Recent advances in organocatalytic atroposelective reactions

• Henrich Szabados and
• Radovan Šebesta

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 55–121, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.6

• ]. Yang et al. developed a SPINOL-derived CPA C54-catalyzed electrophilic substitution of diazodicarboxamides 233 and azaborinephenols 232 leading to axially chiral products 234 (Scheme 68) [100]. Excellent enantioselectivities and very good yields were reported in almost all cases. More modest yields

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

• not increase the yield of pyridine 11 further (Table 2). Despite the numerous works in the field of peroxydisulfate oxidation, there is still no unified view of the reaction mechanism. Consequently, in [31], the assumption of an electrophilic substitution mechanism for the Elbs and Boyland–Sims

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

• using SeO2 as an electrophile source in aromatic electrophilic substitution reactions. Keywords: arylamines; electrophilic substitution; oxamides: polymerization; selenium dioxide; Introduction Organoselenium compounds have received considerable attention due to interesting medicinal properties, such

• been used in oxyselenenylation of olefins, which follows an electrophilic addition mechanism [23][24][25]. However, such reagents are rarely used for electrophilic substitution of aromatic systems. Recently, notable progress has been made in the use of aromatic electrophilic substitution to synthesize

• arylselenium compounds [26][27][28]. Noteworthy examples are the use of SeO2 as selenium source in aromatic electrophilic substitution reactions [27][28][29]. Selenium dioxide is a well-known oxidizing agent for the allylic oxidation and oxidation of α-CH bonds located adjacent to electron-withdrawing groups

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

• pharmaceutical and biological activities. Among indole derivatives, bis(indolyl)methanes (BIMs) are profoundly interesting, due to their wide range of pharmaceutical properties. The most common approach involves the electrophilic substitution of various aldehydes and ketones by indoles, utilizing either protic

Copper-promoted C5-selective bromination of 8-aminoquinoline amides with alkyl bromides

• Changdong Shao,
• Chen Ma,
• Li Li,
• Jingyi Liu,
• Yanan Shen,
• Chen Chen,
• Qionglin Yang,
• Tianyi Xu,
• Zhengsong Hu,
• Yuhe Kan and
• Tingting Zhang

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 155–161, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.14

• intermediate C is then generated, followed by the combination of the bromine anion with intermediate B. Finally, selective C5 bromination is accomplished via aromatic electrophilic substitution of 1a with intermediate C promoted by the copper catalyst to afford the desired product 3aa. Conclusion In summary

α-(Aminomethyl)acrylates as acceptors in radical–polar crossover 1,4-additions of dialkylzincs: insights into enolate formation and trapping

• Angel Palillero-Cisneros,
• Paola G. Gordillo-Guerra,
• Fernando García-Alvarez,
• Olivier Jackowski,
• Franck Ferreira,
• Fabrice Chemla,
• Joel L. Terán and
• Alejandro Perez-Luna

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 1443–1451, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.103

• protodemetalation to provide ultimately the 1,4-addition adduct. In the presence of carbonyl acceptors, aldol condensation occurs providing overall a tandem 1,4-addition–aldol process. When a tert-butanesulfinyl moiety is present on the nitrogen atom, these electrophilic substitution reactions occur with good

• regardless of its nitrogen substitution; the outcome of the reaction is a tandem 1,4-addition–aldol process. When the tert-butanesulfinyl moiety is present on the nitrogen atom, electrophilic substitution of the intermediate enolates (protodemetalation or aldol condensation) occurs with decent levels of

• is poised to undergo β-fragmentation, but this process can be outcompeted by in situ electrophilic substitution reactions which offer synthetically useful procedures: 1,4-addition (for substrates having N–H bonds) or tandem 1,4-addition–aldol reactions (in the presence of carbonyl electrophiles

Aromatic C–H bond functionalization through organocatalyzed asymmetric intermolecular aza-Friedel–Crafts reaction: a recent update

• Anup Biswas

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 956–981, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.72

• -functionalization of the indole (Scheme 2) [25]. In 2018, Lin and co-workers deployed pyrroles 9 in an aza-Friedel–Crafts reaction with trifluoromethyldihydrobenzoazepinoindoles 8 to achieve the aromatic electrophilic substitution at the C2 position of the pyrrole ring. A further extension of the scope of this

• presence of an electron-donating functional group is crucial in the ring to activate it for aromatic electrophilic substitution processes. In 2019, Zhang and co-workers succeeded in the C6-selective aminoalkylation of 2,3-disubstituted indoles 4 without the presence of a directing group in the benzene ring

• ketimines 52 proceeding through C2 functionlization and follow up oxidation to provide 2-substitued indoles 56 which are typically difficult to obtain directly from unsubstituted indoles through electrophilic substitution. The process was catalyzed by the chiral phosphoric acid P17 to install a quaternary

Strategies in the synthesis of dibenzo[b,f]heteropines

• David I. H. Maier,
• Barend C. B. Bezuidenhoudt and
• Charlene Marais

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 700–718, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.51

• authors postulated an intramolecular electrophilic substitution via a carbocation intermediate 42 (Scheme 9). Elliott et al. [47] investigated several methods to synthesise substituted dibenzo[b,f]azepines, which included the ring expansion of N-arylindoles 41 to synthesise 43 and the rearrangements of 9

Group 13 exchange and transborylation in catalysis

• Dominic R. Willcox and
• Stephen P. Thomas

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 325–348, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.28

• (Scheme 16) [75]. The reaction was proposed to occur through activation of the alkyl fluoride 68 with H-B-9-BBN, followed by electrophilic substitution of the arene 69 to give a Wheland intermediate and a fluoroborohydride 70 (Scheme 16). Loss of H2 gave the arylated product 71, dihydrogen, and F-B-9-BBN

Modular synthesis of 2-furyl carbinols from 3-benzyldimethylsilylfurfural platforms relying on oxygen-assisted C–Si bond functionalization

• Sebastien Curpanen,
• Per Reichert,
• Gabriele Lupidi,
• Giovanni Poli,
• Julie Oble and
• Alejandro Perez-Luna

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2022, 18, 1256–1263, doi:10.3762/bjoc.18.131

• on the SiMe(OSiMe3)2 unit, which were readily converted through Pd- or Cu-catalyzed electrophilic substitution reactions into an array of furfurals decorated at C3 with carbon- or heteroatom-containing substituents (Scheme 1). Conversely, all of our subsequent efforts to achieve cross-coupling

• activation [19]. Thereby, C3-triorganosilyl-substituted furfurals could be suitable platforms to develop a two-step modular approach to 3-substituted 2-furyl carbinols, entailing nucleophilic addition to the aldehyde function and oxygen-assisted electrophilic substitution of the C–Si bond (Scheme 1). Results

• ). With the 3-silylated 2-furyl carbinol substrates at hand, we then considered C–Si bond activation strategies relying on the assistance of the oxygen atom to promote electrophilic substitution reactions with carbon electrophiles. C3–Si bond functionalization through intramolecular activation by

Mechanochemical halogenation of unsymmetrically substituted azobenzenes

• Dajana Barišić,
• Mario Pajić,
• Ivan Halasz,
• Darko Babić and
• Manda Ćurić

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2022, 18, 680–687, doi:10.3762/bjoc.18.69

• PdII catalyst and additives. These reactions in most cases produced electrophilic substitution products that were halogenated in the ortho position(s) relative to the electron-donating substituent (Scheme 1 and Table 1), as confirmed by Raman (Figures S14–S22 in Supporting Information File 1) and NMR

• dihalogenated at the ortho and meta-position(s) relative to the electron-donating substituent, which may be attributed to competition between PdII-catalyzed reactions and uncatalyzed electrophilic substitution. Our results are consistent with those reported by Sanford's group for the halogenation of various

Menadione: a platform and a target to valuable compounds synthesis

• Acácio S. de Souza,
• Ruan Carlos B. Ribeiro,
• Dora C. S. Costa,
• Fernanda P. Pauli,
• David R. Pinho,
• Matheus G. de Moraes,
• Fernando de C. da Silva,
• Luana da S. M. Forezi and
• Vitor F. Ferreira

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2022, 18, 381–419, doi:10.3762/bjoc.18.43

• aldehydes and ketones [128]. In this context, Fry and co-workers explored the electrophilic substitution reaction to synthesize 2-methyl-3-bromonaphthalene-1,4-dione (82), an important intermediate used for the synthesis of naphthoquinones functionalized with organochalcogens [127]. Compound 82 was obtained

AlBr₃-Promoted stereoselective anti-hydroarylation of the acetylene bond in 3-arylpropynenitriles by electron-rich arenes: synthesis of 3,3-diarylpropenenitriles

• Yelizaveta Gorbunova,
• Dmitry S. Ryabukhin and
• Aleksander V. Vasilyev

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2021, 17, 2663–2667, doi:10.3762/bjoc.17.180

• hydroarylation of nitriles 1. Reactions of nitriles 1a–c with o-xylene led to the formation of regioisomers derived from the electrophilic substitution at different positions of this arene. Thus, nitrile 1a gave two types of regioisomers 2n and 2o. After reactions of nitriles 1b,c with o-xylene, compounds 2l and

On the application of 3d metals for C–H activation toward bioactive compounds: The key step for the synthesis of silver bullets

• Renato L. Carvalho,
• Amanda S. de Miranda,
• Mateus P. Nunes,
• Roberto S. Gomes,
• Guilherme A. M. Jardim and
• Eufrânio N. da Silva Júnior

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2021, 17, 1849–1938, doi:10.3762/bjoc.17.126

• heteroaromatic electrophilic substitution and a non-radical pathway. An aminomethylation of the heteroaromatic ring with N-methylmorpholine-N-oxide catalyzed by VO(aca)2 reported by Mitchell and co-workers [109], however, was found to undergo with a regioselective outcome incompatible to an electrophilic

Iodine-catalyzed electrophilic substitution of indoles: Synthesis of (un)symmetrical diindolylmethanes with a quaternary carbon center

• Thanigaimalai Pillaiyar,
• Masoud Sedaghati,
• Andhika B. Mahardhika,
• Lukas L. Wendt and
• Christa E. Müller

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2021, 17, 1464–1475, doi:10.3762/bjoc.17.102

• derivatives have recently received increasing attention from synthetic organic chemists, biologists, and pharmacologists. In general, DIMs can be synthesized via electrophilic substitution of indoles by aldehydes or ketones in the presence of conventional Lewis or Brønsted acids as catalysts [19]. This

Synthetic accesses to biguanide compounds

• Oleksandr Grytsai,
• Cyril Ronco and
• Rachid Benhida

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2021, 17, 1001–1040, doi:10.3762/bjoc.17.82

• , the authors observed an intramolecular aromatic electrophilic substitution under high-temperature conditions. This unprecedented reactivity was used in the synthesis of 1,3-diaminobenzoquinazoline derivatives (Scheme 26). After prolonged reflux in octanol, the quinazolines were isolated as free bases

Application of the Meerwein reaction of 1,4-benzoquinone to a metal-free synthesis of benzofuropyridine analogues

• Rashmi Singh,
• Tomas Horsten,
• Rashmi Prakash,
• Swapan Dey and
• Wim Dehaen

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2021, 17, 977–982, doi:10.3762/bjoc.17.79

• . Electrophilic substitution and further condensations give polycyclic systems, including oxazolo- and chromeno-fused analogues. Keywords: benzofuropyridines; benzoquinones; dibenzofurans; Meerwein reaction; metal-free synthesis; Introduction Dibenzofurans are important oxygen-containing heterocycles present in

All-carbon [3 + 2] cycloaddition in natural product synthesis

• Zhuo Wang and
• Junyang Liu

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 3015–3031, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.251

• tetrachloride produces an alkyoxy allylic carbocation (not shown). This carbocation is subjected to a regiospecific electrophilic substitution of allene 168 to generate a vinyl cation 172, which is stabilized by an adjacent carbon–silicon bond. The 1,2-shift of the silyl group in 172 produces an isomeric vinyl

Three-component reactions of aromatic amines, 1,3-dicarbonyl compounds, and α-bromoacetaldehyde acetal to access N-(hetero)aryl-4,5-unsubstituted pyrroles

• Wenbo Huang,
• Kaimei Wang,
• Ping Liu,
• Minghao Li,
• Shaoyong Ke and
• Yanlong Gu

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 2920–2928, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.241

• enamine intermediate I to generate another intermediate III. Subsequently, III underwent an intramolecular electrophilic substitution to form the intermediate IV. Finally, IV underwent an elimination of HBr and a spontaneous aromatization to afford the pyrrole product 4a [48][49]. Apart from the pyrrole

Rearrangement of o-(pivaloylaminomethyl)benzaldehydes: an experimental and computational study

• Csilla Hargitai,
• Györgyi Koványi-Lax,
• Tamás Nagy,
• Péter Ábrányi-Balogh,
• András Dancsó,
• Gábor Tóth,
• Judit Halász,
• Angéla Pandur,
• Gyula Simig and
• Balázs Volk

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 1636–1648, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.136

• via their ring tautomers 18a,b. The mechanism proposed for the formation of the intermediates 15a,b and 17a,b is supported by the fact that electrophilic substitution reactions of isoindole are well known in the literature [3][13][14][15][16][17][18] and these are analogous to that suggested for the

In silico rationalisation of selectivity and reactivity in Pd-catalysed C–H activation reactions

• Liwei Cao,
• Mikhail Kabeshov,
• Steven V. Ley and
• Alexei A. Lapkin

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 1465–1475, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.122

• , explaining the experimental observations for C–H activation reactions, depending on the nature of a ligand (Ln) and transition metal (M) in the catalytically active species (LnM). These mechanisms include four elementary steps: oxidative addition, σ-bond metathesis, electrophilic substitution and 1,2

• a relatively unstable intermediate (Figure 1) [26], the Hammond postulate can be applied to the electrophilic substitution reactions. The Hammond postulate states that a transition state will be structurally and energetically similar to the species (reactant, intermediate or product) nearest to it

Synthesis and anticancer activity of bis(2-arylimidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-3-yl) selenides and diselenides: the copper-catalyzed tandem C–H selenation of 2-arylimidazo[1,2-a]pyridine with selenium

• Mio Matsumura,
• Tsutomu Takahashi,
• Hikari Yamauchi,
• Shunsuke Sakuma,
• Yukako Hayashi,
• Tadashi Hyodo,
• Tohru Obata,
• Kentaro Yamaguchi,
• Yasuyuki Fujiwara and
• Shuji Yasuike

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 1075–1083, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.94

• experiments, a plausible double selenation mechanism is shown in Scheme 2 and Scheme 3. The first step of the reaction involves the generation of the intermediate B via A by the Cu-mediated electrophilic substitution of 1 with selenium. The oxidative homocoupling of the intermediate B then proceeds to give

Acid-catalyzed rearrangements in arenes: interconversions in the quaterphenyl series

• Sarah L. Skraba-Joiner,
• Carter J. Holt and
• Richard P. Johnson

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2019, 15, 2655–2663, doi:10.3762/bjoc.15.258

• believed to occur through the intermediacy of ipso arenium ions 4–6 which connect through 1,2-phenyl shifts. The term "ipso" was first proposed by Perrin and Skinner to explain unusual results in electrophilic substitution reactions; this refers to protonation at the site of a substituent [24]. Ipso

A review of the total syntheses of triptolide

• Xiang Zhang,
• Zaozao Xiao and
• Hongtao Xu

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2019, 15, 1984–1995, doi:10.3762/bjoc.15.194

• trifluoroacetate 60 by a known electrophilic substitution procedure that was developed by Tahara and co-workers [64]. Curtius rearrangement of 60 gave an isocyanate intermediate, which was reduced with LiAlH4 followed by reductive amination affording tertiary amine intermediate 61. Oxidation of 61 to its

The design and synthesis of an antibacterial phenothiazine–siderophore conjugate

• Abed Tarapdar,
• James K. S. Norris,
• Oliver Sampson,
• Galina Mukamolova and
• James T. Hodgkinson

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2018, 14, 2646–2650, doi:10.3762/bjoc.14.242

• . In the final PMB global deprotection step we were pleased to observe the formation of our desired final phenothiazine–sideophore conjugate in moderate yield. The addition of anisole to the reaction mixture was found to be essential to inhibit competing electrophilic substitution side reactions. A