Supramolecular assembly of hypervalent iodine macrocycles and alkali metals

• Krishna Pandey,
• Lucas X. Orton,
• Grayson Venus,
• Waseem A. Hussain,
• Toby Woods,
• Lichang Wang and
• Kyle N. Plunkett

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 1095–1103, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.87

• -deficient in nature owing to the presence of three electron-deficient iodine atoms within the macrocycle's framework. To better understand the electrophilic environment of the macrocyclic cavity, we have calculated the Mulliken charges on each atom of Phe HIM 1. To analyze the resultant charge of the

• macrocycle is electrophilic in nature. In addition, DFT results show the three outwardly projected carbonyl oxygens (formerly the carbonyl of benzoic acid) are negatively charged and can potentially bind or interact with metal cations. Figure 3 (right) shows the calculated electrostatic potential map with

• the area of the electrophilic cavity of HIM (shown in red) being smaller, which suggests lower electron density. In contrast, the red areas of the three outwardly projected carbonyl oxygens (formerly the carbonyl of benzoic acid) are larger, demonstrating the higher overall electron density of that

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

• the electrophilic triazinedione, releasing DMAP to give ester 15 which reacts with DMAP to afford the active N-acylpyridinium species 16. In addition, N-(3-dimethylaminopropyl)-N’-ethylcarbodiimide hydrochloride (EDC·HCl), a common coupling reagent, has been applied for a continuous flow

• reagent (Scheme 7) [38]. By mimicking the electrophilic sp-carbon center of common coupling reagents (e.g., DCC, EDC), Zhao and co-workers (2021) employed allenone 22 as a coupling reagent for amidation [39]. Herein, cinnamic acid was smoothly converted to its corresponding amide 10 in a one-pot two-step

• amidation in 5 min reaction time via the formation of the isolable enol ester intermediate 23 (Scheme 8A). Similarly, Feng and co-workers (2019) studied one-pot two-step esterification of cinnamic acid (7) by applying electrophilic sp carbon center of methyl propiolate (25) as the coupling reagent via in

Recent total synthesis of natural products leveraging a strategy of enamide cyclization

• Chun-Yu Mi,
• Jia-Yuan Zhai and
• Xiao-Ming Zhang

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 999–1009, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.81

• incorporated into cyclization reactions. The iminium species generated from enamides via nucleophilic addition or substitution are capable of engaging in further electrophilic additions or isomerization processes. Exploiting the multiple reactivities of enamides facilitates the development of diverse

Regioselective formal hydrocyanation of allenes: synthesis of β,γ-unsaturated nitriles with α-all-carbon quaternary centers

• Seeun Lim,
• Teresa Kim and
• Yunmi Lee

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 800–806, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.63

• for the in situ generation of hydrogen cyanide (Scheme 1a). This method achieved high regioselectivity and enantioselectivity, highlighting the potential of allene hydrocyanation for the synthesis of complex nitrile-containing products. In another approach, the Minakata group used electrophilic

• -catalyzed regioselective hydroalumination of allenes using diisobutylaluminum hydride (DIBAL-H), we envisioned that the nucleophilic attack of allylaluminum reagents on electrophilic cyanating reagents could provide a regioselective pathway for the synthesis of alkyl nitriles bearing quaternary carbon

• in 85% and 93% yield, respectively. Unfortunately, the 1,1,3-trialkyl-substituted allene 1aa was not suitable for Cu-catalyzed hydroalumination under the established conditions, resulting in less than 2% conversion to allylaluminum reagents. In a previous study on the electrophilic cyanation of

Recent advances in the electrochemical synthesis of organophosphorus compounds

• Babak Kaboudin,
• Milad Behroozi,
• Sepideh Sadighi and
• Fatemeh Asgharzadeh

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 770–797, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.61

• reaction proceeded with electrophilic iodination of aromatic compounds followed by a nucleophilic reaction of the formed phosphorothioate intermediate to give corresponding S-heteroaryl phosphorothioates in good to excellent yields (Scheme 29). In 2023, Liu et al. [70] reported an interesting

• reaction system. The reaction proceeded via an anodic oxidation of bromide to bromine, followed by a reaction with sulfur and dialkylphosphite to give the corresponding dialkylphsophothioate. The reaction proceeded via an electrophilic aromatic substitution in the next step to provide the final product

Development and mechanistic studies of calcium–BINOL phosphate-catalyzed hydrocyanation of hydrazones

• Carola Tortora,
• Christian A. Fischer,
• Sascha Kohlbauer,
• Alexandru Zamfir,
• Gerd M. Ballmann,
• Jürgen Pahl,
• Sjoerd Harder and
• Svetlana B. Tsogoeva

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 755–765, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.59

• internal rotation in 11 via TS8 and reaction with TMSCN to give adduct 13 (see Figure 3). Distances and bond lengths are given in pm. Catalyst 7 is replaced in TS 11-12 by concerted electrophilic intramolecular substitution with formal trimethylsilyl cation as electrophile. Please note the surprisingly

Synthesis of HBC fluorophores with an electrophilic handle for covalent attachment to Pepper RNA

• Raphael Bereiter and
• Ronald Micura

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 727–735, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.56

• with an electrophilic handle for the covalent attachment of the surrogate to the RNA. The resulting irreversibly tethered dye–RNA complexes have opened up new avenues for RNA imaging in live cells. Here, we report the syntheses of such modified HBC530 ((4-((2-hydroxyethyl)(methyl)amino)benzylidene

• fluorophores that provide the parent HBC530 ((4-((2-hydroxyethyl)(methyl)amino)benzylidene)cyanophenylacetonitrile) stilbene core [7] but offer an electrophilic alkyl handle on the amino group replacing the original N-hydroxyethyl residue. Three of them have been applied in the cellular applications (Brc3HBC

• (8), MsOc3HBC (14), and MsOc3HBC-vinyl (22)) as reported previously [11]. Nine more HBC derivatives with altered handle lengths and different electrophilic groups are introduced in this study. Furthermore, we include an evaluation of the efficiency of all reactive fluorophores (previously introduced

Acyclic cucurbit[n]uril bearing alkyl sulfate ionic groups

• Christian Akakpo,
• Peter Y. Zavalij and
• Lyle Isaacs

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 717–726, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.55

• to a sulfate group. The synthetic route to C1 starts with the double electrophilic aromatic substitution reaction of methylene-bridged glycoluril tetramer (TetBCE) with W1 in TFA/Ac2O 1:1 which adds the sidewalls and transforms the OH groups into OAc groups to give TetW1OAc in 71% yield as described

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

• -chair conformations of the oxocarbenium intermediate (Figure 9) [131][132]. Also, in the preferred pucker, the C–F bond is oriented orthogonal to the C=O group, which makes the carbonyl more electrophilic through mixing of the π*C=O orbital with the σ*C–F orbital. These combined effects enhance both the

Recent advances in allylation of chiral secondary alkylcopper species

• Minjae Kim,
• Gwanggyun Kim,
• Doyoon Kim,
• Jun Hee Lee and
• Seung Hwan Cho

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 639–658, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.51

• -trifluoromethylalkenes 38 with hydrosilanes and allylic chlorides 40 (Scheme 14b) [55]. In their work, a chiral α-CF3 alkylcopper intermediate 39 was formed through the regio- and enantioselective hydrocupration of electron-deficient alkenes 38 with an in situ-generated CuH species. Subsequent electrophilic trapping of

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

• used in MCRs is formaldehyde, which acts as a highly reactive electrophilic C1 building block in central MCRs reactions such as the Mannich, Biginelli, Ugi, and Passerini reactions (Scheme 2) [7]. In these reactions, formaldehyde undergoes formally the consecutive attack of two other reactants on the

• such as an aza-Prins cyclization [23] and aza-Diels–Alder reaction [24], where MMS serves as direct source of the methylene (-CH2-) group (Scheme 5b). In both cases, the resulting reactive species (MMS or formaldehyde) can participate as electrophilic component in several MCRs as C1 building block

• developed in which the alkene compound has been replaced with other surrogates for electrophilic addition, such as ketones [32][33][34]. In the case of the carbonyl component, it is generally an aromatic aldehyde [30][33][34] and there are not many reports on using formaldehyde in the Povarov reaction. In a

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

• subsequent opening of the furanone ring and proton transfer results in final compounds 8, 10 and 11. The synthetic application of obtained pyrazolones 8 was demonstrated by its further derivatization. The interaction with electrophilic agents is determined by the presence of several nucleophilic centers in

Vinylogous functionalization of 4-alkylidene-5-aminopyrazoles with methyl trifluoropyruvates

• Judit Hostalet-Romero,
• Laura Carceller-Ferrer,
• Gonzalo Blay,
• Amparo Sanz-Marco,
• José R. Pedro and
• Carlos Vila

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 533–540, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.41

• diastereoselectivity (up to 7:1). Keywords: alcohols; diastereoselectivity; nitrogen heterocycles; pyrazoles; vinylogous reaction; Introduction Vinylogy refers to the transmission of electronic effects through a conjugated π-system, enabling the extension of a functional group's nucleophilic or electrophilic

• on the regioselective electrophilic functionalization of this nitrogen heterocycle [15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25]. However, the vinylogous functionalization of 5-aminopyrazoles has not been described to the best of our knowledge (Figure 2). As a part of our ongoing interest in the

Synthesis of N-acetyl diazocine derivatives via cross-coupling reaction

• Thomas Brandt,
• Pascal Lentes,
• Jeremy Rudtke,
• Michael Hösgen,
• Christian Näther and
• Rainer Herges

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 490–499, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.36

• [17]. As a starting point for further derivatization, the synthesis and characterization of monohalogenated N-acetyl diazocines 2 and 3 (Figure 1) have been performed [22]. Unfortunately, diazocines in general, and N-acetyl diazocines in particular cannot be derivatized by electrophilic aromatic

Synthesis of electrophile-tethered preQ₁ analogs for covalent attachment to preQ₁ RNA

• Laurin Flemmich and
• Ronald Micura

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 483–489, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.35

• an electrophilic handle for the covalent attachment of the ligand to the RNA. The simplicity of the underlying design of irreversibly bound ligand–RNA complexes has provided a new impetus in the fields of covalent RNA labeling and RNA drugging. Here, we present short and robust synthetic routes for

• highly electrophilic warheads otherwise typically employed in RNA-small molecule crosslinking [18][19][20][21]. Instead, primary alkyl halides (or mesylates, Scheme 1, in particular compounds 3a, 3b and 4c) were found to be potent yet mild alkylators that minimize off-target reactivity, while providing

• ). Synthesis of preQ1 and DPQ1 derivatives with electrophilic handles For the synthesis of haloalkyl- and mesyloxyalkyl-modified preQ1 and DPQ1 ligands 3a,b and 4a–e (for target structures see Scheme 1), a divergent synthetic route was sought that provided flexibility with respect to linker length and nature

Photomechanochemistry: harnessing mechanical forces to enhance photochemical reactions

• Francesco Mele,
• Ana M. Constantin,
• Andrea Porcheddu,
• Raimondo Maggi,
• Giovanni Maestri,
• Nicola Della Ca’ and
• Luca Capaldo

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 458–472, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.33

• acylation of electrophilic olefins (Scheme 11C). Compared to solution-phase photocatalysis, photomechanochemical conditions allowed to reduce the reaction time from 24 h to 3 h while maintaining comparable yields. Finally, the authors proved that photomechanochemistry contributes to the initial rate

Beyond symmetric self-assembly and effective molarity: unlocking functional enzyme mimics with robust organic cages

• Keith G. Andrews

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 421–443, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.30

• phosphodiesters by 105–107 by electrophilic activation of ester and nucleophilic activation of water or peroxide at the metal ion [101][102]. The takeaway message is that polarization is most effective when it is bifunctional. In enzymes, there is never just a nucleophile – there is always a metal, “oxyanion hole

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

• instability, where the cleavage of the phthalimide and glutarimide rings comprises the major metabolic pathways [9][10]. Computational analysis confirms that C1, C3, C2’, and C4’ are the most electrophilic sites of thalidomide (Figure 4). As expected, introducing a fluorine atom to C4 activates it toward SNAr

The effect of neighbouring group participation and possible long range remote group participation in O-glycosylation

• Rituparna Das and
• Balaram Mukhopadhyay

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 369–406, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.27

• glycosylation. Conventional glycosylation involves the ‘nucleophilic substitution’ of the leaving group at the sp3 anomeric centre of the donor moiety with a suitable carbohydrate or non-carbohydrate-based aglycon with the help of an electrophilic promoter to form the equatorial glycoside 7 or the axial

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

• physicochemical methods, as well as by X-ray diffraction analysis. The obtained compounds, due to the combination of different heterocyclic structures in their molecules, may be interesting as potential biologically active substances. In turn, the presence of active electrophilic centers in their structures

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

Three-component reactions of conjugated dienes, CH acids and formaldehyde under diffusion mixing conditions

• Dmitry E. Shybanov,
• Maxim E. Kukushkin,
• Eugene V. Babaev,
• Nikolai V. Zyk and
• Elena K. Beloglazkina

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 262–269, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.18

• main reaction products. Keywords: aldol condensation; [4 + 2]-cycloaddition; diffusion mixing; formaldehyde; Knoevenagel condensation; three-component reactions; Introduction Formaldehyde is a reactive electrophilic reagent widely used as a C1 building block in multicomponent reactions [1][2][3]. Its

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

• advancements in the synthetic transformations of dioxazolones, with particular examples of copper salts. Keywords: amidation; copper salts; dioxazolones; electrophilic nitrogen; N-acyl nitrene; Introduction Dioxazolones, first synthesized and reported by Beck and co-workers [1], have been employed as

• electrophiles in various nucleophilic transformations due to their susceptibility to rapid decomposition into the corresponding isocyanates (Scheme 1a) [2][3]. They have attracted increasing interest as electrophilic amide sources in amidation using transition-metal catalysts such as ruthenium, rhodium, and

• dioxazolone 7. Subsequently, nitrene insertion of INT-12 into the Cu–C bond, forms INT-13, which then undergoes isomerization and protodemetalation, followed by catalyst regeneration, as suggested by the DFT calculations. Finally, the nucleophilic addition of the amine to the electrophilic intermediate INT-15

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

• terminal alkyne 2 in the presence of a chiral copper catalyst and base, which reacts with the electrophilic iminium intermediate 15 to yield the desired chiral product 14. Active Cu(I) is regenerated either through cathodic reduction or by reaction with TEMPO–H. A year after the Mei group’s report, the Xu

• standard conditions. Subsequently, radical-polar coupling between electrophilic Ni-bound α-carbonyl radical intermediate 45 and remaining nucleophilic Cu-enolate 44 provides a chiral product 42 containing vicinal quaternary stereocenters with high stereoselectivity, and all three possible stereoisomers of

• performed using electrophilic chlorinating reagents or stable and readily available chloride sources with stoichiometric amounts of chemical oxidants. However, in this catalytic system, chloride (Cl−) from HCl was used as the chlorinating agent, and electrophilic chlorine (Cl+) was generated in situ by the

Cu(OTf)₂-catalyzed multicomponent reactions

• Sara Colombo,
• Camilla Loro,
• Egle M. Beccalli,
• Gianluigi Broggini and
• Marta Papis

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 122–145, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.7

• alkyltrifluoroborate into its corresponding alkyl radical. o-Halo-substituted aryl selenides and sulfides 13 can be achieved by a three-component coupling reaction performed with an aryne precursor, potassium halides and electrophilic chalcogen species as reactants, in the presence of Cu(OTf)2 (Scheme 10) [23]. Under

• these conditions the reaction between aryl thiosulfonates with arynes to give sulfones is competitive. Cu(OTf)2 is essential to remove the sulfinate anions in the reaction medium, avoiding side reactions arising from their attack to the electrophilic arynes. The so-obtained products are susceptible of

• corresponding saturated compounds. Subsequent nucleophilic addition of the cyclic vinyl ether to the iminium salt generates an intermediate XXI susceptible of intramolecular electrophilic attack to give a tricyclic structure XXII. The final deprotonation provides the desired product 24. The multicomponent