The Groebke–Blackburn–Bienaymé reaction in its maturity: innovation and improvements since its 21st birthday (2019–2023)

• Cristina Martini,
• Muhammad Idham Darussalam Mardjan and
• Andrea Basso

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 1839–1879, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.162

• (41–67%). Multicomponent polymerizations are simple and efficient methods to construct a library of polymers with great structural complexity and diversity, including fused-heterocyclic polymers[64]. Tang et al. [65] reported the transition-metal-free multicomponent polymerization of dialdehydes 96a–c

Oxidation of benzylic alcohols to carbonyls using N-heterocyclic stabilized λ³-iodanes

• Thomas J. Kuczmera,
• Pim Puylaert and
• Boris J. Nachtsheim

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 1677–1683, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.149

• oxidants in combination with transition-metal catalysts. Metal-free methods employ chlorodimethylsulfonium compounds as the reactive species and have gained great popularity under the name Swern oxidation or the Corey–Kim oxidation [11]. Hypervalent iodine compounds have also been studied and are well

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

• transition-metal complexes to generate metal–fluorine bonds capable of FAT to benzylic substrates. In a follow-up to their work using electrophilic fluorine sources for palladium-catalysed benzylic C–H fluorination (Figure 5), the Sanford group demonstrated in 2012 the same transformation could be achieved

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

• electrophotochemical transition metal catalysis [26][27][28][29][30][31] as a unique and powerful synthetic platform for radical decarboxylative functionalization of aliphatic carboxylic acids [32][33][34][35][36][37]. In particular, the commonly required high activation energy for radical decarboxylation was provided

• 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

• functional group compatibility and is applicable to alkyl acids with all substitution pattern. Due to the wide utility of alkylnitriles, we expect this method to be widely adopted within the synthetic and medicinal chemistry communities. The present work also demonstrated electrophotochemical transition

Synthesis of 2-benzyl N-substituted anilines via imine condensation–isoaromatization of (E)-2-arylidene-3-cyclohexenones and primary amines

• Lu Li,
• Na Li,
• Xiao-Tian Mo,
• Ming-Wei Yuan,
• Lin Jiang and
• Ming-Long Yuan

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 1468–1475, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.130

• are not always readily accessible. Typically, the preparation methods involve SNAr reactions with N-centered nucleophiles [5], nitroarene reduction [6] and transition metal (e.g., Pd, Cu)-catalyzed C–N cross coupling of aryl halides, aryl sulfonates or arylboronic acid reagents with ammonia or NH

• of anilines through Brønsted acid or transition-metal-promoted conversion of 2-cyclohexanone oximes [15][16][17][18] (Scheme 1, (2)). Moreover, Strauss and co-workers described a green, multicomponent reaction of aromatic aldehydes, 2-cyclohexenone and amines to afford 2-arylmethyl N-substituted

Challenge N- versus O-six-membered annulation: FeCl₃-catalyzed synthesis of heterocyclic N,O-aminals

• Giacomo Mari,
• Lucia De Crescentini,
• Gianfranco Favi,
• Fabio Mantellini,
• Diego Olivieri and
• Stefania Santeusanio

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 1412–1420, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.123

• remarkable advantages such as an environmentally benign alternative to traditional transition-metal catalysis, a low cost, nontoxicity, good stability, and easy handling [30][31]. Upon increasing the amount of FeCl3 to 20 mol %, the time of the reaction was reduced from 86 to 38 hours, and the yield of 5a

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

• photocatalysts, transition-metal photoredox catalysts, and metallaphotocatalysts to produce acyl and alkyl radicals driven by visible light. Keywords: acyl radical; alkyl radical; sustainable catalysis; visible light; Introduction The growing awareness of the necessity for sustainable developments has been

• . Different photocatalysts, such as transition metal complexes [23][24], organic dyes [25], and semiconductors [26], can be employed for visible-light-induced chemical processes. The choice of photocatalyst depends on the specific requirements of the catalytic process, including the type of reaction, the

Rhodium-catalyzed homo-coupling reaction of aryl Grignard reagents and its application for the synthesis of an integrin inhibitor

• Kazuyuki Sato,
• Satoki Teranishi,
• Atsushi Sakaue,
• Yukiko Karuo,
• Atsushi Tarui,
• Kentaro Kawai,
• Hiroyuki Takeda,
• Tatsuo Kinashi and
• Masaaki Omote

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 1341–1347, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.118

• . Therefore, alternative procedures for homo-coupling reactions using other transition-metal catalysts such as palladium, nickel, manganese, and iron have been developed [5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13]. In recent years, transition-metal-free coupling reactions have also been developed for environmentally

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

• high regioselectivity. Herein, we report the electroreductive hydroarylation of electron-deficient alkenes and styrene derivatives using (hetero)aryl halides under mild reaction conditions. Notably, the present hydroarylation proceeded with high efficiency under transition-metal-catalyst-free

• versatile building blocks in organic syntheses. To achieve this transformation with high efficiency and predictable regioselectivity, numerous efforts have been made to develop transition-metal-catalyzed reactions based on a C–H activation strategy [1][2][3][4] or the reductive coupling of aryl halides with

• by preventing overreduction [39]. While the metal-catalyst-free radical cyclization of alkene-tethered aryl halides has been well documented in the literature [40][41][42][43], the efficient intermolecular hydroarylation of alkenes still relies on the use of transition-metal catalysts, including Pd

Manganese-catalyzed C–C and C–N bond formation with alcohols via borrowing hydrogen or hydrogen auto-transfer

• Mohd Farhan Ansari,
• Atul Kumar Maurya,
• Abhishek Kumar and
• Saravanakumar Elangovan

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 1111–1166, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.98

• Mohd Farhan Ansari Atul Kumar Maurya Abhishek Kumar Saravanakumar Elangovan Department of Chemistry, Indian Institute of Technology (BHU), Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh 221005, India 10.3762/bjoc.20.98 Abstract Transition-metal-mediated “borrowing hydrogen" also known as hydrogen auto-transfer

• achieving both selective dehydrogenation and hydrogenation is highly important. A typical BH process is demonstrated in Scheme 1. Several precious transition-metal catalysts have been used successfully in this area, including iridium, rhodium, ruthenium, and osmium [4]. However, these noble metals are toxic

• considerably inexpensive, eco-friendly and more abundant in the Earth’s crust. According to this viewpoint, manganese is biocompatible and less expensive than noble metals. Also, it is the third most abundant transition metal, behind titanium and iron. After the independent pioneering works of Beller [16] and

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

• bonds of aryl halides also exhibit high reactivity, particularly towards transition-metal-mediated cross-coupling processes or Ar-SN reactions. Benzyl and aryl halides, collectively referred to as 'aryl-cored halides', have found extensive applications across various fields, including synthesis [1

Auxiliary strategy for the general and practical synthesis of diaryliodonium(III) salts with diverse organocarboxylate counterions

• Naoki Miyamoto,
• Daichi Koseki,
• Kohei Sumida,
• Elghareeb E. Elboray,
• Naoko Takenaga,
• Ravi Kumar and
• Toshifumi Dohi

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 1020–1028, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.90

• presence or absence of transition metal catalysts under thermal or photochemical conditions [2][3][4][5]. Furthermore, these compounds have practical applications in the synthesis of radiochemicals utilized in positron emission tomography (PET) imaging [6], as well as serving as photoacid generators for

• 1,3,5-trimethoxybenzene are highly recommended for chemoselective arylation processes. Aryl(TMP)iodonium(III) salts have been successfully used as transition metal-free arylating reagents for various nucleophiles such as nitrogen- [23][24][25][26], oxygen- [13][27][28][29], sulfur- [30], and carbon- [31

Carbonylative synthesis and functionalization of indoles

• Alex De Salvo,
• Raffaella Mancuso and
• Xiao-Feng Wu

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 973–1000, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.87

• functionalization of indoles to 3-substituted indoles Functionalization through direct C–H alkoxycarbonylation The transition-metal-catalyzed carbonylation of aryl halides, triflates, and tosylates with carbon monoxide and an alcohol was first pioneered by Heck and co-workers in 1974 [64][65]. Since then, this

Enantioselective synthesis of β-aryl-γ-lactam derivatives via Heck–Matsuda desymmetrization of N-protected 2,5-dihydro-1H-pyrroles

• Arnaldo G. de Oliveira Jr.,
• Martí F. Wang,
• Rafaela C. Carmona,
• Danilo M. Lustosa,
• Sergei A. Gorbatov and
• Carlos R. D. Correia

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 940–949, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.84

• preclude chirality as in the transformation of a prochiral molecular entity into a chiral one [1]. It is a powerful and elegant strategy in asymmetric synthesis [2], which combined with the use of chiral ligands and transition-metal catalysts enabled many valuable transformations to increase molecular

Three-component N-alkenylation of azoles with alkynes and iodine(III) electrophile: synthesis of multisubstituted N-vinylazoles

• Jun Kikuchi,
• Roi Nakajima and
• Naohiko Yoshikai

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 891–897, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.79

• motif in bioactive compounds and the synthetic utility of its olefinic C=C bond. The most extensively explored approach to this transformation is the transition metal-catalyzed C–N coupling between azoles and vinylating agents, including vinyl halides [4], boronates [5], sulfonium salts [6][7][8], and

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

• presence of transition metal catalysts [11][12][13][14]. Currently, this motif is synthesized by sequential introduction of the two functional groups [11][12][13]. Addition of a lithium acetylide to an epoxide affords the corresponding homopropargylic alcohol which can then undergo a sequence of mesylation

Regioselective quinazoline C2 modifications through the azide–tetrazole tautomeric equilibrium

• Dāgs Dāvis Līpiņš,
• Andris Jeminejs,
• Una Ušacka,
• Anatoly Mishnev,
• Māris Turks and
• Irina Novosjolova

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 675–683, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.61

• position of quinazolines requires longer time, higher temperatures, and sometimes the use of expensive transition-metal catalysts [12]. A selective C2 modification can be achieved by using 2-chloroquinazolines IV, where the C4 position is blocked by an unreactive C–C or C–H bond (Scheme 1). Cyclization

• techniques employing transition-metal and photocatalysis [15][16]. These methods facilitate C–C bond formation, enabling the introduction of alkyl groups at the C2 position of quinazoline derivatives. While arylsulfanyl group rearrangement reactions have been documented by us for modifying 2,4-substituted

Palladium-catalyzed three-component radical-polar crossover carboamination of 1,3-dienes or allenes with diazo esters and amines

• Geng-Xin Liu,
• Xiao-Ting Jie,
• Ge-Jun Niu,
• Li-Sheng Yang,
• Xing-Lin Li,
• Jian Luo and
• Wen-Hao Hu

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 661–671, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.59

• . Multicomponent reactions (MCRs) by virtue of high efficiency for the construction of complex chemicals, have shown the superiority in high step and atom economy in organic synthesis [25][26][27]. Over the past two decades, our group and others have developed a transition-metal-catalyzed MCR strategy involving

HPW-Catalyzed environmentally benign approach to imidazo[1,2-a]pyridines

• Luan A. Martinho and
• Carlos Kleber Z. Andrade

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 628–637, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.55

• (insomnia). Some recent synthetic approaches to imidazo[1,2-a]pyridine scaffolds include synthetic pathways of transition metal-catalyzed reactions [14], cyclization [15], condensation [16], heteroannular [17], and photocatalytic reactions [18]. These approaches usually involve non-trivial reaction

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

• aminide 7 in good yield on a gram scale (Scheme 1b). With the novel 3-aminoimidazo[5,1-b]oxazol-6-ium salt in hand, we examined its use as an NHC precursor for the preparation of late transition metal complexes. Treating compound 9a with triethylamine and either dimethyl sulfide gold(I) chloride or copper

Switchable molecular tweezers: design and applications

• Pablo Msellem,
• Maksym Dekthiarenko,
• Nihal Hadj Seyd and
• Guillaume Vives

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 504–539, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.45

• using metal complexes as switching units (Figure 20). This concept named “weak link approach” (WLA) [78] uses square planar d8-transition metal complexes with two hemilabile bidentate ligands composed of a strong binding site (phosphorus) and a weaker one (generally sulfur, oxygen, selenium, or nitrogen

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

• 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

• electronically excited substrate (*S) through an energy transfer (EnT) mechanism (path c). In addition to these mechanistic blueprints, the formation of charge-transfer complexes involving NHPI esters, as well as examples of photoinduced transition metal-catalyzed activation will be discussed. Depending on the

• , the aminodecarboxylation reaction proved unsuccessful when employing alternative photocatalysts such as Ru(bpy)3Cl2 or eosin Y, underscoring the distinctive ability of q-OAc to activate TCNHPI esters via EDA complex formation. Photoinduced transition metal-catalyzed mechanisms The in situ formation of

Nucleophilic functionalization of thianthrenium salts under basic conditions

• Xinting Fan,
• Duo Zhang,
• Xiangchuan Xiu,
• Bin Xu,
• Yu Yuan,
• Feng Chen and
• Pan Gao

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 257–263, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.26

• Abstract In recent years, S-(alkyl)thianthrenium salts have become an important means of functionalizing alcohol compounds. However, additional transition metal catalysts and/or visible light are required. Herein, a direct thioetherification/amination reaction of thianthrenium salts is realized under metal

• regioselectivity. Significant advancements in the synthesis of arylthianthrenium salts have prompted a growing interest in their utilization as versatile precursors for the conversion of C–H bonds in arenes into C–C/X bonds through transition-metal-catalyzed cross-coupling processes [12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19

• generation of alkyl radicals [39]. After that, a series of methods for the modification of alkylthianthrenium salts have been developed, including the transition-metal-catalyzed cross-coupling with terminal alkynes [40], sulfonylation with DABCO·(SO2)2 [41][42][43], or alkylation of active alkenes [44][45

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

• advances in the field. A Review article by Pounder, Tam, and co-authors summarizes new transition-metal-catalyzed domino reactions of strained bicyclic alkenes, including both homo- and heterobicyclic alkenes highly useful for the construction of biologically significant compounds with multiple

Visible-light-induced radical cascade cyclization: a catalyst-free synthetic approach to trifluoromethylated heterocycles

• Chuan Yang,
• Wei Shi,
• Jian Tian,
• Lin Guo,
• Yating Zhao and
• Wujiong Xia

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 118–124, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.12

• radicals. This method allows the efficient synthesis of various indole derivatives without the need of photocatalysts or transition-metal catalysts. Mechanism experiments indicate that the process involves a radical chain process initiated by the homolysis of Umemoto's reagent. This straightforward method

• their biological activity and potential applications, continuous efforts have been dedicated to the synthesis of DHPI derivatives. Various synthetic strategies have been explored (Scheme 1), including transition-metal-catalyzed cross-coupling reactions [8][9][10], annulation reaction of carbenoids [11

• ], Friedel–Crafts acylation [12], radical cascade reactions [2][13], and photoinduced radical cyclizations [14][15][16][17]. However, these methods often suffer from drawbacks such as harsh reaction conditions and the requirement of transition-metal catalysts. Although photocatalyzed cyclization reactions