Wittig reaction of cyclobisbiphenylenecarbonyl

• Taito Moribe,
• Junichiro Hirano,
• Hideaki Takano,
• Hiroshi Shinokubo and
• Norihito Fukui

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 1454–1461, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.107

• ]. Various figure-eight π-systems including aromatic hydrocarbons, belt-type extended π-systems, and porphyrinoids have been reported. The structural twisting in figure-eight macrocycles leads to cross-linked conjugation at the molecular center and a highly symmetric chiral structure with D2-symmetry

• optical HOMO–LUMO gap of 5 despite the presence of 26 sp2 carbons is due to the cross-conjugation at the exocyclic olefins. Mono-olefin 3 is virtually non-emissive, similarly to CBBC 1, which could originate from the non-radiative decay via intersystem crossing due to the carbonyl group. In sharp contrast

Advances in nitrogen-containing helicenes: synthesis, chiroptical properties, and optoelectronic applications

• Meng Qiu,
• Jing Du,
• Nai-Te Yao,
• Xin-Yue Wang and
• Han-Yuan Gong

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 1422–1453, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.106

• azahelicenes represent a particularly significant subclass due to their extended π-conjugation and potential for enhanced chiroptical properties. Over the past few years, multiple research groups have investigated their synthesis, structural characteristics, and optoelectronic behavior. Notably, in 2021, Jux

• and 17b, among which compound 17b exhibited red-shifted emission (538–632 nm in CHCl3) and the largest Stokes shift (192 nm), attributed to extended conjugation and sulfur incorporation [30] (Table 4). These findings collectively underscore how structural modulation and heteroatom doping can tailor

• = 2.1 × 10−2, and BCPL values up to 76 M−1 cm−1. Collectively, these investigations underscore the efficacy of heteroatom doping, extended π-conjugation, and radical design in advancing azahelicene-based systems. These approaches significantly enhance optical and chiroptical performance, paving the way

Recent advances and future challenges in the bottom-up synthesis of azulene-embedded nanographenes

• Bartłomiej Pigulski

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 1272–1305, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.99

• –base reaction. Cyclization of alkynes: The extension of π-conjugation in polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) through alkyne-benzannulation reactions has become an increasingly popular method in recent years [91]. Such benzannulations can be mediated by Brønsted acids, Lewis acids or transition

On the photoluminescence in triarylmethyl-centered mono-, di-, and multiradicals

• Daniel Straub,
• Markus Gross,
• Mona E. Arnold,
• Julia Zolg and
• Alexander J. C. Kuehne

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 964–998, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.80

• electronic effects will cause the Cz-unit to twist out of conjugation almost completely with the TTM radical core plane, leading to marginal orbital overlap between the D0 and D1 states. The reason for this increase in fluorescence lifetime τ is not completely understood; however, if the emission involves a

• radicals are connected through the meta-positions of the central phenyl ring, Schlenk-Brauns (m-PTH) diradicals are obtained where no Kekulé-conjugation between the radical centers is possible (see Figure 13) [89]. While the para-coupled Thiele, Chichibabin, and Müller radicals can acquire a closed-shell

• quinodal electronic structure, diradicals with broken Kekulé-conjugation exhibit much stronger diradical character. In accordance with the above-described nomenclature, these diradicals are termed non-Kekulé diradicals. This tendency of diradicals to form a closed-shell electronic configuration can be

Study of tribenzo[b,d,f]azepine as donor in D–A photocatalysts

• Katy Medrano-Uribe,
• Jorge Humbrías-Martín and
• Luca Dell’Amico

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 935–944, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.76

• : diphenyl sulfone (4), dibenzo[b,d]thiophene 5,5-dioxide (5), and 9,9-dimethyl-9H-thioxanthene 10,10-dioxide (6). The selection of these scaffolds was aimed at investigating the effect of conjugation and rigidity/flexibility on the presence of the same donor (TBA, a). In the case of the D–A compounds 4a and

• 6a, we observed a blue-shifted absorption profile due to the break of the conjugation in sulfur-based acceptors. Compounds 4a and 6a presented a similar absorption profile, while molecule 5a showed a red-shifted spectrum tailing up to the visible region (Figure 2a). The lack of a significant charge

• 5a (3.9 eV) as a consequence of the extended π conjugation compared with 4a and 6a (4.4 and 4.4 eV, respectively). Interestingly, compound 6a, which possesses the weakest sulfur-based acceptor, showed an inversion in the LUMO distribution, localizing it in the TBA core – this behavior of the named

Light-enabled intramolecular [2 + 2] cycloaddition via photoactivation of simple alkenylboronic esters

• Lewis McGhie,
• Hannah M. Kortman,
• Jenna Rumpf,
• Peter H. Seeberger and
• John J. Molloy

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 854–863, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.69

• isomerization of alkenes [18][19], [2 + 2] cycloadditions [20][21][22][23][24], and dearomative [4 + 2] cycloadditions [25][26][27]. When considering conjugated alkenes, the triplet excited state energy and excited state lifetime are intrinsically linked to the degree of conjugation and substitution of a

• more efficiently sensitized (lower T1 excited state) than their alkenylboronic ester counterparts. This is unsurprising given their enhanced conjugation (4π electrons vs 2π electrons and p-orbital). To probe the efficiency of trisubstituted alkenes, vicinal boron precursor 3h was designed (Scheme 1

Orthogonal photoswitching of heterobivalent azobenzene glycoclusters: the effect of glycoligand orientation in bacterial adhesion

• Leon M. Friedrich and
• Thisbe K. Lindhorst

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 736–748, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.57

• conjugated to the 3- and the 6-position of a methyl mannoside scaffold (Figure 1, 1 (6βGlc3αMan)) [24]. Orthogonal photoswitching of the two glycoantennas is guaranteed by (i) ortho-fluorination of one azobenzene moiety and (ii) S-azobenzene versus O-azobenzene conjugation, resulting in significantly shifted

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

• , Figure 6). This molecule preferentially adopts a planar conformation [80]. The planar conformation suffers slightly from a steric clash between the methyl group and an aryl hydrogen, but this is outweighed by the favourable conjugation of the π-system with the lone pair in the 2p orbital of the sp2

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

• -extension (ΔλABS = ca. 6 nm per increment of one benzene ring) and the spectral profiles resemble each other irrespective of the length of the phenacene π conjugation and the fluorine substitution. The results suggest that these factors could provide insignificant effects on the apparent electronic spectral

Photocatalyzed elaboration of antibody-based bioconjugates

• Marine Le Stum,
• Eugénie Romero and
• Gary A. Molander

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 616–629, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.49

• conjugation methods often face challenges related to site-selectivity and heterogeneous product mixtures, highlighting the need to develop new, innovative chemical strategies. Photoredox chemistry emerges as a powerful tool in this context, enabling precise, mild, and selective modifications of peptides and

• antibodies [11]. In the case of ADCs, conjugation of the linker/payload to the antibody must not drastically alter the pharmacokinetics or physicochemical properties of the antibody [12][13]. Typically, zero to eight payloads are attached to the antibody. Heterogeneous ADCs may thus be a mix of both

• attractive, albeit not without serious obstacles. Among native amino acids, attachment to lysine (Lys) [21] and cysteine (Cys) are the most common. Antibodies typically contain as many as 90 lysine units, many of which are at highly solvent-accessible sites [22][23]. Conjugation to Lys is thus rarely

Cryptophycin unit B analogues

• Thomas Schachtsiek,
• Jona Voss,
• Maren Hamsen,
• Beate Neumann,
• Hans-Georg Stammler and
• Norbert Sewald

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 526–532, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.40

• relationship (SAR) studies between derivatisations of all four units (A to D) (Figure 1A) of cryptophycin-52 analogues with functional groups [8]. While many modifications of cryptophycin decrease the cytotoxicity drastically, some viable attachment points for conjugation were found, mainly including the para

• conjugable payloads by our group. Modifications of unit B with conjugation handles are scarcely explored and mainly include the exchange of the para-methoxy group (Figure 1B). The sole exchange of the para-methoxy group of cryptophycin-52 (IC50 = 22 pM) by a hydroxy group reduces the cytotoxicity by

• conjugation handles in unit B. IC50 values given against (a) CCRF-CEM [20] and (b) KB-3-1 [21] cell lines. C: Cryptophycin-52 derivatives synthesised in this work. Molecular structure of Boc-ᴅ-Phe(4-NHMe)-OMe 7 as determined by single-crystal X-ray diffraction measurements. Thermal ellipsoids depicted at 50

Unraveling aromaticity: the dual worlds of pyrazole, pyrazoline, and 3D carborane

• Zahra Noori,
• Miquel Solà,
• Clara Viñas,
• Francesc Teixidor and
• Jordi Poater

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 412–420, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.29

• also applied to o-carboranes fused with five-membered ring systems [39][40]. The positioning of the heteroatom in these exo rings governs bonding, leading to restricted conjugation and, consequently, no aromatic stabilization. Importantly, the magnetic field generated by the 3D cluster influences the

• conjugation and the computed magnetic properties of the fused exo ring [34][38][40], which can lead to the incorrect assignment of aromatic character to this ring. This study aims to determine whether o-carborane-fused pyrazoles can be classified as aromatic 3D/2D systems. While previous research has not

Identification and removal of a cryptic impurity in pomalidomide-PEG based PROTAC

• Bingnan Wang,
• Yong Lu and
• Chuo Chen

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 407–411, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.28

• also be explained by C4 being located near the node of the LUMO. However, SNAr is still favored over glutarimide displacement potentially because the negative charge in the corresponding intermediate is stabilized by an extended conjugation system. In contrast, the negative charge in the carbonyl

Synthesis of new condensed naphthoquinone, pyran and pyrimidine furancarboxylates

• Kirill A. Gomonov,
• Vasilii V. Pelipko,
• Igor A. Litvinov,
• Ilya A. Pilipenko,
• Anna M. Stepanova,
• Nikolai A. Lapatin,
• Ruslan I. Baichurin and
• Sergei V. Makarenko

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 340–347, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.24

• ethyl esters 5b and 6b is −15.6(2) and −11.5(2)°, respectively, indicating that in the case of methyl esters, the alkoxycarbonyl fragment is less out of plane, causing a greater conjugation with the furan fragment. The possibility of exhibiting fluorescent properties was investigated for tetracyclic

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

• , making them more oxidizing. Extended conjugation in cyanins (e.g., 53 and 54) further increases their oxidizing nature at the ground state. Overall, both central substitution and extended conjugation play crucial roles in determining the redox behavior of these dyes. Cyanins with an amino group on the

Effect of substitution position of aryl groups on the thermal back reactivity of aza-diarylethene photoswitches and prediction by density functional theory

• Misato Suganuma,
• Daichi Kitagawa,
• Shota Hamatani and
• Seiya Kobatake

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 242–252, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.16

• to N1(c)–N4(c), which is due to the localization of the π conjugation in the central part of the molecular skeleton as reported in inverse-type diarylethenes [64]. Figure 1c and the video (Supporting Information File 2) show the photochromic behavior of N4 at room temperature in n-hexane. It was

Streamlined modular synthesis of saframycin substructure via copper-catalyzed three-component assembly and gold-promoted 6-endo cyclization

• Asahi Kanno,
• Ryo Tanifuji,
• Satoshi Yoshida,
• Sota Sato,
• Saori Maki-Yonekura,
• Kiyofumi Takaba,
• Jungmin Kang,
• Kensuke Tono,
• Koji Yonekura and
• Hiroki Oguri

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 226–233, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.14

• enamine moiety, would afford the corresponding imidate 18 with incorporation of an extended conjugation system. The oxidation-labile nature of the corresponding C11 position in 12 is consistent with the low bond dissociation energies (BDEs) at both the α-position of the nitrogen, as shown in Supporting

Synthesis, structure and π-expansion of tris(4,5-dehydro-2,3:6,7-dibenzotropone)

• Yongming Xiong,
• Xue Lin Ma,
• Shilong Su and
• Qian Miao

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 1–7, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.1

• to Cs-1 (4.37 eV) as calculated at the B3LYP/6-311++G(d,p) level of DFT. The reduced HOMO–LUMO gap of C2-1 can be attributed to the greater conjugation in the essentially flat dibenzotropone moiety. This finding aligns with the fact that the yellow crystal of C2-1 absorbs light of a longer wavelength

Efficient synthesis of fluorinated triphenylenes with enhanced arene–perfluoroarene interactions in columnar mesophases

• Yang Chen,
• Jiao He,
• Hang Lin,
• Hai-Feng Wang,
• Ping Hu,
• Bi-Qin Wang,
• Ke-Qing Zhao and
• Bertrand Donnio

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 3263–3273, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.270

• PH8), with no or little influence of the solvent polarity (Figure 6a). This may suggest that the sigma-bonded F6 and G66 have no conjugation in their ground states, the electron density being located on one triphenylene moiety (see DFT). G66 shows a stronger absorption band than F6, with expected ε

• spectra. Their LUMO electron density maps distribute across to the side arm for F1 (−1.88 eV; −1.78 eV for PH1) and to the other triphenylene core for the dimer G11 (−1.78 eV). The π-conjugation of excited states results in a difference of their HOMO and LUMO energy levels: the fluorine dimer G11

Efficient modification of peroxydisulfate oxidation reactions of nitrogen-containing heterocycles 6-methyluracil and pyridine

• Alfiya R. Gimadieva,
• Yuliya Z. Khazimullina,
• Aigiza A. Gilimkhanova and
• Akhat G. Mustafin

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 2599–2607, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.219

• ][19][20]. The catalytic activity of metallophthalocyanines originates from their planar, cyclic structure with a developed π-conjugation system. This makes the fifth and sixth coordination sites of the central metal ion available for coordination with the reactant molecules of the catalytic reaction

• . Additionally, the π-conjugation system facilitates the redistribution of electron density within the reaction complex, thereby lowering the activation barrier of the reaction [21]. The study employed the following oxidation catalysts for phthalocyanines – PcCo, PcFe(II), PcFe(III), PcMn, PcNi, and PcZn. The

Anion-dependent ion-pairing assemblies of triazatriangulenium cation that interferes with stacking structures

• Yohei Haketa,
• Takuma Matsuda and
• Hiromitsu Maeda

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 2567–2576, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.215

• (Figures S22–25 in Supporting Information File 1) [31]. The absorption band at 524 nm was blue-shifted by 4 nm compared to that of N-phenyl-substituted 1b+-BF4− [15]. This can be ascribed to the lesser conjugation of the core TATA+ unit with the introduced 2,6-dimethylphenyl moieties owing to the more

• Numbers JP22H02067 and JP23K23335 for Scientific Research (B), JP24K08389 for Scientific Research (C), JP23K17951 for Challenging Research (Exploratory), and JP20H05863 for Transformative Research Areas (A) “Condensed Conjugation” and Ritsumeikan Global Innovation Research Organization (R-GIRO) project

Metal-free double azide addition to strained alkynes of an octadehydrodibenzo[12]annulene derivative with electron-withdrawing substituents

• Naoki Takeda,
• Shuichi Akasaka,
• Susumu Kawauchi and
• Tsuyoshi Michinobu

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 2234–2241, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.191

• outer side (in-out-ts), but the thermodynamically stable final product is a regioselective “in-in” adduct, i.e., compound 6a. Optical properties Absorption and emission spectra of 6a were measured in CH2Cl2 (Figure 5). The conjugation is changed and a highly-twisted macrocyle forms by the double azide

Novel truxene-based dipyrromethanes (DPMs): synthesis, spectroscopic characterization and photophysical properties

• Shakeel Alvi and
• Rashid Ali

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 2163–2170, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.186

• -planar having π‐conjugation [2][3][4]. Remarkably, these unique characteristics of the truxene scaffold, results in strong π–π stacking ability in addition to the strong electron‐donating capability – hinting for the truxene’s capability as a worthy building block in the advancement of cutting-edge

Efficacy of radical reactions of isocyanides with heteroatom radicals in organic synthesis

• Akiya Ogawa and
• Yuki Yamamoto

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 2114–2128, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.182

• . Because of this conjugation, the aromatic ring at the N of the 1,1-addition product 4 (R = Ar, E = PhS) geometrically isomerizes faster than the NMR timescale, so that the two thio groups of 4 are observed to be equivalent in NMR spectroscopy. In the case of diphenyl diselenide as a representative organic

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