and methylene-lactam-fused spirolactams via electrophilic amide allylation of γ-phenylthio-functionalized γ-lactams

• Tetsuya Sengoku,
• Koki Makino,
• Ayumi Iijima,
• Toshiyasu Inuzuka and
• Hidemi Yoda

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 2769–2775, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.227

• -lactam structure. The key intermediates were synthesized by electrophilic allylation of γ-phenylthio-functionalized γ-lactam derivatives with 2-(acetoxy)methyl acrylamides in the absence of any metal catalyst and delivered into each type of spirolactams through desulfinative hydroxylation/lactamization

When metal-catalyzed C–H functionalization meets visible-light photocatalysis

• Lucas Guillemard and
• Joanna Wencel-Delord

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 1754–1804, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.147

• concerned the development of “classical” C–H activation reactions, while a photoredox cycle was implemented to reoxidize the metal catalyst, thus obviating the need for a stoichiometric amount of metal-based oxidants, such as silver or copper salts. In parallel, dual synergistic catalysis has emerged. In

• metal catalyst X2M into an aromatic C–H bond of a substrate (generally facilitated by the presence of a directing group (DG)), delivers a metal–aryl complex. Coordination and subsequent insertion of an alkene into the M–aryl bond then provides the desired coupling product after β-hydride elimination

• , together with a metal hydride or a low-valent metal complex. Hence, in order to reoxidize the metal catalyst, excess of an external oxidant, such as Cu(II) or Ag(I) salts, was frequently used. On the other hand, photoredox catalysis has been mainly employed for electron-transfer reactions and, remarkably

One-pot synthesis of isosorbide from cellulose or lignocellulosic biomass: a challenge?

• Isaline Bonnin,
• Raphaël Mereau,
• Thierry Tassaing and
• Karine De Oliveira Vigier

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 1713–1721, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.143

• step reported in the literature, several researchers investigated the direct conversion of cellulose or lignocellulosic biomass to isosorbide. Several strategies were employed such as a combination of homogeneous acid and supported metal catalyst, or a combination of supported metal catalyst and solid

• and a supported metal catalyst The conversion of cellulose or lignocellulosic biomass to isosorbide was studied by combining a homogeneous acid catalyst to promote the hydrolysis of cellulose to glucose and the dehydration of sorbitol to isosorbide and a supported metal catalyst to hydrogenate glucose

• conversion of cellulose. If the Ru/C catalyst was associated with H2SO4 only 14% of isosorbide was produced under similar conditions. This study showed that the nature of the mineral acid and thus the acidity is of importance to produce isosorbide from cellulose. The most active metal catalyst is Ru/C among

Activated carbon as catalyst support: precursors, preparation, modification and characterization

• Melanie Iwanow,
• Tobias Gärtner,
• Volker Sieber and
• Burkhard König

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 1188–1202, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.104

• equation [30][50]: Metal loading methods The macroscopic distribution of a metal on the support, the size of the metal crystallites on the support surface and the oxidation state of the metal species determine the catalytic performance of a supported metal catalyst [1]. Impregnation und adsorption The

Synthesis and anticancer activity of bis(2-arylimidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-3-yl) selenides and diselenides: the copper-catalyzed tandem C–H selenation of 2-arylimidazo[1,2-a]pyridine with selenium

• Mio Matsumura,
• Tsutomu Takahashi,
• Hikari Yamauchi,
• Shunsuke Sakuma,
• Yukako Hayashi,
• Tadashi Hyodo,
• Tohru Obata,
• Kentaro Yamaguchi,
• Yasuyuki Fujiwara and
• Shuji Yasuike

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 1075–1083, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.94

• selenium source in the presence of a transition metal catalyst, such as Cu or Ni [27][28][29][30][31][32]. In 2011, Zhou et al. reported the pioneering Cu-catalyzed C–H selenation of 2-arylimidazopyridine with diphenyl diselenide in the presence of CuI (10 mol %) [29]. Tandem reactions involving the

Aldehydes as powerful initiators for photochemical transformations

• Maria A. Theodoropoulou,
• Nikolaos F. Nikitas and
• Christoforos G. Kokotos

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 833–857, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.76

• reported a selective photoredox merger C(sp3)–H alkylation/arylation of ethers using benzaldehyde as the photoorganocatalyst and nickel as the transition metal catalyst [57]. For the coupling between (3-bromopropyl)benzene (132) and THF (131), presented in Scheme 28, NiBr2·glyme (134) was employed as the

Photocatalytic deaminative benzylation and alkylation of tetrahydroisoquinolines with N-alkylpyrydinium salts

• David Schönbauer,
• Carlo Sambiagio,
• Timothy Noël and
• Michael Schnürch

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 809–817, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.74

• address a single C–H bond selectively without compromising the others. To circumvent this problem, directing groups can be installed, which guide a metal catalyst to a specific C–H bond [4][5]. In case the directing group is not needed in the final product, this strategy accounts for additional reaction

Copper-catalyzed remote C–H arylation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs)

• Anping Luo,
• Min Zhang,
• Zhangyi Fu,
• Jingbo Lan,
• Di Wu and
• Jingsong You

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 530–536, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.49

• arylation; nonprecious metal catalyst; copper catalysis; polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs); regioselectivity; Introduction Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) with rigid planar structure, such as naphthalene, phenanthrene, pyrene and their derivatives, can usually emit relatively strong

Photophysics and photochemistry of NIR absorbers derived from cyanines: key to new technologies based on chemistry 4.0

• Bernd Strehmel,
• Christian Schmitz,
• Ceren Kütahya,
• Yulian Pang,
• Anke Drewitz and
• Heinz Mustroph

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 415–444, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.40

• and deactivated by reaction with Cu(II) resulting in formation of dormant species and Cu(I). Altogether, these reactions must be seen as equilibrium coexisting together. Researchers also spent much time to develop photo-ATRP procedures working without any metal catalyst; that is the photoinduced metal

Synthesis of benzo[d]imidazo[2,1-b]benzoselenoazoles: Cs₂CO₃-mediated cyclization of 1-(2-bromoaryl)benzimidazoles with selenium

• Mio Matsumura,
• Yuki Kitamura,
• Arisa Yamauchi,
• Yoshitaka Kanazawa,
• Yuki Murata,
• Tadashi Hyodo,
• Kentaro Yamaguchi and
• Shuji Yasuike

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2019, 15, 2029–2035, doi:10.3762/bjoc.15.199

• a CuI catalyst for the synthesis of benzo[b]selenophene-fused imidazo[1,2-a]pyridines occurred smoothly [15][16]. Performing these types of reactions without the addition of a transition metal catalyst is more challenging, but would alleviate the environmental burden of removing and disposing of the

• metal catalyst. We present in this paper the synthesis of benzo[d]imidazo[2,1-b]benzoselenoazoles under transition metal-free conditions by the Cs2CO3-mediated cyclization of 1-(2-bromoaryl)benzimidazoles with selenium. Results and Discussion We initially focused our attention on determining the optimal

• conditions for the cyclization of a chalcogen with 1-(2-bromophenyl)benzimidazole (1a). Table 1 shows the results from the screening of additives, solvents, and chalcogens. Since most of these types of reactions require a transition metal catalyst such as a copper reagent [14][15][16], the reaction between

A metal-free approach for the synthesis of amides/esters with pyridinium salts of phenacyl bromides via oxidative C–C bond cleavage

• Kesari Lakshmi Manasa,
• Yellaiah Tangella,
• Namballa Hari Krishna and
• Mallika Alvala

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2019, 15, 1864–1871, doi:10.3762/bjoc.15.182

• pyridinium salts of phenacyl bromides for the construction of amides and esters in the presence of base via oxidative C–C bond cleavage. The promising features of this methodology include the absence of a metal catalyst, employing a simple inorganic base and operational simplicity for application in organic

Metal-free mechanochemical oxidations in Ertalyte^® jars

• Andrea Porcheddu,
• Francesco Delogu,
• Lidia De Luca,
• Claudia Fattuoni and
• Evelina Colacino

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2019, 15, 1786–1794, doi:10.3762/bjoc.15.172

• sodium hypochlorite (NaOCl·5H2O) in the presence of a catalytic amount of a nitrosyl radical allowed developing a redox process without using any metal catalyst. With the aim to eliminate or at least reduce the use of solvents, NaOCl·5H2O, among all the oxidants tested, was the one that best fitted with

Multicomponent reactions (MCRs): a useful access to the synthesis of benzo-fused γ-lactams

• Edorta Martínez de Marigorta,
• Jesús M. de Los Santos,
• Ana M. Ochoa de Retana,
• Javier Vicario and
• Francisco Palacios

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2019, 15, 1065–1085, doi:10.3762/bjoc.15.104

• metal catalyst. Through a tandem three-component cross-dehydrogenative coupling (CDC), they prepared, in a single step, more than thirty isoindolinone derivatives 4, including those originated from sulfonamides and carboxamides (Scheme 1). The scope of the reaction includes aromatic, some aliphatic and

• aromatic, heteroaromatic and aliphatic amines in ethanol, under microwave heating, and without metal catalyst [83]. Very good yields of 35 are obtained in a very simple and cost-effective manner. A rather similar approach was disclosed shortly later by Han and co-workers [84], who used β-ketoacids (34 R3

Cyclopropene derivatives of aminosugars for metabolic glycoengineering

• Jessica Hassenrück and
• Valentin Wittmann

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2019, 15, 584–601, doi:10.3762/bjoc.15.54

• can be ligated through the inverse electron-demand Diels–Alder (DAinv) reaction with 1,2,4,5-tetrazines [13][14][15][16][17]. This reaction is advantageous since it is fast, irreversible, and does not require a toxic heavy metal catalyst. Different terminal alkenes that are connected to sugars by an

Dirhodium(II)-catalyzed [3 + 2] cycloaddition of N-arylaminocyclopropane with alkyne derivatives

• Wentong Liu,
• Yi Kuang,
• Zhifan Wang,
• Jin Zhu and
• Yuanhua Wang

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2019, 15, 542–550, doi:10.3762/bjoc.15.48

• cycloaddition chemistry based on compound 1. Zheng et al. [7] first reported on the [3 + 2] cycloaddition reaction of 1 with an alkene or alkyne mediated by visible light by the aid of the photocatalyst [Ru(bpz)3](PF6)2. Our group reported the metal catalyst itself, particularly the dinuclear rhodium complex

Metal-free C–H mercaptalization of benzothiazoles and benzoxazoles using 1,3-propanedithiol as thiol source

• Yan Xiao,
• Bing Jing,
• Xiaoxia Liu,
• Hongyu Xue and
• Yajun Liu

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2019, 15, 279–284, doi:10.3762/bjoc.15.24

• [36]. This conversion proceeds under very mild conditions, however, a metal catalyst and an additional ligand are required (Scheme 1). Although some protocols have been developed, these methods still suffer from some drawbacks, such as limited substrate scope, low yield, and/or a complicated reaction

• showed it served not only as a solvent but also as an oxidant. The developed reaction system required neither a metal catalyst nor a ligand. This simple method is expected to have potential application in both laboratory and industry. Representative examples of biologically active 2-mercaptobenzoxazoles

Olefin metathesis catalysts embedded in β-barrel proteins: creating artificial metalloproteins for olefin metathesis

• Daniel F. Sauer,
• Johannes Schiffels,
• Takashi Hayashi,
• Ulrich Schwaneberg and
• Jun Okuda

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2018, 14, 2861–2871, doi:10.3762/bjoc.14.265

• aqueous environments, water solubility is also essential [16][17][18]. A promising approach is the embedment of the GH-type catalyst into well-defined protein scaffolds [19]. The combination of an engineered protein with a synthetic metal catalyst leads to artificial metalloproteins [20][21][22][23]. In

• wild-type protein). For covalent anchoring, a cysteine residue was introduced at position 545 [59]. This position is suggested to be in a conformationally stable environment within the β-barrel structure. Additionally, mutation N548V was introduced to enable access of the metal catalyst to position

• ROMP reaction, no change in regioselectivity was observed in both proteins. Within FhuA, the activity significantly dropped. This observation suggests that a particular fine-tuning is required to optimally utilize the combination of the metal catalyst with the spacing unit and the protein‘s precise 3D

Thiocarbonyl-enabled ferrocene C–H nitrogenation by cobalt(III) catalysis: thermal and mechanochemical

• Santhivardhana Reddy Yetra,
• Zhigao Shen,
• Hui Wang and
• Lutz Ackermann

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2018, 14, 1546–1553, doi:10.3762/bjoc.14.131

• motifs of powerful transition metal catalyst ligands and organocatalysts (Figure 1) [94][95][96][97]. During the preparation of this article, the use of strongly-coordinating, difficult to remove directing groups has been reported [70][71]. In sharp contrast, notable features of our approach include (i

Atom-economical group-transfer reactions with hypervalent iodine compounds

• Andreas Boelke,
• Peter Finkbeiner and
• Boris J. Nachtsheim

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2018, 14, 1263–1280, doi:10.3762/bjoc.14.108

• B. Subsequently, a metal-catalysed cross-coupling initiated by an oxidative addition of the metal catalyst into the C–I bond of the emerging iodoarene 2 affords the diarylated product C (Scheme 2b). A first report utilizing this strategy was published by Bumagin and co-workers as early as 1995 [24

Rhodium-catalyzed C–H functionalization of heteroarenes using indoleBX hypervalent iodine reagents

• Erwann Grenet,
• Ashis Das,
• Paola Caramenti and
• Jérôme Waser

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2018, 14, 1208–1214, doi:10.3762/bjoc.14.102

• nitrogen and a transition metal catalyst (reaction 1, Scheme 1A) [11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19]. In particular, Li and co-workers have used ethynylbenziodoxolone (EBX) hypervalent iodine reagents to achieve a regiodivergent alkynylation of the pyridinone core employing either a gold(I) or a rhodium

High-yielding continuous-flow synthesis of antimalarial drug hydroxychloroquine

• Eric Yu,
• Hari P. R. Mangunuru,
• Nakul S. Telang,
• Caleb J. Kong,
• Jenson Verghese,
• Stanley E. Gilliland III,
• Saeed Ahmad,
• Raymond N. Dominey and
• B. Frank Gupton

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2018, 14, 583–592, doi:10.3762/bjoc.14.45

• significant opportunity for optimization. While the recent improved route (Scheme 1b) by Li and co-workers [21] eliminates the protection–deprotection steps, its use of a complex multi-transition-metal-catalyst system to achieve direct SN2 substitution of the chlorine on 3 by amine 7, is sub-optimal [22][23