The intramolecular stabilizing effects of O-benzoyl substituents as a driving force of the acid-promoted pyranoside-into-furanoside rearrangement

• Alexey G. Gerbst,
• Sofya P. Nikogosova,
• Darya A. Rastrepaeva,
• Dmitry A. Argunov,
• Vadim B. Krylov and
• Nikolay E. Nifantiev

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 2456–2464, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.187

• (Figure 1) [19]. The introduction of an alkyl or aryl substituent in the anomeric center prevents free interconversion between pyranose and furanose forms; however, this transformation can still occur under specific conditions, typically in the presence of an acid catalyst. Even under such conditions, the

Insoluble methylene-bridged glycoluril dimers as sequestrants for dyes

• Suvenika Perera,
• Peter Y. Zavalij and
• Lyle Isaacs

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 2302–2314, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.176

• reaction of methylene-bridged glycoluril dimer G2BCE with aromatic walls W1–W4 conducted in trifluoroacetic acid (TFA) as both solvent and acid catalyst. The new hosts G2W1–G2W4 were obtained in 28, 33, 59, and 62% yield, respectively, after washing and recrystallization processes. Hosts G2W1–G2W4 are

Pathway economy in cyclization of 1,n-enynes

• Hezhen Han,
• Wenjie Mao,
• Bin Lin,
• Maosheng Cheng,
• Lu Yang and
• Yongxiang Liu

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 2260–2282, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.173

• 133 (Scheme 27, path b). Through precise acid catalyst selection, the reaction pathways were strategically modulated to afford efficient construction of both 1H-pyrrolo[2,3-d]carbazole derivatives and spiro[indoline-3,3'-pyrrolidin]-2-one derivatives. In 2019, the Ye group reported a copper-catalyzed

Thiadiazino-indole, thiadiazino-carbazole and benzothiadiazino-carbazole dioxides: synthesis, physicochemical and early ADME characterization of representatives of new tri-, tetra- and pentacyclic ring systems and their intermediates

• Gyöngyvér Pusztai,
• László Poszávácz,
• Anna Vincze,
• András Marton,
• Ahmed Qasim Abdulhussein,
• Judit Halász,
• András Dancsó,
• Gyula Simig,
• György Tibor Balogh and
• Balázs Volk

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 2220–2233, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.169

• were previously used for the synthesis of 7-nitroindole derivatives: heating in polyphosphoric acid (PPA) at 80 °C [24][25]. However, our attempt was not successful. Experiments with zinc chloride, the most commonly used Lewis acid catalyst in Fischer indole syntheses, also failed under various

C2 to C6 biobased carbonyl platforms for fine chemistry

• Jingjing Jiang,
• Muhammad Noman Haider Tariq,
• Florence Popowycz,
• Yanlong Gu and
• Yves Queneau

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 2103–2172, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.165

• furfural to succinic acid in 88% yield under mild conditions using modified hydrophilic acidic metal-free graphene oxide (GO) as solid acid catalyst and H2O2 as an oxidant [151]. The suitable acidity of the SO3H group on the graphene oxide support is crucial for the selectivity of the oxidation. The use of

Fe-catalyzed efficient synthesis of 2,4- and 4-substituted quinolines via C(sp²)–C(sp²) bond scission of styrenes

• Prafull A. Jagtap,
• Manish M. Petkar,
• Vaishnavi R. Sawant and
• Bhalchandra M. Bhanage

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 1799–1807, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.142

• [53]. In this work, the authors used a stoichiometric amount of Zn(OTf)3 as a Lewis acid catalyst and air as the oxidant for the reaction. Jana and colleagues demonstrated an atom-efficient pseudo-three-component C–H annulation reaction catalyzed by Yb and Cu, which involved nitrosoarenes and styrene

Approaches to stereoselective 1,1'-glycosylation

• Daniele Zucchetta and
• Alla Zamyatina

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 1700–1718, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.133

• lactol 42 afforded the corresponding 1,1'-linked diglucosamine 43 in almost quantitative yield in the borinic acid-promoted glycosylation with the phosphite donor 35 (Scheme 4). This outcome was attributed to the involvement of the NH group in complex formation with the borinic acid catalyst, suggesting

• addition, 2-amino-2-deoxy-1,3-diols were successfully employed as glycosyl acceptors, as exemplified by the use of GlcN-derived lactol 42, which was reacted with the 2N-Troc-protected GalN phosphite donor 47 in the presence of borinic acid catalyst to give the β,α-1,1'-linked disaccharide 48 (Scheme 4) [63

• -derived 1,2-diol acceptor 113 in the presence of a diarylborinic acid catalyst 114, resulting in the formation of the βGlc(1↔1)βMan product 115 (Scheme 9). Similarly, the β,β-linked disaccharide 116 was synthesized using the same orthogonally protected 1,2-diol acceptor 113 and the tetrabenzylated GalN

Continuous-flow-enabled intensification in nitration processes: a review of technological developments and practical applications over the past decade

• Feng Zhou,
• Chuansong Duanmu,
• Yanxing Li,
• Jin Li,
• Haiqing Xu,
• Pan Wang and
• Kai Zhu

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 1678–1699, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.132

• technologies including ultrasonication, microwave irradiation, and microreaction technology into conventional nitration frameworks. Nikseresht et al. developed a novel heterogeneous heteropoly acid catalyst (PMA@MIL-53(Fe)), enabled efficient regioselective nitration of phenols under ultrasonic irradiation

Oxetanes: formation, reactivity and total syntheses of natural products

• Peter Gabko,
• Martin Kalník and
• Maroš Bella

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 1324–1373, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.101

• previous need for strong base-induced alkylations with alkyl halides. The protocol is similarly mild, employs a Brønsted acid catalyst and affords the ether products 144 in moderate to high yields. In 2018, Shenvi and colleagues reported a Markovnikov-selective olefin hydroarylation based on an

A multicomponent reaction-initiated synthesis of imidazopyridine-fused isoquinolinones

• Ashutosh Nath,
• John Mark Awad and
• Wei Zhang

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 1161–1169, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.92

• initial GBB reaction of aminopyridines 1 (0.5 mmol), isocyanides 3 (1.2 equiv), and furfuraldehydes 2 (1.2 equiv) was conducted in 3:1 CH2Cl2/MeOH (4 mL) using Yb(OTf)3 (0.08 equiv) as a Lewis acid catalyst under microwave irradiation at 100 °C for 1 h (Scheme 2). Nineteen distinct adducts 4 were obtained

• GBB reactions for the preparation of imidazo[1,2-a]pyridines 4 were conducted using aminopyridines 1 (0.5 mmol), isocyanides 3 (0.6 mmol, 1.2 equiv), and furfuraldehyde 2 (0.6 mmol, 1.2 equiv) in 3:1 DCM/MeOH (4 mL) with Yb(OTf)3 (0.04 mmol, 0.08 equiv) as a Lewis acid catalyst under microwave

Recent advances in synthetic approaches for bioactive cinnamic acid derivatives

• Betty A. Kustiana,
• Galuh Widiyarti and
• Teni Ernawati

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 1031–1086, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.85

• vinylphenylboronic acid to synthesize the solid-supported phenylboronic acid catalyst (cat 1) which was used to convert cinnamic acid (7) to its corresponding amide 12 in moderate yield. The reaction involves dicarboxylate complex 135 formed through Lewis acid B–O=C interaction (Scheme 41A) [23]. The catalyst could

Formaldehyde surrogates in multicomponent reactions

• Cecilia I. Attorresi,
• Javier A. Ramírez and
• Bernhard Westermann

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 564–595, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.45

• catalysis, respectively [86][93]. They extended the scope of the reaction to a wider range of amidines and isocyanides using glyoxylic acid in 50% aqueous solution, with HClO4 as acid catalyst (Scheme 35) [86]. Under these conditions, the yield, the scope, and the regioselectivity of the reaction increased

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

• co-workers reported Cu-catalyzed asymmetric electrochemical regiodivergent cross-dehydrogenative coupling of Schiff bases and hydroquinones (Figure 9) [58]. In this approach, a chiral copper complex was used as a Lewis acid catalyst, yielding various synthetic routes for synthesizing chiral amino

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

• employing chiral Brønsted acid catalyst (S)-TRIP (118) (Scheme 25). In this approach, the racemic β-formyl amide forms the iminium intermediate that undergoes fast equilibration via the enamine tautomer to form preferentially one enantiomer which then undergoes the acid-catalysed aza-Cope rearrangement

Multicomponent syntheses of pyrazoles via (3 + 2)-cyclocondensation and (3 + 2)-cycloaddition key steps

• Ignaz Betcke,
• Alissa C. Götzinger,
• Maryna M. Kornet and
• Thomas J. J. Müller

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 2024–2077, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.178

• , 3,4,5-substituted pyrazoles 5 are formed (Scheme 2) [45]. The Lewis acid catalyst accelerates the reaction via participation in the formation of β-diketonate complexes. Other carbonyl compounds suitable for pyrazole synthesis are 2,4-diketoesters 13. These intermediates can be prepared from diethyl

• pyrazole-4-carboxylates. Shen et al. used Yb(PFO)3 (PFO: perfluorooctanoate), a mild and highly efficient catalyst shown to be effective in the Mannich reaction [94], to synthesize these pyrazoles 65 (Scheme 21) [95]. The Lewis acid catalyst activates and stabilizes the enol tautomer of β-ketoesters

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

• . Jung and Shinde, on the other hand, synthetized a supramolecular acid catalyst 14 combining β-cyclodextrins with succinic acid and tested it in a GBB reaction between isatin (15), indazol-3-amine (16) and pentyl isocyanide (17), yielding, after a ring expansion triggered by a retro-aza-ene reaction via

• -substituted products 60 underwent TFA-promoted deprotection which triggered the intramolecular cyclization to furnish the indole moiety in the desired products 61. A control experiment showed that the GBB product 60 was obtained as the sole product in the absence of acid catalyst. Another group developed the

Synthetic applications of the Cannizzaro reaction

• Bhaskar Chatterjee,
• Dhananjoy Mondal and
• Smritilekha Bera

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 1376–1395, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.120

• potentially useful molecules. Keywords: Cannizzaro reaction; crossed-Cannizzaro; desymmetrization; Lewis acid catalyst; natural products; Introduction The synthesis of functionalized molecules with structural complexity has always been a challenge to synthetic chemists. The Cannizzaro reaction, in its

• proceeded with more than 85% yield in all cases with clean conversion to the products (Scheme 10) [78]. The utility of neutral γ-alumina has been exploited as a polymeric Lewis acid catalyst in the Cannizzaro reaction of similar aromatic aldehydes 16. The conversion to the respective aromatic alcohols 17

Competing electrophilic substitution and oxidative polymerization of arylamines with selenium dioxide

• Vishnu Selladurai and
• Selvakumar Karuthapandi

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 1221–1235, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.105

• mechanism for the formation of oxamide is shown in Scheme 6. Formation of acetanilide in the reaction of aniline and acetonitrile is known to occur in the presence of Lewis acid catalyst Al2O3 [55]. In our case, either SeO2 (Lewis acid) or H2SeO3 (Brønsted acid) may act as acid catalyst to convert aniline

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

• 1883 and involves its synthesis from phenylhydrazine and an aldehyde or ketone using an appropriate acid catalyst [8]. In the following years, new processes were developed for the synthesis of indole such as the Castro, Bischler, and Larock synthesis etc. [2][9][10]. Carbonylation reactions represent a

Enhanced reactivity of Li⁺@C₆₀ toward thermal [2 + 2] cycloaddition by encapsulated Li⁺ Lewis acid

• Hiroshi Ueno,
• Yu Yamazaki,
• Hiroshi Okada,
• Fuminori Misaizu,
• Ken Kokubo and
• Hidehiro Sakurai

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 653–660, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.58

• acid catalyst; thermal [2 + 2] cycloaddition; Introduction Chemical functionalization of fullerenes is a fascinating and extensively studied approach, playing a pivotal role in fullerene-based materials science to introduce various characteristic functionalities [1][2][3][4][5][6][7]. Significant

• approaches have diligently explored the details of reaction kinetics, quantitatively elucidating the impact of encapsulated Li+ on the reactivity of the outer fullerene cage as a specialized “encapsulated” Lewis acid catalyst [10][11]. While previous studies have revealed valuable insights, such as

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

Green and sustainable approaches for the Friedel–Crafts reaction between aldehydes and indoles

• Periklis X. Kolagkis,
• Eirini M. Galathri and
• Christoforos G. Kokotos

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 379–426, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.36

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

• oxyalkylation product 28. Li and co-workers described the activation of NHPI esters towards SET using a Lewis acid catalyst, allowing for the functionalization of styrene radical acceptors with nucleophiles that do not necessarily engage in hydrogen-bonding interactions, such as electron-rich (hetero)arenes [47

Chiral phosphoric acid-catalyzed transfer hydrogenation of 3,3-difluoro-3H-indoles

• Yumei Wang,
• Guangzhu Wang,
• Yanping Zhu and
• Kaiwu Dong

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 205–211, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.20

• chiral phosphoric acid as a Brønsted acid catalyst and Hantzsch ester as the hydrogen source, a series of 3,3-difluoro-substituted 3H-indoles underwent asymmetric transfer hydrogenation under mild reaction conditions, giving the target products with excellent yields and optical purity. Experimental

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

• efficient Lewis acid catalyst (Scheme 10) [50]. In the procedure, oxidative cleavage of one S–N bond and 1,2-sulfur migration afforded π-conjugated 6-substituted 2,3-diarylbenzo[b]thiophenes 16. A plausible mechanism is shown in Scheme 11. The coordination of AlCl3 with the phthalimide/succinimide unit of 1

• -thiolated pyrroles 61 and pyrrolines 62 from propargylic tosylamides 60 and N-thiosuccinimides 1 was described by Gao′s group (Scheme 25) [61]. When AlCl3 as the Lewis acid catalyst and nitromethane as the solvent were used, a series of 3-thiolated pyrrole products 61 were detected, and 3-thiolated

• tetrahydropyrans 88 (Scheme 36) [70]. In this protocol, by controlling acid catalyst (camphorsulfonic acid (CSA) or trifluoromethanesulfonic acid (TfOH)), two different products were achieved and tetrahydrofurans 87 could be converted to tetrahydropyrans 88 by stereoselective rearrangement. In the same year, Zhu