Origami with small molecules: exploiting the C–F bond as a conformational tool

• Patrick Ryan,
• Ramsha Iftikhar and
• Luke Hunter

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 680–716, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.54

• reduction of the H-bond-donor acidity of the hydroxy group of 58. (See section 6, which focuses on carbonyl compounds, for a further explanation of the predicted conformation of 58.) Finally, two structural variations on the hydroxy group should be mentioned. First, if the hydroxy group is acylated (i.e

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

• ][101][102][103][104]), or with a carbanion generated by a strong base in an Ugi/Dieckmann cyclization [105]. In all these cases, the glyoxylate derivative incorporates two carbon atoms into the final product, thus serving as a C2-building block. Similarly, the ester group increases the acidity of the

Study of the interaction of 2H-furo[3,2-b]pyran-2-ones with nitrogen-containing nucleophiles

• Constantine V. Milyutin,
• Andrey N. Komogortsev and
• Boris V. Lichitsky

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 556–563, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.44

• that, the use of 3-fold excess of amine 2a led to the same results. Apparently, the stability of salt 3a is connected with high acidity of the starting furanone 1a and its recovery is only possible under the action of strong acids (HCl, H2SO4). Further, we investigated the chemical behavior of

Dioxazolones as electrophilic amide sources in copper-catalyzed and -mediated transformations

• Seungmin Lee,
• Minsuk Kim,
• Hyewon Han and
• Jongwoo Son

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 200–216, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.12

• terminal alkynes did not result in the desired N-acyl amidine 10l. Based on the substrate scope of acetylenes, the authors noted that the lower acidity of terminal acetylenes led to a diminished formation of the copper acetylide intermediate. Based on several mechanistic experiments and density functional

Quantifying the ability of the CF₂H group as a hydrogen bond donor

• Matthew E. Paolella,
• Daniel S. Honeycutt,
• Bradley M. Lipka,
• Jacob M. Goldberg and
• Fang Wang

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 189–199, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.11

• established methods, including 1H NMR-based hydrogen bond acidity determination, UV–vis spectroscopy titration with Reichardt's dye, and 1H NMR titration using tri-n-butylphosphine oxide as a hydrogen bond acceptor. Our experiments reveal that the direct attachment of the CF2H group to cationic aromatic

• by hydrogen bond acidity [47][48] which is derived from the 1H NMR chemical shift difference of a given proton in DMSO-d6 and CDCl3, the CF2H group is generally a stronger donor than the methyl group but substantially weaker than the OH or amide NH groups [19][20]. These results collectively indicate

• that, although the CF2H group mimics hydroxy or thiol groups, it is a generally less effective hydrogen bond donor. Given that the HB donation ability of a particular functional group usually increases with increasing Brønsted acidity [49] we chose to incorporate the CF2H group into the backbone of N

Surprising acidity for the methylene of 1,3-indenocorannulenes?

• Shi Liu,
• Märt Lõkov,
• Sofja Tshepelevitsh,
• Ivo Leito,
• Kim K. Baldridge and
• Jay S. Siegel

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 3144–3150, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.260

• of the first acidity constant (pKa) for BFC (27.6 in CH3CN) and FIC (27.8 in CH3CN) shows the methylene protons to be significantly more acidic than those in related cyclopentadiene (32 in CH3CN), indene (34 in CH3CN), or fluorene (37 in CH3CN) and comparable to the methine of 9

• -perfluorophenylfluorene (28.14 in CH3CN). This work reports quantitative pKa values of BFC and FIC, places those values in a broadened context of CpH-cognate hydrocarbon acidity and presents a Clar–Loschmidt graph perspective to help understand the “surprises”. Keywords: acidity; aromatic hydrocarbon; Clar sextet

• ; Loschmidt group element; molecular graph; Introduction A classic textbook tetrad linking hydrocarbon acidity to aromatic stabilization energy comprises cyclopentadiene (CpH), indene (InH), fluorene (FlH), and diphenylmethane (DPMH) [1][2], with pKa values in DMSO equal to 18 [3], 20.1 [3], 22.6 [3], and

C–C Coupling in sterically demanding porphyrin environments

• Liam Cribbin,
• Brendan Twamley,
• Nicolae Buga,
• John E. O’ Brien,
• Raphael Bühler,
• Roland A. Fischer and
• Mathias O. Senge

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 2784–2798, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.234

• one, may have slowed down the protodeboronation process, as substrates with electron-withdrawing groups are postulated to increase the Lewis acidity of the boronic acid, which may allow an increased incidence of protodeboronation to occur. It is also known that aryl–B(Pin) complexes have a greater

Computational design for enantioselective CO₂ capture: asymmetric frustrated Lewis pairs in epoxide transformations

• Maxime Ferrer,
• Iñigo Iribarren,
• Tim Renningholtz,
• Ibon Alkorta and
• Cristina Trujillo

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 2668–2681, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.224

• positions. These substituents will have two main effects on the FLP. First, they will alter the Lewis acidity and basicity of the LA and LB centres, respectively; second, they may induce steric hindrance. The first effect is perhaps the most intriguing to consider, as the acidity and basicity of the LA/LB

• centres are indicative of the FLP’s reactivity [45][46]. Thus, substituents must be selected to ensure a broad spectrum of acidity and basicity of the LA and LB. Different methods for determining these properties have been described in the literature. Because of their easy computation, the proton affinity

• [43] and fluoride ion affinity [44] were selected to compute the basicity and acidity of the systems considered. By selecting the substituents presented in Figure 4, FIAs spanning a range of 60 kcal·mol−1 and PAs spanning a range of 48 kcal·mol−1 were obtained (Figure S3, Supporting Information File 1

O,S,Se-containing Biginelli products based on cyclic β-ketosulfone and their postfunctionalization

• Kateryna V. Dil and
• Vitalii A. Palchykov

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 2143–2151, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.184

• ). However, increasing acidity and using trifluoroacetic acid (Table 1, entry 17) did not improve the overall yield. We also tried microwave activation conditions since this is a known technique for reactions of this type [32], but unfortunately, we did not find any improvement in the yield (Table 1, entry

Factors influencing the performance of organocatalysts immobilised on solid supports: A review

• Zsuzsanna Fehér,
• Dóra Richter,
• Gyula Dargó and
• József Kupai

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 2129–2142, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.183

• binding with an electron-withdrawing group. This acidity can result in stronger hydrogen bonds between the substrate and the catalyst C30, which contains a bis(trifluoromethyl)phenyl-modified squaramide moiety. This stronger interaction potentially enhances the catalyst–substrate interaction, allowing for

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

• a [1,5]-H shift [19], indazolo[3’,2’:2,3]imidazo[1,5-c]quinazolin-6(5H)-one 18 (Scheme 7) [20]. The favorable host–guest interaction between 14 and the reactants (demonstrated by 2D NMR and FTIR spectroscopy as well as by scanning electron micrography), combined with the acidity of the succinyl

Ring opening of photogenerated azetidinols as a strategy for the synthesis of aminodioxolanes

• Henning Maag,
• Daniel J. Lemcke and
• Johannes M. Wahl

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 1671–1676, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.148

• 73% yield. Mechanistically, we believe that the hemiketal protonates the azetidine before a nucleophilic attack can occur. Therefore, the ring opening is critical to the acidity of the transient hemiacetals and to the basicity of the respective azetidines, explaining the unsuccessful attempts with 3a

• . Dioxolanes 11 and 16 are inherently stable and we were unable to cleave the ketal after reaction. Thus, we investigated the feasibility to use boronic acids in the ring-opening reaction (Scheme 3c). Phenylboronic acid 17 is known to exhibit a similar acidity as the corresponding hemiketals providing a

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

• facilitating HAT to produce a benzylic radical. Fluorine-atom-transfer (FAT) with Selectfluor then gave the benzyl fluoride. The low acidity of phenylacetic acids in polar aprotic solvents disfavoured decarboxylation (via an SET pathway) promoting HAT from the benzylic position. By using a mixture of 1:1 MeCN

• radical cation II. The acidity of benzylic protons is augmented after oxidation of the adjacent π-system, facilitating rapid proton transfer at this position, resulting in benzylic radical III [13][88]. Single-electron oxidation of the resulting benzylic radical is facile and expected to occur readily

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

• pathway appeared to proceed via self-tautomerization, since 2-benzylphenol 5f was separated in 43% yield along with only 23% yield of normal product 4fa. When 4-CN substituted 3-cyclohexanone was investigated, phenol 5o was isolated exclusively. This was probably due to the significantly enhanced acidity

A comparison of structure, bonding and non-covalent interactions of aryl halide and diarylhalonium halogen-bond donors

• Nicole Javaly,
• Theresa M. McCormick and
• David R. Stuart

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 1428–1435, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.125

• electropositive σ-hole region, which is quantitatively described by Vs,max on the halogen, though other factors have also been considered (Scheme 1a) [1][2][3][4][23][24][25]. Huber and co-workers have posed the question: “Is There a Single Ideal Parameter for Halogen-Bonding Based Lewis Acidity?”, and concluded

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

• decreasing acidity throughout the reaction progress. Since acidity was claimed to have a crucial role [63][64], we contemplated the addition of a small amount of sulphuric acid (Table 2, entry 4). This adjustment led to a significant enhancement towards 3b, resulting in a respectable 57 mol % selectivity

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

• products) were found to be somehow unstable when concentrated to dryness during work-up. We hypothesize that a possible cause of such instability might consist in the formation of a highly electrophilic iminium ion upon protonation of the hemiaminal ether by silica or glassware acidity and further

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

• ) resulted in 4aa as the major adduct, accompanied by the tetrazole adducts 4ja and 4ja’ (the ratio 4aa/4ja/4ja’ = 71:21:8; Scheme 3b). Superficially, these results appear correlated with the acidity of the corresponding azoles (pKa value: pyrazole, 19.8; 1,2,3-triazole, 13.9; tetrazole, 8.2), with the

Evaluation of the enantioselectivity of new chiral ligands based on imidazolidin-4-one derivatives

• Jan Bartáček,
• Karel Chlumský,
• Jan Mrkvička,
• Lucie Paloušová,
• Miloš Sedlák and
• Pavel Drabina

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 684–691, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.62

• derivatives possess similar enantioselectivity. However, compound IV is less catalytically active, probably due to the lower acidity of protonated 1H-imidazole than 1H-tetrazole [17]. Conclusion In this study, we successfully synthesised enantiomerically pure stereoisomers of 2,2'-(pyridin-2,6-diyl)-bis

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

• reactivity in the SNAr reactions in comparison to polar solvents such as DMSO and DMF. This is explained by solvent hydrogen bond acidity and basicity descriptors α and β, for example, α(DMSO) = 0, β(DMSO) = 0.88, α(MeOH) = 0.43, β(MeOH) = 0.47. The rate constant of the SNAr process escalates with an

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

• expensive, extremely dangerous, strong oxidizing, and even explosive. In this scenario, heteropolyacids emerge as greener and safer alternatives due to their very strong Brønsted acidity. In particular, phosphotungstic acid (HPW) is an economical and green attractive catalyst for being cheap, non-toxic, and

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

Ligand effects, solvent cooperation, and large kinetic solvent deuterium isotope effects in gold(I)-catalyzed intramolecular alkene hydroamination

• Ruichen Lan,
• Brock Yager,
• Yoonsun Jee,
• Cynthia S. Day and
• Amanda C. Jones

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 479–496, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.43

• withdrawing than an o-biphenyl, so presumably Lewis acidity is boosted here. Observations on ligand effect and decomposition Ligand effects on rates of hydroamination are amplified with slower reacting substrates and lower amounts of MeOH (higher relative amounts of bulk solvent methylene chloride). With the

• effect of MeOH co-solvent on the 1a → 3a transformation was due to its role as a hydrogen bonding donor (proton source), or due to its role as a hydrogen bonding acceptor (Lewis base) [44]. To this end, we examined the impact of different alcohols (varied acidity and polarity) and different non-protic

• with alkene but also the urea carbonyl. The Bronsted acidity of the urea would be increased by coordination to gold, and if such coordination is key to enabling reactivity, this would confirm the higher reactivity of urea 1a. The divergent behavior of sulfonamide 1d does not find an easy explanation

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

• were some issues that held back the universality of this protocol [125]. More recently, in 2022, Kaur et al. utilized CdS nanostructures which possess good Lewis acidity for the heterogeneous catalysis of various organic transformations including the synthesis of BIMs as shown by Chabukswar and his

Substitution reactions in the acenaphthene analog of quino[7,8-h]quinoline and an unusual synthesis of the corresponding acenaphthylenes by tele-elimination

• Ekaterina V. Kolupaeva,
• Narek A. Dzhangiryan,
• Alexander F. Pozharskii,
• Oleg P. Demidov and
• Valery A. Ozeryanskii

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 243–253, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.24

• equilibrium) under the action of an excess of nucleophiles as bases. Such dianions are characteristic of acenaphthene and have been repeatedly detected in subsequent transformations [18][19]. In our case, the CH-acidity of the CH2CH2 bridge should be even higher under the action of pyridine rings, and, if

• 3.353 Å). Interestingly, as the acidity of the neighboring component in the crystal structure and the degree of proton transfer from it to the nitrogen atoms of quinoquinoline 5 decrease, the internitrogen distance regularly increases (N…N, Å): 2.709 (HCl), 2.808 (4,6-dichlororesorcinol), 2.813–2.835