Recent advances in electrochemical copper catalysis for modern organic synthesis

• Yemin Kim and
• Won Jun Jang

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 155–178, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.9

• efficient and economical approach for molecular synthesis [40]. This strategy has been widely applied in synthetic chemistry, the pharmaceutical industry, and materials science. Over the past few decades, transition-metal-catalyzed C–H activation reactions have been widely developed. Late-stage C–H

• functionalization of highly complex and diverse molecules, such as those of pharmaceuticals and natural products, has provided new retrosynthetic disconnections for complex compounds, contributing to improved resource efficiency [41][42][43][44][45][46]. Recently, the merging of C–H activation and electrochemistry

• Cu-catalyzed electrochemical C–H activation strategy through C–H alkynylation of arylamides followed by electrooxidative cascade annulation (Figure 4) [48]. This reaction enables sustainable C–H functionalization by utilizing electricity as the terminal oxidant instead of stoichiometric amounts of

Emerging trends in the optimization of organic synthesis through high-throughput tools and machine learning

• Pablo Quijano Velasco,
• Kedar Hippalgaonkar and
• Balamurugan Ramalingam

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 10–38, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.3

Direct trifluoroethylation of carbonyl sulfoxonium ylides using hypervalent iodine compounds

• Radell Echemendía,
• Carlee A. Montgomery,
• Fabio Cuzzucoli,
• Antonio C. B. Burtoloso and
• Graham K. Murphy

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 3182–3190, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.263

• ]. This synthetic potential has been demonstrated in a range of insertions into polar bonds [17][18][19][20], C−H activation transformations [21][22][23], and geminal difunctionalizations [24][25]. Within the literature, a broad array of classical methods describes the synthesis of sulfoxonium ylides [26

A review of recent advances in electrochemical and photoelectrochemical late-stage functionalization classified by anodic oxidation, cathodic reduction, and paired electrolysis

• Nian Li,
• Ruzal Sitdikov,
• Ajit Prabhakar Kale,
• Joost Steverlynck,
• Bo Li and
• Magnus Rueping

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 2500–2566, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.214

• carboxylate substrate and [Ru(p-cymene)Cl2]2. Subsequently, the Ru complex coordinates with the aniline substrate, followed by C–H activation to form a six-membered Ru species. The final product is generated through reductive elimination, releasing Ru(0), which is then reoxidized on the anode to regenerate

• mechanism. Initially, C–H activation occurs, resulting in the formation of a cyclometalated Ir(III) intermediate. Ligand exchange with the alkyne substrate, followed by migratory insertion, leads to the formation of a seven-membered 18-electron Ir(III) complex. This complex then undergoes reductive

pKalculator: A pK_a predictor for C–H bonds

• Rasmus M. Borup,
• Nicolai Ree and
• Jan H. Jensen

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 1614–1622, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.144

• bond to create new connections has attracted increasing interest [1]. While past methods allowed for C–H transformations in simple molecules, recent synthetic protocols [2] enable selective C–H activation and diversification in larger molecules. This has, for example, attracted the pharmaceutical

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

• on the arene were unsuccessful. Without substituents on the ring, aryl C–H activation and subsequent C–O bond formation occurred along with benzylic fluorination (7) (low efficiency). The presence of a p-methoxy group resulted in a switch in selectivity to acyloxylation 8’ as the major product. The

• with nucleophilic fluoride sources too (Figure 30) [77]. This process involved an initial quinoline-directed C–H activation by Pd(II), followed by oxidation to generate a Pd(IV)–fluoride complex capable of C–F reductive elimination to generate the primary benzyl fluoride. Under this protocol, eleven 8

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

• 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

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

• context of covalent organic frameworks (COFs) and metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), frequently assembled through imine linkages. While C–H activation through halogens presents clear technical advantages, it also brings forth concerns about the toxicity of halo compounds to both human health and the

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

• bar of CO, in CH3CN at 160 °C. By this route, 29 examples were synthesized with isolated yields up to 91% (Scheme 27). One year later, Čarný and co-workers described a facile construction of the isoindolo[2,1-a]indol-6-one structure via a Pd-catalyzed aminocarbonylation and C–H activation reaction

(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

• shown by Molander and co-workers [77]. The synthesis of bridge heteroaryl 1,2,3-BCPs by a decarboxylative Minisci reaction was reported by Poole and co-workers [68]. The previously discussed C–H activation reported by MacMillan and co-workers (Scheme 2) was used to access a wide number of 1,2,3-BCPs [33

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

• reactions of substituted anilines VI, VII or N-arylamidines VIII are frequently employed for synthesizing C2-substituted quinazolines (Scheme 1), thereby influencing the spatial arrangement of the desired substituents [13][14]. Moreover, there have been recent advancements in efficient C–H activation

Mono or double Pd-catalyzed C–H bond functionalization for the annulative π-extension of 1,8-dibromonaphthalene: a one pot access to fluoranthene derivatives

• Nahed Ketata,
• Linhao Liu,
• Ridha Ben Salem and
• Henri Doucet

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 427–435, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.37

• %) using again a large excess of DBU base (7 equiv) also allowed to prepare unsubstituted fluoranthene in 87% yield (Scheme 1c) [22]. The reaction of naphthol with aryl bromides followed by nonaflation and intramolecular C–H activation for the access to fluoranthenes has also been reported [23]. Most of

• adjacent or between the two fluorine atoms in these arenes. The synthesis of these two fluoranthene derivatives by Suzuki coupling followed by intramolecular C–H activation was therefore investigated. From (3,4-difluorophenyl)boronic acid and (3,5-difluorophenyl)boronic acid, target products 25 and 26 were

• palladium-catalyzed direct intermolecular arylation, followed by a direct intramolecular arylation step. As the C–H bond activation of several benzene derivatives remains very challenging, the preparation of fluoranthenes from 1,8-dibromonaphthalene via Suzuki coupling followed by intramolecular C–H

Additive-controlled chemoselective inter-/intramolecular hydroamination via electrochemical PCET process

• Kazuhiro Okamoto,
• Naoki Shida and
• Mahito Atobe

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 264–271, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.27

• electron-transfer to give the corresponding radical species through oxidative X–H bond cleavage. One such species is the amidyl radical, which is broadly synthetically useful as a nitrogen source in hydroamination reactions and as a hydrogen atom transfer (HAT) reagent for remote C–H activation [2][3][4][5

Copper-promoted C5-selective bromination of 8-aminoquinoline amides with alkyl bromides

• Changdong Shao,
• Chen Ma,
• Li Li,
• Jingyi Liu,
• Yanan Shen,
• Chen Chen,
• Qionglin Yang,
• Tianyi Xu,
• Zhengsong Hu,
• Yuhe Kan and
• Tingting Zhang

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 155–161, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.14

• important auxiliary group for the proximal C–H activation with the efforts of Daugulis [5] and others [6]. Results from medical research indicated that the introduction of halogen atoms into quinoline motifs has positive effects on their bioactivities, such as antimalarial, antitumor, and so on [7

Radical chemistry in polymer science: an overview and recent advances

• Zixiao Wang,
• Feichen Cui,
• Yang Sui and
• Jiajun Yan

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 1580–1603, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.116

• of the chemical versatility of the hydroxy moiety (Scheme 15). Site-selective radical C–H activation has been proven to be a useful tool to functionalize relatively inert polymer backbones and upcycling of polymer waste (cf. section 4) [118][119]. Radical chain-end modification as a highly specific

Synthesis and biological evaluation of Argemone mexicana-inspired antimicrobials

• Jessica Villegas,
• Bryce C. Ball,
• Katelyn M. Shouse,
• Caleb W. VanArragon,
• Ashley N. Wasserman,
• Hannah E. Bhakta,
• Allen G. Oliver,
• Danielle A. Orozco-Nunnelly and
• Jeffrey M. Pruet

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 1511–1524, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.108

• most streamlined method involves a copper-promoted Pictet–Spengler-type cyclization with glyoxal, with oxidative aromatization at the 8-position (Scheme 1) [30][35]. A recent report suggested a mechanistic role of Cu2+ involving C–H activation [36]; however, it is known that this reaction proceeds

N-Sulfenylsuccinimide/phthalimide: an alternative sulfenylating reagent in organic transformations

• Fatemeh Doraghi,
• Seyedeh Pegah Aledavoud,
• Mehdi Ghanbarlou,
• Bagher Larijani and
• Mohammad Mahdavi

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 1471–1502, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.106

• and acetic acid (AcOH) as a Brønsted acid, whereas i(a)midation was achieved by using Pd(OAc)2 as catalyst and Cu(OAc)2 as a Lewis acid. A possible mechanism for this chemodivergent C–H activation is depicted in Scheme 16. First, Pd catalyzed the formation of palladacycle I. Oxidative addition of AcOH

Radical ligand transfer: a general strategy for radical functionalization

• David T. Nemoto Jr,
• Kang-Jie Bian,
• Shih-Chieh Kao and
• Julian G. West

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 1225–1233, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.90

• addition to alkenes and radical decarboxylation, with many of these being driven by light energy. RLT in alkene functionalization Outside of the realm of C–H activation, RLT has been leveraged to afford complex medicinal scaffolds in alkene difunctionalization. A recent example can be found in the merger

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

• mechanism involves the coordination of pyridine to the metal center of the cationic catalyst and B(C6F5)3 promotes the ortho-C–H activation (deprotonation) of pyridine to afford pyridyl species 6. Next, the 2,1-migratory insertion of alkene 2 into the metal–pyridyl bond in 6 gives the intermediate 7, which

• on subsequent deprotonation gives the branched alkylated product 4. Whereas, in case of styrene 3 a 1,2-insertion takes place possibly due to the formation of the stable benzallylic species 8, which on deprotonation gives the linear alkylated product 5. The C–H activation/C–C cross-coupling reaction

Photocatalytic sequential C–H functionalization expediting acetoxymalonylation of imidazo heterocycles

• Deepak Singh,
• Shyamal Pramanik and
• Soumitra Maity

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 666–673, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.48

• investigation revealed a sequential sp2 and sp3 C–H activation, followed by functionalization driven by zinc acetate coupled with the photocatalyst PTH. A variety of imidazo[1,2-a]pyridines and related heterocycles were explored as substrates along with several active methylene reagents, all generating the

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

• functional group tolerance with excellent stereoselectivities. In 2016, Ellman and co-workers demonstrated a Rh- or Co-catalyzed highly diastereoselective tandem C–H bond addition/aldol reaction sequence [96][97]. The C–H activation was promoted by pyridine, pyrazole, or imine directing groups, while the

• aldol addition step was performed either in a two-component (intramolecular aldol) or a three-component (intermolecular aldol) arrangement. The enantioselective implementation of this methodology was realized by Herraiz and Cramer in 2021 (Scheme 53) [98]. The reaction sequence is initiated by the C–H

• activation of aryl pyrazoles, followed by the asymmetric conjugate addition to the Michael acceptor. Then, the formed cobalt enolate participates in the intermolecular aldol reaction with an aldehyde 207. The stereochemistry of this tandem procedure is controlled by the chiral Co(III) complex C4 bearing

C3-Alkylation of furfural derivatives by continuous flow homogeneous catalysis

• Grédy Kiala Kinkutu,
• Catherine Louis,
• Myriam Roy,
• Juliette Blanchard and
• Julie Oble

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 582–592, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.43

• formation of the imine directing group and the C3-functionalization with some vinylsilanes and norbonene. Keywords: biomass; C–H activation; flow; furfural; homogeneous catalysis; Introduction The conversion of biomass derivatives into value-added products is one of the key branches of green chemistry and

• furfural derivatives have been developed. In particular, their direct functionalization by transition-metal-catalyzed C–H activation processes [16][17][18] has become a major area of interest where only a few methods have been reported so far. Most examples concern functionalization at C5, which is the

• furfural derivatives by C–H activation, a) in batch: previous works, and b) in continuous flow: this work. C3-alkylation of bidentate imine 1 performed in batch. Optimization of the heating for the alkylation reaction on the homemade pulsed-flow setup. Proposed reaction mechanism for the alkylation

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

• proceeds similarly to Nakamura’s Fe-catalyzed methodology (Scheme 13) [48]. In 2017, the Cheng laboratory investigated the Co-catalyzed ring-opening/dehydration of oxabicyclic alkenes via the C–H activation of arenes (Scheme 15) [50]. First, the group explored the ortho-naphthylation of N-pyrimidinylindole

• 5.0 equivalents of Cs2CO3 provided the naphthalene core via sequential dehydration. Based on preliminary mechanistic experiments, the authors proposed the reaction begins with the oxidation of Co(II) to Co(III) by O2. MHP-directed C–H activation of the ortho-C–H position generates 90 which can

• investigated the Ru-catalyzed ring-opening/lactamization of azabenzonorbornadiene derivatives 30 with arylamides 116 (Scheme 21) [64]. Weinreb amides outperformed other arylamides, likely serving as a better directing group for the initial aryl-C–H activation. While the scope of functionalized aryl Weinreb

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

• trifluoromethylthiolation persist. In particular, the functionalization of a C(sp3)–H bond with a trifluoromethylthiolated moiety by transition-metal-catalyzed C–H activation remains a challenging task both in terms of reactivity and selectivity. In 2015, Besset reported the first C(sp3)–SCF3 bond formation of unactivated

• primary C(sp3) centers by transition-metal-catalyzed C–H activation with the Munavalli or the Billard reagents as the trifluoromethylthiolation source (Scheme 14) [126]. Using a bidentate directing group, this methodology allowed the functionalization of a large range of aliphatic amides with a primary β

• -arylpyridine derivatives and analogs by means of palladium-catalyzed C–H activation reported by the group of Shen [117]. a6 equiv of I were used at 150 °C for 24 h. bThe reaction was conducted at 150 °C for 24 h. C(sp2)–SCF3 bond formation by Pd-catalyzed C–H bond activation using AgSCF3 and Selectfluor® as

Practical synthesis of isocoumarins via Rh(III)-catalyzed C–H activation/annulation cascade

• Qian-Ci Gao,
• Yi-Fei Li,
• Jun Xuan and
• Xiao-Qiang Hu

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 100–106, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.10

• activation/annulation cascade of readily available enaminones with iodonium ylides towards the convenient synthesis of isocoumarins. This coupling system proceeds in useful chemical yields (up to 93%) via a cascade C–H activation, Rh-carbenoid migratory insertion and acid-promoted intramolecular annulation

• . The success of gram-scale reaction and diverse functionalization of isocoumarins demonstrated the synthetic utility of this protocol. Keywords: C–H activation; enaminone; iodonium ylide; isocoumarin; rhodium catalysis; Introduction Isocoumarins are an important structural motif in many naturally

• of 1,2-difunctionalized arenes with alkynes or carbon monoxide (Scheme 1b, III) [13][14][15][16], have been widely applied for the assembly of isocoumarins over the past decades. Recently, the transition-metal-catalyzed ortho C–H activation/annulation of benzoic acids has emerged as an attractive