Photochemically assisted synthesis of phenacenes fluorinated at the terminal benzene rings and their electronic spectra

• Yuuki Ishii,
• Minoru Yamaji,
• Fumito Tani,
• Kenta Goto,
• Yoshihiro Kubozono and
• Hideki Okamoto

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 670–679, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.53

• state. The orange and blue sites, respectively, indicate negative and positive regions (−0.02 ≈ 0.02 hartree). Synthesis of building blocks 10, 13, and 15. Reagents and conditions: a) NaBH4, MeOH, THF, reflux; b) PBr3, reflux; c) N-methylmorpholine-N-oxide, THF, reflux; d) ethylene glycol, p-TsOH

Recent advances in organocatalytic atroposelective reactions

• Henrich Szabados and
• Radovan Šebesta

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 55–121, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.6

• activation, atroposelective aza-Michael addition, and intramolecular aldol reaction to form the cationic intermediate Int-6. Release of the catalyst C2, reduction with NaBH4, and dehydration with acetic acid leads to the desired product 6. Recently, an organocatalytic atroposelective intramolecular (4 + 2

Facile one-pot reduction of β-nitrostyrenes to phenethylamines using sodium borohydride and copper(II) chloride

• Laura D’Andrea and
• Simon Jademyr

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 39–46, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.4

• Aalborg, Denmark current address: Centre for Analysis and Synthesis, Lund University, Naturvetarvägen 14, 223 62 Lund, Sweden 10.3762/bjoc.21.4 Abstract Phenethylamines and phenylisopropylamines of scientific relevance can be prepared with a NaBH4/CuCl2 system in 10 to 30 minutes via reduction of

• substituted β-nitrostyrenes. This one-pot procedure allows the quick isolation of substituted β-nitrostyrene scaffolds with 62–83% yield under mild conditions, without the need for special precautions, inert atmosphere, and time-consuming purification techniques. Keywords: 2C-X; CuCl2; NaBH4; β-nitrostyrene

• aluminum hydride, sodium borohydride is a non-pyrophoric and easy-to-handle reducing agent. Since the first attempts in 1967, NaBH4 has been employed to reduce β-nitrostyrene scaffolds to the corresponding nitroalkanes [19][20][21]. Several catalysts have been combined with NaBH4 to facilitate full

Efficient one-step synthesis of diarylacetic acids by electrochemical direct carboxylation of diarylmethanol compounds in DMSO

• Hisanori Senboku and
• Mizuki Hayama

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 2392–2400, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.203

• ) [21] are known compounds and were prepared from the corresponding commercially available ketones by reaction with NaBH4 in EtOH or EtOH/THF 1:1. 1,1-Diphenylethanol (1i) is also a known compound and was prepared according to the reported procedure [29]. 9H-Fluoren-9-ol (1m) and triphenylmethanol (1n

Asymmetric organocatalytic synthesis of chiral homoallylic amines

• Nikolay S. Kondratyev and
• Andrei V. Malkov

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 2349–2377, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.201

• -morpholinyl amido and benzophenone imino groups with LiAlH4 and NaBH4 afforded the corresponding syn-2-benzyl-1,3-amino alcohol 134 in 83% yield. In the case of the dimethylamide derivative, deprotection of benzophenone imine 128 with NH2OH·HCl followed by the LiAlH4 reduction gave rise to chiral syn-2-benzyl

Syntheses and medicinal chemistry of spiro heterocyclic steroids

• Laura L. Romero-Hernández,
• Ana Isabel Ahuja-Casarín,
• Penélope Merino-Montiel,
• Sara Montiel-Smith,
• José Luis Vega-Báez and
• Jesús Sandoval-Ramírez

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 1713–1745, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.152

Skeletal rearrangement of 6,8-dioxabicyclo[3.2.1]octan-4-ols promoted by thionyl chloride or Appel conditions

• Martyn Jevric,
• Julian Klepp,
• Johannes Puschnig,
• Oscar Lamb,
• Christopher J. Sumby and
• Ben W. Greatrex

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 823–829, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.74

• reduction using NaBH4 as per our previously published approach (Scheme 1) [9]. When α-alkylations are performed using 2, the second alkylation step is faster than the first, meaning that only the dialkylated products are formed [16], and the reduction is highly selective with approach of the reductant from

• mixture of ketone 9e and the O-alkylated enol ether by-product, which was then reduced using NaBH4 to give alcohol 10e with 98:2 selectivity. Similarly, the reaction of 4-methoxybenzyl bromide and 2 gave ketone 9f in 35% yield without chromatography, and when reduced resulted in only a single alcohol

• stereoisomer 10f in 91% yield. The selectivity of the NaBH4 reduction was confirmed for both 10d (see discussion in Supporting Information File 1) and 10e by X-ray crystallography (Figure 2 and Scheme 1, respectively). The oxygen-migration reaction giving 11a was initially observed using the readily available

Advancements in hydrochlorination of alkenes

• Daniel S. Müller

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

• group reported on the formal hydrogenation of alkenes with Fe(OTf)3 in the presence of NaBH4 [87]. During their studies they noted that FeCl3 was able to perform hydrochlorination reactions with alkenes albeit in low yields (Scheme 26). Very recently, a modified procedure was reported by researchers

Benzoimidazolium-derived dimeric and hydride n-dopants for organic electron-transport materials: impact of substitution on structures, electrochemistry, and reactivity

• Swagat K. Mohapatra,
• Khaled Al Kurdi,
• Samik Jhulki,
• Georgii Bogdanov,
• John Bacsa,
• Maxwell Conte,
• Tatiana V. Timofeeva,
• Seth R. Marder and
• Stephen Barlow

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 1651–1663, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.121

• for organic electron-transport materials. Salts of 2-(4-(dimethylamino)phenyl)-4,7-dimethoxy-, 2-cyclohexyl-4,7-dimethoxy-, and 2-(5-(dimethylamino)thiophen-2-yl)benzo[d]imidazolium (1g–i+, respectively) have been synthesized and reduced with NaBH4 to 1gH, 1hH, and 1iH, and with Na:Hg to 1g2 and 1h2

• iodomethane (or methyl tosylate) to afford the benzimidazolium iodides (or tosylates), 1+I− (or 1+OTs−), which were metathesized to the corresponding hexafluorophosphates, 1+PF6−. Either I− or PF6− salt can then be converted to the corresponding 1H derivative using NaBH4 in MeOH. The PF6− salts are somewhat

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

• NaBH4, three known berberine variants B9–B11 were prepared (Scheme 3). While the three compounds have previously been prepared, they were synthesized primarily for direct comparison to berberine at the same dose and against the same microbial panel in the present study to ensure confidence in the

Application of N-heterocyclic carbene–Cu(I) complexes as catalysts in organic synthesis: a review

• Nosheen Beig,
• Varsha Goyal and
• Raj K. Bansal

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 1408–1442, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.102

• complex 57 was obtained through reduction of the phenoxyimine-imidazolium bromide 55a (R = t-Bu) with NaBH4 followed by successive alkylation with iPrBr and reaction with Cu2O (Scheme 19) [32]. The use of the synthesized complexes 56a and 57 as precatalysts for the 1,4-conjugate addition to enones and the

Synthesis of ether lipids: natural compounds and analogues

• Marco Antônio G. B. Gomes,
• Alicia Bauduin,
• Chloé Le Roux,
• Romain Fouinneteau,
• Wilfried Berthe,
• Mathieu Berchel,
• Hélène Couthon and
• Paul-Alain Jaffrès

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 1299–1369, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.96

• intermediate 6.3 (ᴅ- or ʟ-threitol) that was then alkylated with mesityl lipid alcohol to produce 6.4 [80][81]. The acetal protecting group was removed in acidic conditions and then the intermediate 6.5 was subjected to oxidative cleavage to yield an aldehyde that was reduced with NaBH4 to produce 6.6a,b

• phosphate moiety was introduced via the use of bromoethyl dichlorophosphate 11.4 to produce 11.5. The reduction of the ketone with NaBH4 produced 11.6, and then the incorporation of the trimethylammonium group produced deoxy-lyso-PAF 11.7. Finally, the acetylation of the secondary alcohol produced racemic

Non-noble metal-catalyzed cross-dehydrogenation coupling (CDC) involving ether α-C(sp³)–H to construct C–C bonds

• Hui Yu and
• Feng Xu

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 1259–1288, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.94

• dihydropyrans (DHPs) and aldehydes in the presence of Zn(II) (Scheme 37) [102]. The method has good enantioselectivity and functional group tolerance and provides a practical and economical route towards a series of enantiopure α-substituted DHPs through CDC, through an in situ NaBH4 reduction two-step sequence

Asymmetric synthesis of a stereopentade fragment toward latrunculins

• Benjamin Joyeux,
• Antoine Gamet,
• Nicolas Casaretto and
• Bastien Nay

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 428–433, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.32

• such latrunculin synthesis and the encountered difficulties thereof. Results and Discussion Our synthesis started from commercially available (+)-β-citronellene (10). The ozonolysis of the trisubstituted double bond followed by a reductive treatment with NaBH4 chemoselectively afforded primary alcohol

A versatile way for the synthesis of monomethylamines by reduction of N-substituted carbonylimidazoles with the NaBH₄/I₂ system

• Lin Chen,
• Xuan Zhou,
• Zhiyong Chen,
• Changxu Wang,
• Shunjie Wang and
• Hanbing Teng

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2022, 18, 1032–1039, doi:10.3762/bjoc.18.104

• monomethylamines by reduction of N-substituted carbonylimidazoles with NaBH4/I2 in THF at reflux temperature is described. This method used no special catalyst and various monomethylamines can be easily obtained in moderate to good yields from a wide range of raw materials including amines (primary amines and

• cyanoformamides [75]. However, all of these works are primarily focused on the substitution reaction of N-substituted carbonylimidazoles. In our previous work, we conveniently prepared formamides by reducing N-substituted carbonylimidazoles with NaBH4 [62] (Scheme 1). The reaction mechanism shows that the H− ion

• reducibility of NaBH4. In this work, our goal is to reduce the carbonyl group in N-substituted carbonylimidazoles. The inexpensive NaBH4/I2 system has great attraction because it is more reductive due to the generation of highly reactive BH3–THF by adding iodine to NaBH4 in THF [76][77][78] and the reaction

An isoxazole strategy for the synthesis of 4-oxo-1,4-dihydropyridine-3-carboxylates

• Timur O. Zanakhov,
• Ekaterina E. Galenko,
• Mikhail S. Novikov and
• Alexander F. Khlebnikov

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2022, 18, 738–745, doi:10.3762/bjoc.18.74

• ][28], we checked the possibility of using NaBH4/NiSO4·7H2O [25], H2/PtO2/NiRaney [26][27] and H2/NiRaney [28] to obtain pyridone 2g from isoxazole 1g. However, analysis of reaction mixtures, obtained by using the above reductants, showed the formation of a large amount of products, but pyridone 2g was

Menadione: a platform and a target to valuable compounds synthesis

• Acácio S. de Souza,
• Ruan Carlos B. Ribeiro,
• Dora C. S. Costa,
• Fernanda P. Pauli,
• David R. Pinho,
• Matheus G. de Moraes,
• Fernando de C. da Silva,
• Luana da S. M. Forezi and
• Vitor F. Ferreira

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2022, 18, 381–419, doi:10.3762/bjoc.18.43

• the reaction of menadione (10) with formaldehyde in the presence of gaseous HCl bubbled into the reaction medium [129][130]. Then, the chloromethyl derivative 84 was treated with diselenides, generated in situ from the reaction between Se0, NaBH4 and different acid chlorides, to form conjugates 86 in

Synthesis of a novel aminobenzene-containing hemicucurbituril and its fluorescence spectral properties with ions

• Qingkai Zeng,
• Qiumeng Long,
• Jihong Lu,
• Li Wang,
• Yuting You,
• Xiaoting Yuan,
• Qianjun Zhang,
• Qingmei Ge,
• Hang Cong and
• Mao Liu

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2021, 17, 2840–2847, doi:10.3762/bjoc.17.195

• reduction of 5-nitroisophthalic acid with NaBH4 and BF3·Et2O followed by subsequent bromination with PBr3 [46] and 2-imidazolidinone (6) were used as building blocks. By controlling the molar ratio of 5 and 6 at 1:10 or 6:1 and the reaction conditions, products 7 and 8 were readily accessible with 25.3

Synthesis of highly substituted fluorenones via metal-free TBHP-promoted oxidative cyclization of 2-(aminomethyl)biphenyls. Application to the total synthesis of nobilone

• Ilya A. P. Jourjine,
• Lukas Zeisel,
• Jürgen Krauß and
• Franz Bracher

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2021, 17, 2668–2679, doi:10.3762/bjoc.17.181

• , NaBH4, DCM, rt, 62–78%; c) TBHPaq, 1,2-DCE, 100 °C, 18 h (yields in parentheses). Substrate scope for the oxidative cyclization of 2-(aminomethyl)biphenyls. Conditions: a) Boc2O, NEt3, DCM, rt, 18 h, 89%; b) Pd(PPh3)4 (5 mol %), Na2CO3, DMF/H2O, 18 h, 100 °C, 83–99%; c) LAH, AlCl3, THF, 18 h, 43–78%; d

Synthesis of new substituted 7,12-dihydro-6,12-methanodibenzo[c,f]azocine-5-carboxylic acids containing a tetracyclic tetrahydroisoquinoline core structure

• Agnieszka Grajewska,
• Maria Chrzanowska and
• Wiktoria Adamska

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2021, 17, 2511–2519, doi:10.3762/bjoc.17.168

• ) carried out in refluxing toluene using a Dean–Stark apparatus followed by the reduction with NaBH4 (not shown). When the condensation of acetal 1 and aldehyde 2f and the subsequent reduction were carried out in EtOH at rt, according to our procedure applied for the synthesis of aminoacetals 3a–e, the

Strategies for the synthesis of brevipolides

• Yudhi D. Kurniawan and
• A'liyatur Rosyidah

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2021, 17, 2399–2416, doi:10.3762/bjoc.17.157

• into the PMB-protected α,β-unsaturated ester 97 in four steps adopting the literature procedure (Scheme 12). The chemoselective reduction of the olefin in 97 was furnished in 88% yield applying NiCl4·6H2O/NaBH4 as reagents in methanol followed by reduction of the ester part with DIBAL-H providing the

Advances in mercury(II)-salt-mediated cyclization reactions of unsaturated bonds

• Sumana Mandal,
• Raju D. Chaudhari and
• Goutam Biswas

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2021, 17, 2348–2376, doi:10.3762/bjoc.17.153

• carbohydrate alkene precursor 7 and Hg(OAc)2 proceeds with high stereoselectivity to give the α-ᴅ-C-glycopyranosyl derivative (1,5-trans-isomer) 8 as a single isomer [41]. Treatment of compound 8 with sodium borohydride (NaBH4) under phase transfer conditions (PTC) yields compound 9 as the only product. The

• selectivity of α-stereochemistry was primarily due to the strong directing effect of the neighboring benzyl ether group with the Hg(OAc)2. When cyclic mercuric halide 8 was treated with NaBH4 and oxygen (O2) in DMF oxidative demercuration takes place to give alcohol 10 in quantitative yield (Scheme 4). The

• [46]. A similar type of reaction methodology was employed for the formation of a bicyclic nucleoside analog. 4'-C-vinylribofuranoside derivative 21 on treatment with Hg(TFA)2 followed by reduction with NaBH4 leads to the formation of bicyclic nucleoside derivative 22 (Scheme 10) [49]. Pyrrolidine and

Catalyzed and uncatalyzed procedures for the syntheses of isomeric covalent multi-indolyl hetero non-metallides: an account

• Ranadeep Talukdar

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2021, 17, 2102–2122, doi:10.3762/bjoc.17.137

• )-tryptophan amide 129 (Scheme 17a) [92]. Bis(indol-2-yl)selane 130 was found as a byproduct having very low such bioactivity. The polyselanes formed were separated by treating them with NaBH4, which did not affect the monoselane 130. On the other hand, selenopyrans structurally resemble indolocarbazoles

Recent advances in the syntheses of anthracene derivatives

• Giovanni S. Baviera and
• Paulo M. Donate

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2021, 17, 2028–2050, doi:10.3762/bjoc.17.131

• (70c) from the corresponding 9,10-anthraquinones 69 in good yields (53–79%) (Scheme 16) [49]. In 2017, Skalamera and co-workers reported a new synthetic pathway to produce 2,3-disubstituted anthracenes by functionalizing the corresponding anthraquinone and subsequent reduction with NaBH4 [50]. Via a

• procedure involving the cyclization of 2-arylmethylbenzoic acid 85b with triflic acid, followed by a NaBH4-mediated reductive dehydration. Some representative examples included anthracenes 86a–g. For those interested, the cyclodehydration was also extended to 2-(arylmethyl)naphthaldehydes and 2-(arylmethyl

• agent. One-pot procedure to synthesize substituted 9,10-dicyanoanthracenes. Reduction of bromoanthraquinones with NaBH4 in alkaline medium. In(III)-catalyzed reductive-dehydration intramolecular cycloaromatization of 2-benzylic aromatic aldehydes/ketones. Acid-catalyzed cyclization of new O-protected

A recent overview on the synthesis of 1,4,5-trisubstituted 1,2,3-triazoles

• Pezhman Shiri,
• Ali Mohammad Amani and
• Thomas Mayer-Gall

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2021, 17, 1600–1628, doi:10.3762/bjoc.17.114

• ) tetrafluoroborate (138) in the presence of HBF4 and NaNO2 at 0 °C. Next, the nanoparticles were obtained from the reduction of Pd(OAc)2 and Cu(OAc)2 employing NaBH4 in the presence of diazonium salt [63]. A possible mechanism for the synthesis of polycyclic triazoles 142 was proposed by Sekar et al. as well [63