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 it particularly suited for large-scale applications. Recent advances highlight the unique advantages of both metal-based and metal-free catalysts under red-light irradiation, broadening the range of possible reactions, from selective oxidations to complex polymerizations. In biological contexts

Oxidation of [3]naphthylenes to cations and dications converts local paratropicity into global diatropicity

• Abel Cárdenas,
• Zexin Jin,
• Yong Ni,
• Jishan Wu,
• Yan Xia,
• Francisco Javier Ramírez and
• Juan Casado

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 277–285, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.20

• 1600–1550 cm−1 triplet. This result is fully compatible with the presence of the two rather overlapped (i.e., with similar energies) one-electron oxidations in the cyclic voltammetry of 2. The spectral resemblances for 2•+ and 22+ might also indicate that the positive charge is mainly gathered by the

• theoretical Raman band at 1730 cm−1. FT-Raman spectra in CH2Cl2 (approx. 10−2 to 10−3 M) of: top) 1 (black), 1•+ (blue), and 12+ (red). Bottom) 2 (black), 2•+ (blue), and 22+ (red). Oxidations are carried out by stepwise addition of NOBF4 in CH2Cl2. Force constants for the CC stretching vibrational

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

• . Review 1 LSF via anodic oxidation To date, the majority of electrosynthetic methods in organic chemistry consists of anodic oxidations. These techniques are generally more robust and can often be performed outside of a glovebox, making them particularly attractive for larger scale applications in

• . However, it should be noted that anodic oxidations often require electrodes with high resistance to oxidation, such as platinum electrodes, or inert electrodes with a highly developed surface, like reticulated vitreous carbon (RVC). Anodic oxidations generally involve the evolution of hydrogen (indicated

• aliphatic alcohols, benzyl alcohols are also suitable reagents. Numerous LSF examples and upscaling were demonstrated. The mechanism involves two anodic oxidations: first, the thiophenol is oxidized at the anode, forming a sulfur radical that attacks the isocyanide. The newly formed carbon radical is then

Natural resorcylic lactones derived from alternariol

• Joachim Podlech

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 2171–2207, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.187

O,S,Se-containing Biginelli products based on cyclic β-ketosulfone and their postfunctionalization

• Kateryna V. Dil and
• Vitalii A. Palchykov

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 2143–2151, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.184

• oxidations of rare Biginelli products are discussed in Supporting Information File 1 using compound 2a as an example. In silico evaluation of ADMET parameters and biological profile We performed in silico screening of the biological properties of Biginelli products 2a–r and their postfunctionalized

Harnessing the versatility of hydrazones through electrosynthetic oxidative transformations

• Aurélie Claraz

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 1988–2004, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.175

• electrolyte with potassium carbonate as a base and two platinum electrodes. Mechanistically, condensation of the two reactants formed isatin-derived acylhydrazone 37. Hydrolysis of the latter in the presence of the inorganic base gave rise to potassium carboxylate 39. Meanwhile, two consecutive SET oxidations

Synthesis of polycyclic aromatic quinones by continuous flow electrochemical oxidation: anodic methoxylation of polycyclic aromatic phenols (PAPs)

• Hiwot M. Tiruye,
• Solon Economopoulos and
• Kåre B. Jørgensen

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 1746–1757, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.153

• alternative to classical synthesis [25][26][27][28]. Electrochemical oxidation reactions are further used to emulate enzymatic oxidations of drugs and explore potential metabolites [29][30][31]. Electrochemical flow systems provide fast electrosynthesis with low cell resistance, large electrode area, and good

• (1a) into o-quinone 5 revealed that the oxidation comprises two separate 1-electron oxidations [38]. Electrooxidative dearomatization has proven to be an effective synthetic tool [39]. However, we have not found examples of electrochemical oxidation of PAPs applied in synthesis. Here, we report the

• to be overoxidized and provided only traces of multiple products. Some overoxidation of 4d was observed as 12-methoxychrysene-5,6-dione (10), but the alternative product chrysene-6,12-dione was not formed. In contrast to the ortho-selective oxidations of PAPs with SIBX [18], the electrochemical

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

• I (9). As a pioneering investigation to elucidate the mechanism of this essentially identical allylic oxidations by Fe(II)/2OG-dependent dioxygenase, Dairi and co-workers conducted in vitro enzymatic conversions with the homologous enzyme Bsc9, derived from Alternaria brassicicola ATCC96836 [24

Oxidation of benzylic alcohols to carbonyls using N-heterocyclic stabilized λ³-iodanes

• Thomas J. Kuczmera,
• Pim Puylaert and
• Boris J. Nachtsheim

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 1677–1683, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.149

• -iodanes have drawbacks, in particular low solubility and moisture sensitivity [11]. Hypervalent iodine compounds in a lower oxidation state (λ3-iodanes), such as iodosobenzene (PhIO)n or phenyliodine(III) diacetate (PIDA) have been reported in alcohol oxidations but they often result in overoxidation to

• to undesired oxidations of the triple bond. The behavior of secondary benzylic alcohols was tested next, giving 4-methylacetophenone (4t) in an excellent yield of 97% and 1-indanone (4u) in 46%. It is worth noting that for some derivatives oxidized by method A, an acylation of the alcohol was

Recent developments in the engineered biosynthesis of fungal meroterpenoids

• Zhiyang Quan and
• Takayoshi Awakawa

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 578–588, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.50

• residues, the catalytic activities of these enzymes were exchanged [34]. From 24, PrhA V150L/A232S produced 27, and AusE L150V/S232A produced 28. Surprisingly, PrhA V150L/A232S/M241V catalyzed additional oxidations of 27 to produce compounds 29 and 30, as unnatural products. As demonstrated in these

• reactions, the terpenoid skeleton undergoes significant structural changes due to radical formation through oxidase-induced hydrogen atom abstraction. Close examinations of the substrate complex structures of these αKG-dependent dioxygenases involved in these meroterpenoid oxidations revealed that the

• common intermediate 21 to ascochlorin (22) and ascofuranone (23), respectively. The multistep oxidations catalyzed by AusE and PrhA from the common intermediate 24. Reactions of SptF with native substrates 31 and 32. A) Reactions of SptF with unnatural substrates. B) Reactions of SptF variants with 31

Photoinduced in situ generation of DNA-targeting ligands: DNA-binding and DNA-photodamaging properties of benzo[c]quinolizinium ions

• Julika Schlosser,
• Olga Fedorova,
• Yuri Fedorov and
• Heiko Ihmels

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 101–117, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.11

• reactive intermediate 1O2 is known to induce DNA damage [78][88]. Nevertheless, these lesions, namely DNA base oxidations, often require alkaline treatment to lead to a strand cleavage, so that the DNA damage remained mainly unnoticed in the employed assay. At the same time, it has been reported that 1O2

Multi-redox indenofluorene chromophores incorporating dithiafulvene donor and ene/enediyne acceptor units

• Christina Schøttler,
• Kasper Lund-Rasmussen,
• Line Broløs,
• Philip Vinterberg,
• Ema Bazikova,
• Viktor B. R. Pedersen and
• Mogens Brøndsted Nielsen

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 59–73, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.8

• Tetrathiafulvalene (TTF, Figure 1) is a redox-active molecule that has been widely explored in materials chemistry and supramolecular chemistry [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8]. TTF reversibly undergoes two sequential one-electron oxidations, generating first a radical cation (TTF+•) and subsequently a dication (TTF2

• in Figure 6, and potentials against ferrocene (Fc/Fc+) (obtained from differential pulse voltammetry, see Supporting Information File 1) are summarized in Table 2. Compounds 11 and 15 showed two irreversible first oxidations at +0.34 V and +0.38 V vs Fc/Fc+, showing that replacing the ketone with the

• with 0.1 M Bu4NPF6 as supporting electrolyte) are shown in Figure 8. Quasi-reversible one-electron oxidations of the two DTF-functionalized compounds 22 and 23 are observed at +0.41 V followed by irreversible oxidations at +0.76 V (22) and +0.81 V (23), respectively. One reversible oxidation at +0.84 V

Benzoimidazolium-derived dimeric and hydride n-dopants for organic electron-transport materials: impact of substitution on structures, electrochemistry, and reactivity

• Swagat K. Mohapatra,
• Khaled Al Kurdi,
• Samik Jhulki,
• Georgii Bogdanov,
• John Bacsa,
• Maxwell Conte,
• Tatiana V. Timofeeva,
• Seth R. Marder and
• Stephen Barlow

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 1651–1663, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.121

• , resulting in 1g• and 1h• being more reducing monomers than their non-methoxylated analogues 1b• and 1e•, respectively. Cyclic voltammograms of both 1H and 12 both reveal irreversible oxidations (with the corresponding 1+ reductions seen in subsequent reductive cycles, see Figure 6 for examples). These 1H

Tying a knot between crown ethers and porphyrins

• Maksym Matviyishyn and
• Bartosz Szyszko

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 1630–1650, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.120

• with trifluoroacetic acid (TFA) resulted in a cationic 40-H+. Cyclic voltammetry and differential pulse voltammetry were performed to investigate the electrochemical properties of 40-H+. The cation exhibited two reversible oxidations and two to three reductions. The redox potentials were influenced by

• pyridine ring and two thiophenes inverted and fused with two pyrrole nitrogen atoms. The macrocycles exhibited facile oxidations, indicating their electron-rich nature, and demonstrated selective sensing of Cu2+ ions. Conclusion and Outlook The construction of new macrocycles has been a driving force for

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

• applications, the most marked difference between the two types of processes, however, is that conPET is more appropriate for redox-neutral reactions, whereas PEC is more appropriate for net oxidations or reductions due to the radical polar crossover nature of its reactivity [30][31]. In the former, the neutral

Honeycomb reactor: a promising device for streamlining aerobic oxidation under continuous-flow conditions

• Masahiro Hosoya,
• Yusuke Saito and
• Yousuke Horiuchi

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 752–763, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.55

• , their harsh and hazardous conditions impede their application to complex molecules. Thus, a variety of mild and chemoselective oxidations have been developed, including Swern oxidation [5], tetrapropylammonium perruthenate (TPAP) oxidation [6], Pinnick oxidation [7], and 2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidinyl-1

Synthesis and reactivity of azole-based iodazinium salts

• Thomas J. Kuczmera,
• Annalena Dietz,
• Andreas Boelke and
• Boris J. Nachtsheim

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 317–324, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.27

• phenotellurazine 7c were isolated in lower yields of 16% and 6%, likely due to undesired oxidations of selenium and tellurium [38]. Substitutions with nitrogen nucleophiles were performed, giving the N-phenylphenazine 8 in 26% yield [39][40] and the N-tosyl derivative 9 in 18% yield [41]. Anion exchange reactions

1,4-Dithianes: attractive C2-building blocks for the synthesis of complex molecular architectures

• Bram Ryckaert,
• Ellen Demeyere,
• Frederick Degroote,
• Hilde Janssens and
• Johan M. Winne

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 115–132, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.12

• excess of a perbenzoic acid, as shown for the oxidation of 6 to 7 [33][34]. Partial oxidations are also possible, but lead to mixtures of sulfoxides, including cis- and trans-sulfoxide stereoisomers (see also chapter 6). For a more detailed and extensive discussion of the synthesis of 1,4-dithiin

Inline purification in continuous flow synthesis – opportunities and challenges

• Jorge García-Lacuna and
• Marcus Baumann

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2022, 18, 1720–1740, doi:10.3762/bjoc.18.182

• prolonged periods of use that would impede the overall product quality. To solve the scalability problem, larger Zaiput membrane separators are available, however, reports of their successful implementation are so far very scarce. These larger systems were however successfully applied in biphasic oxidations

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

• , organocatalysis by the modulation of redox properties of reagents has much in common with redox-neutral organocatalysis. With the exception of free-radical processes, the distinguishing feature of these organocatalyzed oxidations frequently lies in the involvement of peroxides as O-nucleophiles or O-electrophiles

• cyclization affording the final product. Similarly, the dioxygenation of vinylarenes by diols was realized affording 1,4-dioxaheterocycles [112] (Scheme 21B). Triarylimidazoles have found similar applications as mediators for electrochemical oxidations [113] (Scheme 22). The reaction was suggested to proceed

• application as redox-catalysts [124][125] or photoredox catalysts [30][31] for selective oxidations and also as stoichiometric oxidants [126]. Electron-withdrawing groups are used to increase oxidative properties, the most known examples are 2,3-dichloro-5,6-dicyano-1,4-benzoquinone (DDQ) [126] and 2,3,5,6

Vicinal ketoesters – key intermediates in the total synthesis of natural products

• Marc Paul Beller and
• Ulrich Koert

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2022, 18, 1236–1248, doi:10.3762/bjoc.18.129

• , Scheme 6) [15]. Through a series of finely tuned CH oxidations, cedrol (31) was converted to the lactone 32. In a single step, using Riley oxidation conditions, the methyl ketone moiety was transferred to the α-ketoester 33. Reduction, lactonization, and elimination gave the ketoesters-derived enol 34

Enzymes in biosynthesis

• Jeroen S. Dickschat

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2022, 18, 1131–1132, doi:10.3762/bjoc.18.116

• products, nature has evolved a large number of enzyme classes for more specific transformations, including cytochromes P450 or α-ketoglutarate-dependent dioxygenases for late-stage oxidations and transferases for the attachment of sugar units, acyl, or methyl groups. Moreover, some enzymes can catalyze

First example of organocatalysis by cathodic N-heterocyclic carbene generation and accumulation using a divided electrochemical flow cell

• Daniele Rocco,
• Ana A. Folgueiras-Amador,
• Richard C. D. Brown and
• Marta Feroci

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2022, 18, 979–990, doi:10.3762/bjoc.18.98

• the electrodes so that lower concentrations of supporting electrolytes are needed to provide sufficient conductivity [28]. Applications of flow electrochemistry reported in the literature are mainly devoted to anodic oxidations, carried out in undivided cells, in which the counter electrode reaction

Introducing a new 7-ring fused diindenone-dithieno[3,2-b:2',3'-d]thiophene unit as a promising component for organic semiconductor materials

• Valentin H. K. Fell,
• Joseph Cameron,
• Alexander L. Kanibolotsky,
• Eman J. Hussien and
• Peter J. Skabara

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2022, 18, 944–955, doi:10.3762/bjoc.18.94

• , compound 6 features a quinoidal antiaromatic [10] structure. Antiaromaticity is reported to further decrease the energy gap. The electron-rich dithiole units provide an extended tetrathiafulvalene structure, leading to compound 7 exhibiting two reversible one-electron oxidations [25]. Fused thiophenes have

• more negative. This can be attributed to the presence of the electron-withdrawing keto groups [3][20]. In contrast to compounds 2–4, which showed poor reversibility for oxidation and reduction, EtH-T-DI-DTT shows excellent electrochemical stability. Two sequential reversible oxidations can be seen in

• two sequential reversible oxidations and two sequential reversible reduction waves. UV–vis spectroelectrochemistry reveals the absorption profiles of the dications and dianions as highly delocalised intermediate charged states. EtH-T-DI-DTT is readily soluble in organic solvents due to the ethylhexyl

Synthesis of odorants in flow and their applications in perfumery

• Merlin Kleoff,
• Paul Kiler and
• Philipp Heretsch

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2022, 18, 754–768, doi:10.3762/bjoc.18.76

• molecules, to macrocyclic musks with higher molar masses and boiling points. In flow, photocatalyzed oxidations with molecular oxygen proceed in higher yields and with shorter reaction times, as it has been used for the synthesis of, e.g., phthalide (50). In contrast, when ethylene is formed in a ring