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

Recent advances in controllable/divergent synthesis

• Jilei Cao,
• Leiyang Bai and
• Xuefeng Jiang

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 890–914, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.73

• reaction between aryl iodides 45 and phosphoramides 46 under varying solvent conditions of toluene (PhMe) and acetonitrile (MeCN), based on their studies of the Catellani reaction (Scheme 12) [41]. This method exhibited a broad substrate scope for both aryl iodides and phosphoramides, and enabled

Red light excitation: illuminating photocatalysis in a new spectrum

• Lucas Fortier,
• Corentin Lefebvre and
• Norbert Hoffmann

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 296–326, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.22

• explores how this bismuth(I) complex undergoes oxidative addition with a variety of aryl electrophiles, including diazonium salts, iodonium salts, and challenging aryl iodides and aryl thianthrenium salts, typically requiring transition-metal catalysts (Figure 3). The reactivity of the N,C,N-bismuthinidene

• -bismuthinidene complex can drive formal oxidative addition even with substrates that exhibit high reduction potentials such as aryl iodides and aryl thianthrenium salts, thereby expanding the scope of aryl electrophiles that can be subjected to oxidative addition. This mechanistic advancement, combined with the

• raises the energy of metal-centered states and minimizes non-radiative decay pathways. This design results in prolonged MLCT excited states, making these complexes suitable for challenging triplet–triplet energy transfer (TTET) and photoredox catalysis reactions such as hydrodehalogenation of aryl

Nickel-catalyzed cross-coupling of 2-fluorobenzofurans with arylboronic acids via aromatic C–F bond activation

• Takeshi Fujita,
• Haruna Yabuki,
• Ryutaro Morioka,
• Kohei Fuchibe and
• Junji Ichikawa

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 146–154, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.8

• are generated by treating 1,1-difluoroethylenes with a zirconocene equivalent (ZrCp2, Scheme 1a) [8]. The resulting 1-fluorovinylzirconocenes B then undergo palladium-catalyzed coupling with aryl iodides to produce arylated fluoroethylenes. Additionally, (ii) we observed that electron-deficient 2

Recent advances in transition-metal-free arylation reactions involving hypervalent iodine salts

• Ritu Mamgain,
• Kokila Sakthivel and
• Fateh V. Singh

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 2891–2920, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.243

• to good yields of the corresponding products. The vinyl boronates obtained from the aforementioned reaction were subsequently subjected to a Suzuki coupling with the remaining aryl iodides obtained from 16 in the presence of a palladium catalyst. This step facilitated the formation of functionalized

• 62, starting with aryl iodides and phenols 61. In this metal-free reaction, aryl(TMP)iodonium salts 12 were prepared in situ from aryl iodides via treatment with m-CPBA, TsOH, and TMB at 55 °C in acetonitrile, which subsequently react with the substituted phenols 61 to produce the O-arylated products

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

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

• and high optical refraction. Functionalized alkynes can alternatively be prepared in situ by a Kumada coupling [133] of aryl iodides and ethynylmagnesium bromide [134]. The Pd catalyst is reused in the subsequent Sonogashira coupling for the synthesis of alkynones in the sense of sequential catalysis

• accessible. Aryl iodides undergo conversion to the corresponding alkynones in aqueous ammonia through a palladium-catalyzed carbonylative coupling with terminal alkynes under 1 atm of carbon monoxide. Building upon this discovery, these intermediates were cyclized with hydrazines to give pyrazoles 121 in a

• (hetero)aryl iodides gives rise to 3-arylalkynyl acetals 142. Since 3-arylpropynals are sensitive to oligo- and polymerization, it proved useful to perform acetal deprotection and cyclization with hydrazine hydrate in a one-pot procedure to give 3-substituted pyrazoles 141 (Scheme 48) [151]. Given that

1,2-Difluoroethylene (HFO-1132): synthesis and chemistry

• Liubov V. Sokolenko,
• Taras M. Sokolenko and
• Yurii L. Yagupolskii

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 1955–1966, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.171

• 1,2-difluoroethylene and hexafluorodiacetyl. Reaction of 1,2-difluoroethylene with difluorosilylene. Reaction of 1,2-difluoroethylene with aryl iodides. Physical properties of HFO-1132. NMR-spectral data of HFO-1132. Hypohalite addition to 1,2-difluoroethylene.

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

• ][34][35][36]. In this context, the electrochemical single-electron reduction of aryl iodides, bromides, and activated (bearing at least one electron-withdrawing group) aryl chlorides has been demonstrated as a useful method to generate aryl radical species under mild reaction conditions [37]. Although

• this transformation, iodobenzene was successfully converted to the corresponding product 3ka under slightly modified reaction conditions (see Table S1 in Supporting Information File 1 for optimization details). Under the modified conditions, aryl iodides with various electron-donating groups including

• a methoxy group were transformed into the products in good yields (3la–na). 4-(Trifluoromethoxy)iodobenzene also well participated in this reaction, affording 3oa in 65% yield. Aryl iodides having fluoro and chloro substituents underwent selective C–I bond cleavage to provide monoalkylated products

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

• time, Wu and co-workers contributed to the introduction of two new syntheses of N-aroylindole derivatives by means of nickel catalysis. In 2021, they reported a nickel-catalyzed carbonylative cyclization of 2-nitroalkynes and aryl iodides with Co2(CO)8 as the CO source. The reaction was performed in

• the first one, based on the known bioactivity displayed by bis(indolyl)methane (BIM) compounds, they reported the Pd-catalyzed carbonylative synthesis of the target compounds from aryl iodides and N-substituted and NH-free indoles in the presence of TFBen as the CO source [75]. A wide range of bis

• from substituted 2-nitrostyrenes (top) and ω-nitrostyrenes (bottom) via reductive cyclization with phenyl formate as the carbon monoxide source. Synthesis of indoles from substituted 2-nitrostyrenes with formic acid as CO source. Ni-catalyzed carbonylative cyclization of 2-nitroalkynes and aryl iodides

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

Photoredox catalysis harvesting multiple photon or electrochemical energies

• Mattia Lepori,
• Simon Schmid and
• Joshua P. Barham

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 1055–1145, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.81

• limited to electron-poor arenes like diazonium/iodonium salts or aryl iodides with electron-withdrawing substituents as aryl radical precursors, due to the limited accessible reducing power of photocatalysts that relied on a monophotonic excitation event. However, the vast majority of inexpensive

• reductants as a theme of ongoing debate [39]. Nonetheless, this protocol enabled the reduction of various electron-poor aryl iodides and aryl bromides and, for the first time, the reduction of aryl chlorides (albeit electron-poor ones) via visible light PRC in good to excellent yields (35–98%) (Figure 4A

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

Redox-active molecules as organocatalysts for selective oxidative transformations – an unperceived organocatalysis field

• Elena R. Lopat’eva,
• Igor B. Krylov,
• Dmitry A. Lapshin and
• Alexander O. Terent’ev

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2022, 18, 1672–1695, doi:10.3762/bjoc.18.179

• current as terminal oxidants were developed [139][140][141][142][143][144][145]. The key step in the catalytic cycle involving aryl iodides is the formation of iodine(III) species. Enantioselective oxidative processes mediated by chiral hypervalent iodine compounds were reviewed recently [146]. In the

• following example of styrene diamination by a chiral aryl iodide, the higher efficiency of the proposed catalyst compared to simpler aryl iodides was attributed to the additional stabilization of the I(III) intermediate by chelation via n–σ* interactions and hydrogen bonding [147] (Scheme 33). The

• configuration of the final product. A fundamentally different mechanism distinguishes the 1,2-diiodo-4,5-dimethoxybenzene catalyst from other aryl iodides. In contrast to the standard mechanism, in which iodine(III) is an active intermediate species, in the case of 1,2-diiodo-4,5-dimethoxybenzene, the iodine

Synthesis of novel alkynyl imidazopyridinyl selenides: copper-catalyzed tandem selenation of selenium with 2-arylimidazo[1,2-a]pyridines and terminal alkynes

• Mio Matsumura,
• Kaho Tsukada,
• Kiwa Sugimoto,
• Yuki Murata and
• Shuji Yasuike

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2022, 18, 863–871, doi:10.3762/bjoc.18.87

• for the synthesis of unsymmetrical selenides with imidazopyridinyl groups substituted at position 3. Guo and Li et al. reported the reaction of Se powder with imidazopyridine and aryl iodides in the presence of KOH (2 equiv) as base using Cu(OAc)2 catalyst to form aryl imidazopyridinyl selenides [15

• powder with imidazopyridine and aryl iodides or alkyl halides in the presence of Na2CO3 (2 equiv) using the NiBr2/2,2-bipyridine system to give aryl or alkyl imidazopyridinyl selenides [24]. In these reactions, aryl iodides, arylboronic acids, and alkyl halides are coupled with Se powder to form diaryl

Palladium-catalyzed solid-state borylation of aryl halides using mechanochemistry

• Koji Kubota,
• Emiru Baba,
• Tamae Seo,
• Tatsuo Ishiyama and
• Hajime Ito

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2022, 18, 855–862, doi:10.3762/bjoc.18.86

• substrates (1n–p), and the desired borylation products (3n–p) were obtained in good yields. We also investigated the solid-state borylation reactions of aryl iodides and chlorides (Scheme 4). The reaction of 4-iodo-N,N-diphenylaniline (1q) under the optimized conditions at 130 °C for 30 min proceeded

Recent developments and trends in the iron- and cobalt-catalyzed Sonogashira reactions

• Surendran Amrutha,
• Sankaran Radhika and
• Gopinathan Anilkumar

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2022, 18, 262–285, doi:10.3762/bjoc.18.31

• steric effects. Anilkumar and co-workers reported an iron-catalyzed Sonogashira coupling of aryl iodides with terminal alkynes in the presence of a catalytic system made up of the greenest solvent, water, in the presence of 10 mol % FeCl3·6H2O and 20 mol % 1,10-phenanthroline as ligand under aerobic

• conditions [13]. This system is applicable to sterically hindered aryl iodides or substituted aryl iodides with terminal arylalkynes (Scheme 2). K3PO4 was the effective base for the reaction of 4-iodoacetophenone with phenylacetylene. Ligands such as DABCO and trans-1,2-diaminocyclohexane were also tested

• the bench stability of the nanoparticles, and hence methylmagnesium bromide was introduced to retain the catalytic activity. Heterogeneous green protocols Rizi and co-workers reported a silica-supported green heterogeneous Fe(III) catalyst for the cross-coupling reaction of aryl iodides and

Visible-light-mediated copper photocatalysis for organic syntheses

• Yajing Zhang,
• Qian Wang,
• Zongsheng Yan,
• Donglai Ma and
• Yuguang Zheng

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2021, 17, 2520–2542, doi:10.3762/bjoc.17.169

• with aryl iodides to generate intermediate D, which then undergoes reductive elimination to generate the desired products (Scheme 23). In 2017, Evano’s group [55] established a photoinduced, copper-catalyzed C–C cross-coupling of aryl halides, and heteroarenes. The cyclization of N-allyl-o-iodoanilines

Photoredox catalysis in nickel-catalyzed C–H functionalization

• Lusina Mantry,
• Rajaram Maayuri,
• Vikash Kumar and
• Parthasarathy Gandeepan

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2021, 17, 2209–2259, doi:10.3762/bjoc.17.143

• iridium(III) photocatalyst 2-I. Subsequently, Ahneman and Doyle reported a related process for the synthesis of a variety of benzylic amines 7 by the arylation of α-amino C(sp3)‒H bonds with aryl iodides 2 involving photoredox nickel catalysis (Scheme 4) [55]. In this protocol, bis(oxazoline) (BiOx) was

• photocatalyst. [PC] = photocatalyst, A = acceptor, D = donor. Proposed catalytic cycle for the photoredox-mediated HAT and nickel catalysis enabled C(sp3)‒H arylation. Proposed mechanism for photoredox nickel-catalyzed α-amino C‒H arylation with aryl iodides. Proposed catalytic cycle for the C(sp3)−H arylation

• benzylic C(sp3)‒H bonds with aryl bromides. Photoredox arylation of α-amino C(sp3)‒H bonds with aryl iodides. Nickel-catalyzed α-oxy C(sp3)−H arylation of cyclic and acyclic ethers. Photochemical nickel-catalyzed C–H arylation of ethers. Nickel-catalyzed α-amino C(sp3)‒H arylation with aryl tosylates

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

• -workers reported a one-pot synthesis of substituted anthracenes 37 from o-tolualdehyde 34 and aryl iodides 35 via a palladium-catalyzed C–H arylation with a silver oxidant (Scheme 8) [42]. During optimization studies, the authors noted that steric and electronic effects strongly affected the cyclization

• ] cyclotrimerization reactions with bis(trimethylsilyl)acetylene (23). [2 + 2 + 2] Alkyne-cyclotrimerization reactions catalyzed by a CoCl2·6H2O/Zn reagent. Pd(II)-catalyzed sp3 C–H alkenylation of diphenyl carboxylic acids with acrylates. Pd(II)-catalyzed sp3 C–H arylation with o-tolualdehydes and aryl iodides

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

• aryl iodides containing electron-donating and electron-withdrawing groups exhibited good to excellent results in the reaction. Notably, the yield of the Click reaction with 2-iodotoluene decreased due to the steric effects. Moreover, the utilization of an efficient heterogeneous catalyst and

Metal-free synthesis of biarenes via photoextrusion in di(tri)aryl phosphates

• Hisham Qrareya,
• Lorenzo Meazza,
• Stefano Protti and
• Maurizio Fagnoni

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 3008–3014, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.250

• ], aryl sulfonates [36], and in aryl trifluoroethyl sulfate [37], Scheme 1a) followed by the reaction of the thus formed aryl cation with an aromatic substrate. In an alternative approach, aryl radicals may be generated under photoredox catalysis conditions (mostly from arene diazonium salts or aryl

• iodides) [30][31] or by the direct photolysis of arylazo sulfones [38][39][40] and employed for the desired arylations. These reactions have the advantage of being applied to non-functionalized arenes but have the drawback to require a large excess of the nucleophilic reagent (the arene Ar–H) in up to 10

Catalytic trifluoromethylation of iodoarenes by use of 2-trifluoromethylated benzimidazoline as trifluoromethylating reagent

• Tatsuhiro Uchikura,
• Nanami Kamiyama,
• Taisuke Ishikawa and
• Takahiko Akiyama

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 2442–2447, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.198

• the reaction towards various substrates under the optimized conditions (Figure 2). Electron-deficient aryl iodides were well tolerated furnishing the corresponding trifluoromethylation products in high yields. Among the tested nitrophenyl derivatives, p- and o-nitrophenyliodide gave the products in

• -donating ligand was more effective than an electron-deficient one (Table 2), and the reaction with benzimidazoline proceeded rapidly (Figure 4), the oxidative addition was suggested to be the rate-determining step. Conclusion In conclusion, we have developed a catalytic trifluoromethylation of aryl iodides

• , hexafluorobenzene was added as an internal standard and the mixture analyzed by 19F NMR spectroscopy for the calculation of the NMR yield. Then, the crude products were purified by preparative TLC to give pure products 3. Trifluoromethylation of aryl halides. Scope of aryl iodides. Yields determined by 19F NMR

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

Regiodivergent synthesis of functionalized pyrimidines and imidazoles through phenacyl azides in deep eutectic solvents

• Paola Vitale,
• Luciana Cicco,
• Ilaria Cellamare,
• Filippo M. Perna,
• Antonio Salomone and
• Vito Capriati

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 1915–1923, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.158

• ], (c) carbon–sulfur bond-forming reactions [9], (d) directed ortho-metalation and nucleophilic acyl substitution strategies [10], (e) Pd-catalyzed aminocarbonylation of aryl iodides, Suzuki–Miyaura and Sonogashira cross-coupling reactions [11][12][13], (f) Cu-catalyzed C–N coupling reactions [14], and