Asymmetric synthesis of fluorinated derivatives of aromatic and γ-branched amino acids via a chiral Ni(II) complex

• Maurizio Iannuzzi,
• Thomas Hohmann,
• Michael Dyrks,
• Kilian Haoues,
• Katarzyna Salamon-Krokosz and
• Beate Koksch

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 659–669, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.52

• (II) complex of bisTfMePhe have differed significantly. Here, sodium hydride (NaH) was identified as optimal base leading to a yield of 85% when using DMF as solvent at 0 °C to room temperature (Table 2, entry 4). Testing different base equivalents, solvents, solvent mixtures and temperatures didn’t

• ) complex 1 was synthesized according the procedure described by Romoff et al. [16]. Sodium hydride was used as a 60% dispersion in mineral oil. Triethylamine was dried over CaH2 and distilled freshly before use. Perfluorobutanesulfonyl fluoride was dried over CaCl2 and freshly distilled before use. Other

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

• transmetalation of organolithium and organoboron compounds, copper hydride catalysis, and enantiotopic-group-selective transformations of 1,1-diborylalkanes. Detailed mechanistic insights into stereochemical control and current challenges in this field are also discussed. Keywords: allylic substitution; chiral

• transfer (TS2). The structural features of the tert-butyl group allow more efficient pyramidalization compared to the rigid adamantyl framework, suggesting that the flexibility of the transferring group plays a crucial role in facilitating transmetalation. Copper hydride chemistry for enantioselective

• allylic substitution reactions Among the various approaches in copper-catalyzed asymmetric allylic substitution, copper hydride (CuH) catalysis has received significant attention due to its unique ability to generate configurationally well-defined chiral organocopper species 28 under mild conditions

Total synthesis of (±)-simonsol C using dearomatization as key reaction under acidic conditions

• Xiao-Yang Bi,
• Xiao-Shuai Yang,
• Shan-Shan Chen,
• Jia-Jun Sui,
• Zhao-Nan Cai,
• Yong-Ming Chuan and
• Hong-Bo Qin

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 601–606, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.47

• DIPEA, affording compound 17 with an 89% yield [11]. For the following alkylation step with tert-butyl bromoacetate, three bases were tested: potassium carbonate, cesium carbonate, and sodium hydride. Considering the targeted alkylation of a phenolic hydroxy group and the pKa requirements of this

• consumption of the starting material. Subsequently, when the base was changed to the stronger base sodium hydride [12], the reaction proceeded much better. Within 2 hours, the starting material was completely converted, yielding compound 18 with 95% isolated yield. Proton abstraction of the hydrogen in the α

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

• motifs such as a benzofuran, indazole, and quinoline were also shown to undergo the desired Markovnikov amidation with high efficiency (23j–l). Several mechanistic experiments were performed to rationalize the reaction pathways. As shown in Figure 7, copper hydride, generated from a copper precatalyst

• the targeted amidated product upon protonation, while simultaneously regenerating the active copper hydride species. 2.2 Hydroamidation of alkynes In 2022, Sato and co-workers introduced a copper-catalyzed hydroamidation of alkynes 25 using dioxazolones 24 as amide sources (Scheme 9) [99]. A

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

• remains a significant challenge owing to the high energy barrier required for oxidative addition and facile β-hydride elimination [12]. The development of radical approaches facilitated by transition-metal catalysis has provided a promising solution to overcome the limitations of conventional coupling

• . First, TEMPO is converted to TEMPO+ through anodic oxidation, and iminium intermediate 15 is created through hydride transfer from THIQ (13) to TEMPO+. TEMPO–H, generated during the hydrogen transfer step, then returns to TEMPO+ through anodic oxidation. Chiral acetylide species 17 is produced from the

• (Figure 15) [70]. In this catalytic system, catalytic amounts of Cu(sBOX) (L3) and Co(salen) complexes promote the formation of chiral nitriles 89 in the presence of PhSiH3 (88) as the hydride source and TMSCN (21) as the cyanide source via the effective sequential addition of a hydrogen atom and a CN

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

• intermediate XXXV. Finally, the final product 35 is yielded via a 1,3-hydride shift. The reaction between diazo derivatives, nitriles, and azodicarboxylates catalyzed by Cu(OTf)2 is an efficient synthetic method to obtain 2,3-dihydro-1,2,4-triazole derivatives 36 (Scheme 27) [45]. The reaction proceeds via a

Facile one-pot reduction of β-nitrostyrenes to phenethylamines using sodium borohydride and copper(II) chloride

• Laura D’Andrea and
• Simon Jademyr

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 39–46, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.4

• reduction can be accomplished via catalytic hydrogenation, involving stepwise reactions and workup, use of additional reagents, and reaction time between 3 and 24 hours [11][12]. Most commonly, metal hydrides are employed, typically lithium aluminum hydride [13][14][15][16][17][18], requiring an inert

• aluminum hydride, sodium borohydride is a non-pyrophoric and easy-to-handle reducing agent. Since the first attempts in 1967, NaBH4 has been employed to reduce β-nitrostyrene scaffolds to the corresponding nitroalkanes [19][20][21]. Several catalysts have been combined with NaBH4 to facilitate full

Giese-type alkylation of dehydroalanine derivatives via silane-mediated alkyl bromide activation

• Perry van der Heide,
• Michele Retini,
• Fabiola Fanini,
• Giovanni Piersanti,
• Francesco Secci,
• Daniele Mazzarella,
• Timothy Noël and
• Alberto Luridiana

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 3274–3280, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.271

• derivatives. Upon abstraction of a hydride from tris(trimethylsilyl)silane (TTMS) by an excited benzophenone derivative, the formed silane radical can undergo a XAT with an alkyl bromide to generate an alkyl radical. Consequently, the alkyl radical undergoes a Giese-type reaction with the Dha derivative

Synthesis of spiroindolenines through a one-pot multistep process mediated by visible light

• Francesco Gambuti,
• Jacopo Pizzorno,
• Chiara Lambruschini,
• Renata Riva and
• Lisa Moni

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 2722–2731, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.230

• and highly reactive BrCCl3 radical anion. Anyway, the N-Ph-THIQ can undergo numerous pathways towards the iminium ion 1a (see reference [28] for details). The oxidation of compound 2d may occur according to the same mechanism. However, alternative mechanisms, such as the direct hydride transfer from

Synthesis of fluoroalkenes and fluoroenynes via cross-coupling reactions using novel multihalogenated vinyl ethers

• Yukiko Karuo,
• Keita Hirata,
• Atsushi Tarui,
• Kazuyuki Sato,
• Kentaro Kawai and
• Masaaki Omote

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 2691–2703, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.226

• fluorine-containing building blocks have been developed [21][22][23][24][25]. Jubault and Poisson et al. reported SN2’ reactions of hydride or alcohols to electrophilic fluorine-containing alkenes gave the corresponding fluoroalkenes (Scheme 1B) [21]. In recent years, many fluorine-containing coupling

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

• H2 over CO2 becomes crucial for effective CO2 reduction [7]. Additionally, the strength of the interaction between the catalyst and the resulting system after hydride transfer presents a limitation. The formation of a robust LA–oxygen interaction may impede proton transfer to the basic oxygen atom

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

• the DDQH• radical to generate a carbocation and DDQH−. In path B, the reaction involves direct hydride transfer to DDQ, forming DDQH− and a carbocation. In both pathways, the amine nucleophile captures the carbocation, resulting in the final amination product after losing a proton. Subsequently, DDQH

• form a cyclic alkyl radical. The alkyl radical is further oxidized by [Co(III)] to produce the target amination product and a [Co(II)–H] species via direct hydrogen transfer or β-hydride elimination. Deprotonation of [Co(II)–H] by MeO− regenerates the [Co(I)] complex, which is subsequently oxidized

Facile preparation of fluorine-containing 2,3-epoxypropanoates and their epoxy ring-opening reactions with various nucleophiles

• Yutaro Miyashita,
• Sae Someya,
• Tomoko Kawasaki-Takasuka,
• Tomohiro Agou and
• Takashi Yamazaki

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 2421–2433, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.206

• carried out for the verification of the intermediate leading to the product 11. Although we initially assumed that the epoxy ring opening occurred by hydride generated through the β-elimination of the n-C10H21MgBr-based cuprate species, the TLC analysis of the reaction mixture did not show any evidence of

• well compares with the one by Alexakis et al. [57]. In their instance, the reaction of t-Bu2CuCNLi2 and cyclohexene oxide afforded a mixture of products in 10 and 50% yields as a result of the epoxy ring opening by t-Bu group and hydride, respectively. Their additional experiment to quench the

• corresponding intermediate by D2O proved that no deuteration occurred. This result clearly indicated that hydride was released from the t-Bu group of the Cu(III) species formed after the nucleophilic attack of the epoxy ring. In our case, since the strongly electron-withdrawing CF3 group would render the rate

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

• abstraction reaction from tin hydride or hydrosilane by radical initiators such as AIBN has effectively been used. When tin and silyl radicals generated in this way are reacted with isocyanides, they are more susceptible to steric hindrance than group 16 or 15 heteroatom radicals due to the greater number of

• radicals abstract hydrogen from the tin hydride or hydrosilane, and the reduction reaction proceeds with the concomitant formation of stannyl or silyl cyanide 15 as byproducts (Scheme 9a) [38][43]. In the presence of acrylonitrile, the formed alkyl radical can add to acrylonitrile, affording the addition

• with alkenyl, alkynyl, aryl, and isocyano groups as unsaturated groups. Intramolecular cyclization of ortho-alkynylaryl- or ortho-alkenylaryl isocyanides Fukuyama et al. reported that the reaction of an aryl isocyanide with an alkenyl group at the ortho-position with tin hydride in the presence of AIBN

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

• 93 (Scheme 33) [116]. The presence of two equivalents of sodium hydride deprotonates the acidic α-NH of arylhydrazine, thereby determining the regioselective attack in addition–elimination sequence furnishing a hydrazine enaminone intermediate, and ultimately leading to pyrazole 93 after cyclization

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

• -difluoroethylene was based on 1,2-dichloro-1,2-difluoroethane (HCFC-132) [48][49][50][51][52], prepared from 1,1,2,2-tetrachloro-1,2-difluoroethane (CFC-112) by reduction using lithium aluminum hydride [48][49][50][51] or photoreduction (Scheme 2) [51]. The resulting HCFC-132 reacted with zinc [47][49][52] or

Regioselective alkylation of a versatile indazole: Electrophile scope and mechanistic insights from density functional theory calculations

• Pengcheng Lu,
• Luis Juarez,
• Paul A. Wiget,
• Weihe Zhang,
• Krishnan Raman and
• Pravin L. Kotian

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 1940–1954, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.170

• Scheme 1 compound 6 was treated with isopropyl iodide (7) in DMF in the presence of sodium hydride to provide products 8 and 9 in 38% and 46% yields, respectively. The structures of both compounds were unambiguously assigned using X-ray crystallography and 1H and nuclear Overhauser effect (NOE) NMR

Syntheses and medicinal chemistry of spiro heterocyclic steroids

• Laura L. Romero-Hernández,
• Ana Isabel Ahuja-Casarín,
• Penélope Merino-Montiel,
• Sara Montiel-Smith,
• José Luis Vega-Báez and
• Jesús Sandoval-Ramírez

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 1713–1745, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.152

• sodium hydride, yielding moderate yields (ranging from 23% to 68%). The cyclization initially formed the non-isolated intermediate i, which was oxidized by molecular oxygen from air, introducing the hydroxy group at the α-position of the cyano group. The protocol utilised mild conditions and short

• reported a novel and straightforward method for synthesizing spiro 2,5-dihydrofuran derivatives starting from 17-ethynyl-17-hydroxysteroids such as lynestrenol (38) (Scheme 12) [25]. The 17-hydroxy group of steroids underwent allylation using allyl bromide and sodium hydride. After formation of the alkenyl

• promoted by the action of sodium hydride, alkylation of the morpholine nitrogen atom on 129 provided a diverse range of compounds (Scheme 36). In 2013, the same reaction sequence was reported by Poirier’s group, resulting in a spiromorpholinone at C-3 position derived from epi-ADT that exhibited activity

Chemo-enzymatic total synthesis: current approaches toward the integration of chemical and enzymatic transformations

• Ryo Tanifuji and
• Hiroki Oguri

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 1693–1712, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.151

• in unexpected conversions, including the formation of an allylic carbocation at C1, followed by transannular hydride transfer from C8 to afford ketone 20 in 62% yield. With the 5/8/5 tricyclic scaffold 20 in hand, site- and diastereocontrolled C9 hydroxylation of 20 produced a substrate 21 for the

• pentacyclic secondary amine 97 bearing the ester linker in the C1 side chain in one pot. After removal of SfmC by precipitation and centrifugation, the reaction mixture containing secondary amine 97 was subjected to the reductive amination using 2-picoline borane as a hydride source, yielding tertiary amine

Synthetic applications of the Cannizzaro reaction

• Bhaskar Chatterjee,
• Dhananjoy Mondal and
• Smritilekha Bera

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 1376–1395, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.120

• of a hydride ion from a tetracoordinated intermediate (B), which is formed upon hydroxide addition to the aldehyde (A). The primary pathway of the reaction entails the rate-determining step of hydride ion transfer via either a linear or bent transition state (C) to a second molecule of aldehyde

• transformation of the aryl glyoxals is outlined below (Scheme 4), which depicts the coordination of the hemiacetal B with the metal catalyst to give C, followed by hydride transfer to form the metal-coordinated Cannizzaro product D. Another intramolecular asymmetric Cannizzaro reaction was reported by Wu et al

• in the appropriate vicinity for the reaction to take place in appreciably good yields (84%). The barium cation template is the key for the reaction, as is the base concentration for effective hydride transfer (Scheme 14) [29]. They also extended the scope of the intramolecular Cannizzaro reaction to

Generation of alkyl and acyl radicals by visible-light photoredox catalysis: direct activation of C–O bonds in organic transformations

• Mithu Roy,
• Bitan Sardar,
• Itu Mallick and
• Dipankar Srimani

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 1348–1375, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.119

• , C–C, and C–heteroatom bond formations. The best known technique for the creation of alkyl radicals is the homolytic cleavage of the C–X bond of alkyl halides by toxic tin hydride [17]. Later, various efforts have been made to replace toxic tin hydrides with other reagents [33][34][35][36][37][38][39

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

• a hydride donor [5][6][7][8]. On the other hand, aryl radical-involved hydroarylation would be a promising alternative for the synthesis of alkylarenes with high anti-Markovnikov selectivity [9][10]. Aryl halides have received increased attention as ideal radical precursors because of their

• intermediates through a single-electron transfer process [26][27][28][29][30][31]. In particular, electroreductive transformations have recently received renewed attention from modern synthetic chemists as a safer protocol than conventional methods using chemical reductants such as metal hydride species [32][33

Domino reactions of chromones with activated carbonyl compounds

• Peter Langer

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 1256–1269, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.108

• ][11][12]. For example, 2 can be transformed to its dianion 7 by action of two equivalents of LDA or by sequential addition of sodium hydride and n-butyllithium (Scheme 1). In contrast to 2, dianion 7 reacts with electrophiles at its terminal carbon atom. 1,3-Bis(silyloxy)-1,3-butadienes, containing

Stability trends in carbocation intermediates stemming from germacrene A and hedycaryol

• Naziha Tarannam,
• Prashant Kumar Gupta,
• Shani Zev and
• Dan Thomas Major

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 1189–1197, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.101

• isoprenoid allylic carbocation has the capability to engage in standard carbocation reactions, including cyclization via intramolecular olefin attack at the positively charged center, Wagner–Meerwein rearrangements, and hydride or proton shifts. This sequence concludes either through deprotonation, resulting

• diols by addition of water. For each of these intermediates, simple deprotonation or nucleophilic attack by water are possible. Also, hydride shifts can occur first, which widens the chemical space of possible products. Additionally, the presence of multiple stereocenters adds to the rich

Manganese-catalyzed C–C and C–N bond formation with alcohols via borrowing hydrogen or hydrogen auto-transfer

• Mohd Farhan Ansari,
• Atul Kumar Maurya,
• Abhishek Kumar and
• Saravanakumar Elangovan

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 1111–1166, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.98

• to the scientific community [10][11][12]. In this process, first, the metal-catalyzed dehydrogenation of the alcohol provides a reactive substrate for coupling with nucleophiles and the active metal hydride species. Later, the borrowed hydrogen is used in the final step to reduce unsaturated

• aldehydes or ketones, undergo base-assisted condensation reactions with amines providing the corresponding imines. In the last step, the active manganese hydride complexes reduce the imine compounds and afford the desired alkylated amine products (Scheme 2B). Several well-defined manganese complexes have

• indicates that the cation-coordinative interaction with the catalyst plays a significant role. Moreover, the mechanistic investigation suggested that the observed selectivity is due to the more reactive potassium manganate hydride towards the hydrogenation of imines to amines than the sodium manganate