Icilio Guareschi and his amazing “1897 reaction”

• Gian Cesare Tron,
• Alberto Minassi,
• Giovanni Sorba,
• Mara Fausone and
• Giovanni Appendino

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2021, 17, 1335–1351, doi:10.3762/bjoc.17.93

• posthumously in 1919 [35]. In 1894, Guareschi reported the first high-yield synthesis and the structure elucidation of triacetonamine (6, Scheme 3) [35][36][37], the sterically hindered amine that is the starting material for the synthesis of the popular oxidant TEMPO [38]. Triacetonamine had first been

A comprehensive review of flow chemistry techniques tailored to the flavours and fragrances industries

• Guido Gambacorta,
• James S. Sharley and
• Ian R. Baxendale

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2021, 17, 1181–1312, doi:10.3762/bjoc.17.90

Synthetic reactions driven by electron-donor–acceptor (EDA) complexes

• Zhonglie Yang,
• Yutong Liu,
• Kun Cao,
• Xiaobin Zhang,
• Hezhong Jiang and
• Jiahong Li

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2021, 17, 771–799, doi:10.3762/bjoc.17.67

• depends on the association of eosin Y and oxidant 4 to a donor–acceptor EY–4 ground-system complex (high reactivity). Due to the ability of aryl groups to stabilize the formed alkenyl radical, this protocol could control regioselectivity efficiently with unsymmetrical alkynes. In addition, EPR

Designed whole-cell-catalysis-assisted synthesis of 9,11-secosterols

• Marek Kõllo,
• Marje Kasari,
• Villu Kasari,
• Tõnis Pehk,
• Ivar Järving,
• Margus Lopp,
• Arvi Jõers and
• Tõnis Kanger

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2021, 17, 581–588, doi:10.3762/bjoc.17.52

• . Chemical oxidation of 9,11-dihydroxysteroids In the final step, the obtained trans-diols 5 and 6 were subjected to the chemical oxidation of the 9,11 carbon bond. Lead tetraacetate is a classic oxidant for the cleavage of vicinal diols. However, there are serious drawbacks when using Pb(OAc)4. In addition

• to its toxicity, the oxidation rate affording trans-diols was very slow in comparison to that for cis-diols. Using an even longer reaction time and stoichiometric amount of the reagent, diol 5 was not oxidized to the corresponding dicarbonyl compound 8. However, using NaOCl·5H2O as an oxidant [31

• 9α-hydroxylated diol. The following oxidative cleavage of the C–C bond with a mild oxidant leads to the steroid with an appropriately broken steroid skeleton. The method provides the target compound in only two steps, without any manipulations involving protecting groups. The present method features

A new and efficient methodology for olefin epoxidation catalyzed by supported cobalt nanoparticles

• Lucía Rossi-Fernández,
• Viviana Dorn and
• Gabriel Radivoy

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2021, 17, 519–526, doi:10.3762/bjoc.17.46

• MgO and tert-butyl hydroperoxide (TBHP) as oxidant is presented. This CoNPs@MgO/t-BuOOH catalytic combination allowed the epoxidation of a variety of olefins with good to excellent yield and high selectivity. The catalyst preparation is simple and straightforward from commercially available starting

• the other hand, the use of supported cobalt nanoparticles as efficient catalysts for the epoxidation of olefins has received increasing attention in the last years. In most cases, a crucial influence of the support (TiO2, HAP, CNTs, SBA, SiO2), the oxidant agent (molecular oxygen or TBHP) and the

• the oxidant agent. Among the reported methods that make use of peroxides as oxidants, cobalt nanoparticles supported on CNTs together with TBHP as oxidant for the epoxidation of styrene, gave good selectivity to styrene oxide but conversions were lower than 40% [41]. More recently, Hutchings et al

Annulation of a 1,3-dithiole ring to a sterically hindered o-quinone core. Novel ditopic redox-active ligands

• Sergey V. Norkov,
• Anton V. Cherkasov,
• Andrey S. Shavyrin,
• Maxim V. Arsenyev,
• Viacheslav A. Kuropatov and
• Vladimir K. Cherkasov

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2021, 17, 273–282, doi:10.3762/bjoc.17.26

• found to be a stronger oxidant than 36Q [16]. A very similar redox behavior and shifts of reduction potential values were observed for p-quinone derivatives with attached 1,3-dithiole rings [27][49]. UV–vis spectroscopy Sterically hindered o-quinones are deep-colored compounds. Any changes in their

Facile preparation and conversion of 4,4,4-trifluorobut-2-yn-1-ones to aromatic and heteroaromatic compounds

• Takashi Yamazaki,
• Yoh Nakajima,
• Minato Iida and
• Tomoko Kawasaki-Takasuka

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2021, 17, 132–138, doi:10.3762/bjoc.17.14

• trials aimed at optimizing the reaction conditions, the unexpectedly smooth conversion of 1a to 2a was realized. Although it was reported [18][23] that only a small amount of 2a was confirmed after the reaction of 1a with 10 equiv of MnO2 at ambient temperature after 1 day, the same amount of oxidant

• MnO2 oxidation of readily accessible propargylic alcohols 1. In spite of the application of this method only to 1, with an aromatic substituent at the propargylic position and the requirement of an excess amount of this oxidant, the practical convenience, low cost, as well as the clean conversion are

Recent developments in enantioselective photocatalysis

• Callum Prentice,
• James Morrisson,
• Andrew D. Smith and
• Eli Zysman-Colman

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 2363–2441, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.197

• 101 could be generated in an oxidative quenching cycle from THIQs 102 using a ruthenium-based photocatalyst and 1,3-dinitrobenzene (DNB) as a sacrificial oxidant (Scheme 13) [51]. These iminium ions could then be intercepted by a Breslow intermediate 103, formed between aldehydes 104 and the NHC

• et al. (Scheme 41) [103]. The proposed mechanism implicates an oxidative quenching cycle using a sacrificial oxidant (TIPS-EBX), followed by a PCET step with hydrogen-bonded complex 260 to give chiral ion pair 260•, which completes the photocatalytic cycle. Subsequent enantioselective radical

Access to highly substituted oxazoles by the reaction of α-azidochalcone with potassium thiocyanate

• Mysore Bhyrappa Harisha,
• Pandi Dhanalakshmi,
• Rajendran Suresh,
• Raju Ranjith Kumar and
• Shanmugam Muthusubramanian

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 2108–2118, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.178

• unambiguously indicate that the reaction proceeds through a radical pathway. Potassium persulfate helps to generate a thiocyanate radical and in the absence of potassium persulfate the reaction did not proceed. This experiment supports the role of potassium persulfate as an oxidant. Based on these experiments

The biomimetic synthesis of balsaminone A and ellagic acid via oxidative dimerization

• Sharna-kay Daley and
• Nadale Downer-Riley

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 2026–2031, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.169

• aqueous conditions to prevent complexation of the reagent and the starting material. Of the Lewis acids used, stannic chloride proved to be the most effective oxidant for dimerization (Table 1). However, the hypervalent iodine reagents PIFA and PIDA gave better results overall, affording dimer 18 in 63

Metal-free synthesis of phosphinoylchroman-4-ones via a radical phosphinoylation–cyclization cascade mediated by K₂S₂O₈

• Qiang Liu,
• Weibang Lu,
• Guanqun Xie and
• Xiaoxia Wang

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 1974–1982, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.164

• motifs were conveniently synthesized from readily available diphenylphosphine oxides and alkenyl aldehydes via a metal-free tandem phosphinoylation/cyclization protocol. The reaction utilizes K2S2O8 as oxidant and proceeds in DMSO/H2O at environmentally benign conditions with a broad substrate scope and

•  1a). Besides, in 2016 Li’s group [28] reported a silver-catalyzed straightforward approach for the synthesis of phosphonate-functionalized chroman-4-ones via a phosphoryl radical-initiated cascade cyclization of 2-(allyloxy)arylaldehydes using K2S2O8 as an oxidant, however, diphenylphosphine oxide

• employing 2-(allyloxy)benzaldehyde (1a) and diphenylphosphine oxide (DPPO, 2a) as the model substrates with K2S2O8 as the oxidant, which is a cheap, readily available, and versatile oxidant. On the basis of literature reports [29][30] and our continuing interest in green chemistry [31][32], we set the

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

• activation, a catalytic amount of a transition metal (generally Pd, Rh and Ru) is frequently used in combination with a stoichiometric amount of an external oxidant (typically Cu or Ag salts). Such additional oxidants are required if transiently produced low-valent metal complexes need to be reoxidized by

• , 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

• selecting judiciously a PC with adequate redox potentials, the ground state of the latter could be regenerated by means of a mild and abundant oxidant such as molecular oxygen. The overall process thus allowed the replacement of stoichiometric amounts of external oxidants with a suitable PC. Following this

Fluorohydration of alkynes via I(I)/I(III) catalysis

• Jessica Neufeld,
• Constantin G. Daniliuc and
• Ryan Gilmour

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 1627–1635, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.135

• organocatalyst, Selectfluor® was employed as the terminal oxidant, and an amine/HF complex enlisted as the fluoride source (please see Supporting Information File 1 for full details). The reaction was performed in CHCl3 at ambient temperature and the crude reaction mixtures were analysed by 19F NMR spectroscopy

• (50% yield), ground Oxone® or N-pyridine oxide proved to be ineffective (Table 1, entries 9–11). Increasing the reaction temperature to 50 °C led to the same outcome as at ambient temperature (64% yield, Table 1, entry 12). Finally, the control reactions in the absence of catalyst, oxidant and HF

Facile synthesis of 7-alkyl-1,2,3,4-tetrahydro-1,8-naphthyridines as arginine mimetics using a Horner–Wadsworth–Emmons-based approach

• Rhys A. Lippa,
• John A. Murphy and
• Tim N. Barrett

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 1617–1626, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.134

• occur via a radical pathway. When iodide 29 was replaced by a superior oxidant in 1,2-dibromoethane, formation of dimer 32 increased (17% isolated yield). This supports the previously reported proposals that dimerisation occurs via single-electron oxidation of the 2-picolyl anion by the halide

• /pseudohalide oxidant followed by recombination of the resulting picolyl radical [28][29][30]. Whilst trace oxygen may be involved, as indicated by the presence of alcohol 31, no dimerisation or alcohol formation was seen in the absence of a halide/pseudohalide-based oxidant, during C-phosphorylation or

NHC-catalyzed enantioselective synthesis of β-trifluoromethyl-β-hydroxyamides

• Alyn T. Davies,
• Mark D. Greenhalgh,
• Alexandra M. Z. Slawin and
• Andrew D. Smith

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 1572–1578, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.129

• ][44][45] in the presence of an oxidant. As representative examples of the use of azolium enolates in reactions with trifluoroacetophenone derivatives, Ye and co-workers have shown that using disubstituted ketenes as azolium enolate precursors and NHC precatalyst 1 allowed access to trifluoromethyl

• enantioselectivity but requiring superstoichiometric quantities of quinone as an oxidant (Figure 2B) [47]. In our previous work, we have developed α-aroyloxyaldehydes as reactive, bench-stable precursors of azolium enolates [48][49][50][51][52][53], which can be synthesized in a single step from the desired aldehyde

Photocatalyzed syntheses of phenanthrenes and their aza-analogues. A review

• Alessandra Del Tito,
• Havall Othman Abdulla,
• Davide Ravelli,
• Stefano Protti and
• Maurizio Fagnoni

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 1476–1488, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.123

• –C bonds gave P(=O)Ph2-containing phenanthridines 7.5a–c (Scheme 7, path c), which occurred in the presence of a base (CsF or Cs2CO3) and an external oxidant (K2S2O8). Notably, the presence of electron-withdrawing groups on the biphenyl unit inhibited the process in some instances [67]. Starting from

• exploited for the construction of phenanthridine 6-carboxylates (Scheme 12). Notably, the process occurred in water under metal-free conditions in the presence of rose bengal (5 mol %) and made use of molecular oxygen as the terminal oxidant. Thus, N-biarylglycine esters 12.1a–d promoted the reductive

An overview on disulfide-catalyzed and -cocatalyzed photoreactions

• Yeersen Patehebieke

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 1418–1435, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.118

• electron-rich aryl disulfides as the photocatalyst and oxygen as the oxidant [16]. At room temperature, bis(4-methoxyphenyl) disulfide was employed as the metal-free photocatalyst under visible-light and 1 bar of O2 to realize the aerobic oxidative cleavage of the C=C bonds. Under these mild conditions

Recent synthesis of thietanes

• Jiaxi Xu

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 1357–1410, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.116

Highly selective Diels–Alder and Heck arylation reactions in a divergent synthesis of isoindolo- and pyrrolo-fused polycyclic indoles from 2-formylpyrrole

• Carlos H. Escalante,
• Eder I. Martínez-Mora,
• Carlos Espinoza-Hicks,
• Alejandro A. Camacho-Dávila,
• Fernando R. Ramos-Morales,
• Francisco Delgado and
• Joaquín Tamariz

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 1320–1334, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.113

• electronic density provided by the nitrogen lone-pair, which plausibly stabilizes the cationic or radical species formed by the oxidant reagent during the aromatization process [46], as efficiently occurred with derivatives 9. Finally, in order to obtain the aromatic indole-based pentacycles 12, the

Oxime radicals: generation, properties and application in organic synthesis

• Igor B. Krylov,
• Stanislav A. Paveliev,
• Alexander S. Budnikov and
• Alexander O. Terent’ev

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 1234–1276, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.107

• strong single-electron oxidant, cerium(IV) ammonium nitrate, in methanol [38]. To record EPR spectra, a flow system was used, which allowed observation of radicals with lifetimes of about 10−2 s [39]. The EPR spectra of iminoxyl radicals are characterized by large values of the hyperfine splitting

• optimization of the reaction conditions Fe(ClO4)3 was chosen as the optimal oxidant for the synthesis of C–O cross-dehydrogenative coupling products 51 (Scheme 19). The extremely persistent diacetyliminoxyl radical (20) [44] was directly introduced into the reaction with pyrazolones 50 with the formation of

• using DTBP or aerial oxygen as an oxidant. Aliphatic, aromatic, and heteroaromatic amines 140, both primary and secondary, are applicable for this reaction. The reaction of TEMPO with β,γ- and γ,δ-unsaturated oximes 143 leads to substituted unsaturated isoxazolines 144 and cyclic nitrones 145

Photocatalysis with organic dyes: facile access to reactive intermediates for synthesis

• Stephanie G. E. Amos,
• Marion Garreau,
• Luca Buzzetti and
• Jerome Waser

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 1163–1187, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.103

• quenching cycle, PC* acts as a reductant donating an electron to A. This generates the oxidized form of the photocatalyst, PC•+, and a reduced acceptor, A•−. Alternatively, in a reductive quenching cycle, PC* acts as an oxidant promoting an SET oxidation of the electron donor D. This leads to the reduced

• use of the strong oxidant Mes-Acr-Ph+ (OD3, E(PC+*/PC) ≈ 2 V) as organic photocatalyst leads to the oxidation/decarboxylation of the in situ-generated carboxylates (Eox ≈ 1.3 V). An organic disulfide cocatalyst, (PhS)2, activated by the reduced photocatalyst, was found to act as a co-base (PhS−) and a

• cyclic ethers 22.3. Mes-Acr-Me+ (OD2) is a strong enough oxidant (E(PC+*/PC) ≈ 2.1 V), allowing the oxidation of unactivated alkenes (1.2 ≤ Eox ≤ 1.9 V). In this transformation, the cocatalyst 22.2 acts as an H atom shuttle. This alkene radical cation-based strategy has been extended to various

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

• oxidant) as the selenium source under acidic conditions, and the substrate scope and limitations have not been clarified. Moreover, the syntheses of bis(2-arylimidazo[1,5-a]pyridin-3-yl) selenides and diselenides have recently been investigated using Cu-catalyzed reactions involving imidazo[1,5-a

Recent applications of porphyrins as photocatalysts in organic synthesis: batch and continuous flow approaches

• Rodrigo Costa e Silva,
• Luely Oliveira da Silva,
• Aloisio de Andrade Bartolomeu,
• Timothy John Brocksom and
• Kleber Thiago de Oliveira

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 917–955, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.83

• application in the synthesis of quinazolin-4-(3H)-ones by the one-pot reaction between alcohols and 2-aminobenzamide under an oxidative quenching, visible light irradiation using air or oxygen as oxidant (60–81% yields). The authors propose the generation of the superoxide radical anion with the MOF. The

Bipyrrole boomerangs via Pd-mediated tandem cyclization–oxygenation. Controlling reaction selectivity and electronic properties

• Liliia Moshniaha,
• Marika Żyła-Karwowska,
• Joanna Cybińska,
• Piotr J. Chmielewski,
• Ludovic Favereau and
• Marcin Stępień

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 895–903, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.81

• stoichiometric oxidant. The scope of such Pd(II)-induced couplings was further developed into tandem processes involving consecutive cyclization of substituents (dcTTEE) and oxygenation of pyrrolic α-positions to form lactams cNDA1O and cNMI1O. The mechanism of those transformations was subsequently explored

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

• ], alkynation [17][18], or allylation [19]), this method has certain drawbacks, most importantly the frequent requirement of superstoichiometric amounts of an oxidant. Hence, alternative methods were investigated and photoredox catalysis proved to be a viable option [20][21][22]. By now, several different