Synthesis and uranyl(VI) extraction performance of a calix[4]pyrrole–tetrahydroxamic acid receptor

• Sara Karnib,
• Rana Baydoun,
• Wissam Zaidan,
• Nancy AlHaddad,
• Omar El Samad,
• Bilal Nsouli,
• Francine Cazier-Dennin and
• Pierre-Edouard Danjou

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2026, 22, 486–494, doi:10.3762/bjoc.22.36

• %) between pH 4 and 8, with reduced uptake outside this range [68]. Although hydroxamic acids typically have pKa values of 7–9 [69], supramolecular systems bearing these groups do not exhibit uniform uranyl extraction behavior under identical pH conditions. Consequently, some systems achieve maximum

• deprotonation. The coordination of the hydroxamic acid groups to the uranyl cation stabilizes the deprotonated hydroxamate form, effectively lowering the apparent pKa and enabling strong binding even at low pH [33]. It is important to mention that the formation of the stable 5-membered chelate between the

Dialkylaminoalkylation of β-ketosulfones via ring-opening of 3-sulfonylpyrrolidines

• Evgeny M. Buev,
• Alexander V. Pavlushin,
• Vladimir S. Moshkin and
• Vyacheslav Y. Sosnovskikh

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2026, 22, 383–389, doi:10.3762/bjoc.22.26

• of pKa 12–17 (in DMSO) [37]. Considering that the pKa of 1-phenyl-2-(phenylsulfonyl)ethan-1-one 1 is close to that interval (pKa 11.4, DMSO) we estimated its smooth incorporation in the process. Nevertheless, previously developed conditions for the pyrrolidination reaction provided insufficient

Electrosynthetic access to unsymmetrical oxaza[8]helicenes with high chiral stability and strong circularly polarized luminescence (CPL)

• Tin Zar Aye,
• Rubal Sharma,
• Muthu Karuppasamy,
• Daiya Suzuki,
• Haruka Nakajima,
• Yoshitane Imai,
• Mitsuhiro Arisawa,
• Mohamed S. H. Salem and
• Shinobu Takizawa

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2026, 22, 372–382, doi:10.3762/bjoc.22.25

• , enabling regioselective intermolecular coupling with 4. While a Scholl-type coupling-first scenario cannot be ruled out, the computed acidity of [3]·+ (pKa ≈ −5.2) together with the more spin-density localization in Int-I supports a deprotonation-first, neutral-radical pathway, consistent with related

• the pKa of [3]·+ radical cation and spin density of neutral radical intermediate Int-I (optimized at the UB3LYP/6-31G+(d,p) level of theory with IEPCM model as solvation of DCM. Grimme’s dispersion with the original D3 damping function was applied as empirical dispersion correction to the optimized

Improved synthesis and physicochemical characterization of the selective serotonin 2A receptor agonist 25CN-NBOH

• Adrian G. Rossebø,
• Hannah G. Kolberg,
• Anders E. Tønder,
• Louise Kjaerulff,
• Poul Erik Hansen,
• Karla A. Frydenvang,
• Jesper Østergaard and
• Jesper L. Kristensen

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2026, 22, 175–184, doi:10.3762/bjoc.22.11

• aqueous solutions of 1·HCl may be prepared and stored well in advance of any application or investigation. Subsequently, the apparent pKa values (concentration-based) for 1 were determined to be 8.4 ± 0.1 and 10.7 ± 0.1 for the protonated amine and phenol, respectively, and the calculated pH-dependent

• be larger [22]. Since the IMHB in 1 is only slightly weaker than that found in some flavonoids, it is likely strong enough to persist even in aqueous media [23][24]. Based on the measured pKa values, at pH 7.4 approximately 10% of 1 is present in the neutral form. Combined with evidence from the

• the polar nature of this functional group. Based on computationally predicted and experimentally determined secondary deuterium isotope effects, we pinpointed the presence of an IMHB in the neutral form of 1, wherein the phenol proton interacts with the lone pair on the secondary amine. The pKa values

A new synthesis of Tyrian purple (6,6’-dibromoindigo) and its corresponding sulfonate salts

• Holly Helmers,
• Mark Horton,
• Julie Concepcion,
• Jeffrey Bjorklund and
• Nicholas C. Boaz

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2026, 22, 167–174, doi:10.3762/bjoc.22.10

• and 508 nm suggest only two species are in solution. Plotting absorbance versus pH reveals a pKa value of 11.3 ± 0.05 (Supporting Information File 1, Figure S25). Additional increases in pH lead to a decrease in the absorbance at 755 nm and a growing absorbance at 461 nm indicating a second

• deprotonation. Examining the absorbance at 755 nm versus pH yields a second pKa value at 13.0 ± 0.11 (Supporting Information File 1, Figure S26). As shown in Figure 1B, the corresponding disulfonate of 6,6’-dibromoindigo, 9, shows similar UV–vis spectra to compound 10. Specifically, 9 shows a λmax at 606 nm and

• . Plotting absorbance versus pH yields a pKa value of 11.9 ± 0.05 (Supporting Information File 1, Figure S17). Above a pH of 12.18, a peak at 448 nm grows while the peak at 749 nm decreases (Supporting Information File 1, Figure S18). The changes in the visible spectra of 9 above a pH of 12.18 no longer

Reactivity umpolung of the cycloheptatriene core in hexa(methoxycarbonyl)cycloheptatriene

• Dmitry N. Platonov,
• Alexander Yu. Belyy,
• Rinat F. Salikov,
• Kirill S. Erokhin and
• Yury V. Tomilov

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2026, 22, 64–70, doi:10.3762/bjoc.22.2

• (methoxycarbonyl)cycloheptatriene 3 (pKa(DMSO) = 8.65) [20][21] with potassium tert-butoxide and subjected to reactions with electrophilic reagents. The reactions gave two primary products 4 and 5 (Scheme 1) through an attack to either the most available i-position or the most nucleophilic but sterically hindered

Adaptive experimentation and optimization in organic chemistry

• Artur M. Schweidtmann and
• Philippe Schwaller

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 2367–2368, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.180

• ]. However, the contributions in the thematic issue also reveal an important insight: while automation and AI are powerful tools, human chemical intuition remains invaluable. The work of Borup et al. on pKa prediction illustrates how machine learning can complement rather than replace expert knowledge [12

Thiadiazino-indole, thiadiazino-carbazole and benzothiadiazino-carbazole dioxides: synthesis, physicochemical and early ADME characterization of representatives of new tri-, tetra- and pentacyclic ring systems and their intermediates

• Gyöngyvér Pusztai,
• László Poszávácz,
• Anna Vincze,
• András Marton,
• Ahmed Qasim Abdulhussein,
• Judit Halász,
• András Dancsó,
• Gyula Simig,
• György Tibor Balogh and
• Balázs Volk

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 2220–2233, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.169

• physicochemical and early ADME characterization study, in the framework of which logP, pKa and logk values were calculated. Following that, kinetic solubility and in vitro gastrointestinal membrane-specific permeability measurements were carried out to assess the lead-likeness of the compounds. Subsequently, the

• surface area (TPSA) values fell in a desirable range (40–90 Å2) (see the extended table on physicochemical parameters in Supporting Information File 1, Table S1). Based on their pKa values, all compounds are non-ionizable or slightly basic. Kinetic solubility was considered good above 30 µM, moderate

Aryl iodane-induced cascade arylation–1,2-silyl shift–heterocyclization of propargylsilanes under copper catalysis

• Rasma Kroņkalne,
• Rūdolfs Beļaunieks,
• Armands Sebris,
• Anatoly Mishnev and
• Māris Turks

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 1984–1994, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.154

• -butyldimethylsilyl)hex-5-yn-1-yl)-N-phenylaniline (15). Thus, acylamides were found to have optimal pKa and nucleophilicity to react according to our desired pathway (Scheme 4). For the heterocyclization mechanism under arylating conditions, we propose a Cu(I/III) catalyzed pathway (Scheme 5). Firstly, the copper(I

Photoswitches beyond azobenzene: a beginner’s guide

• Michela Marcon,
• Christoph Haag and
• Burkhard König

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 1808–1853, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.143

pH-Controlled isomerization kinetics of ortho-disubstituted benzamidines: E/Z isomerism and axial chirality

• Ryota Kimura,
• Satoshi Ichikawa and
• Akira Katsuyama

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 1568–1576, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.120

• –N rotation and C–N/C–C rotation by adjusting the pH of the solvent and the pKa of the amidine. Herein, we report our findings on the structural properties of an ortho-disubstituted benzamidine. Similar to DiBA, an ortho-disubstituted benzamidine has two types of stereoisomers: E/Z isomers arising

• calculated pKa values of the amidines are also shown in Table 1. As a result, the C–N isomerization was accelerated by an electron-withdrawing chloro substituent, and electron-donating substituents (Me, OMe and NMe2 groups) decreased the isomerization rate. Figure 7a illustrates the effect of the electronic

• the rotational barrier of the C–N/C–C concerted rotation is higher than that of C–N rotation. This finding is consistent with the calculated pKa of 10.6 for amidine 1, indicating that racemization is minimal under the conditions where most of the amidine remains in its protonated form. As pH was

Azobenzene protonation as a tool for temperature sensing

• Antti Siiskonen,
• Sami Vesamäki and
• Arri Priimagi

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 1528–1534, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.115

• spectral changes caused by azobenzene protonation is a well-established concept, with methyl orange-based pH indicators dating back to the late 1800s [22]. Early studies primarily focused on characterizing these spectral changes, determining pKa values, and elucidating the protonation mechanism of

Substituent effects in N-acetylated phenylazopyrazole photoswitches

• Radek Tovtik,
• Dennis Marzin,
• Pia Weigel,
• Stefano Crespi and
• Nadja A. Simeth

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 830–838, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.66

• classical azobenzenes. Heterocyclic rings offer, for example, enhanced polarity, electron pairs for metal coordination [27], better water-solubility, and variable pKa [28][29]. Special attention has been given to 5-membered N-heterocyclic azobenzenes, which not only maintain the azobenzenes properties but

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

• sugar and phosphorus, e.g., 82, Figure 10) are of interest as non-hydrolysable isosteres, but a better match in terms of pKa and C–C–P angle is achieved with mono- or difluorophosphonates (e.g., 83–85, Figure 10) [143][144]. In the case of the monofluorophosphonates, conformational effects can also be

• including protein kinase A (PKA). Fluorination was investigated as a strategy for altering the conformation of the central seven-membered nitrogen heterocycle, and hence possibly improving the selectivity for PKCε. A variety of fluorination patterns were investigated (100–103, Figure 11), which were found

• to induce subtly different conformations of the seven-membered ring through an interplay of the conformational influences I–III (Figure 11) and sterics. Promisingly, these different shapes were found to successfully alter the PKCε/PKA selectivity, with one analogue (100) displaying higher potency and

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

• phosphoramidite ligands significantly advanced this field, with contributions from numerous research groups including Hartwig, Helmchen, Carreira, Alexakis, and You [19]. In general, soft nucleophiles that typically possess conjugate acids with pKa values less than 25 have been utilized in most Pd and Ir

• nucleophiles 5 that have conjugate acids with pKa values greater than 25 such as organolithium, organomagnesium, organozinc, and organozirconium reagents. This crucial distinction effectively expanded the scope of allylic substitution reactions beyond traditional boundaries. The evolution of copper-catalyzed

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

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

• a size-selective space [105][126][129][130][132][134]. A key advantage is that these capsules have been made on multi-hundred-gram scales and can be recycled [132]. Additionally, control of structural or bound water by the capsule [105] and properties such as a lowered pKa inside [125] demonstrate a

• hydrophobic [160] products have been popular, including hydrolyses, ring openings, and rearrangements [22]. These reaction classes have been discussed [24][25][140]. Cavity-directed changes in ion-localization [161][162] and pKa are effective [37][107][163][164], and size-selectivity [36][165][166][167] and

• the cage framework to polarize adjacent aryl–hydrogen bonds in the ligands by enough to coordinate and activate substrates (Figure 5E) [190]. Here, the use of bulky counteranions reinforces the cationic cage interior, which is enhanced further by use of lower polarity solvents, and the pKa of confined

Synthesis of extended fluorinated tripeptides based on the tetrahydropyridazine scaffold

• Thierry Milcent,
• Pascal Retailleau,
• Benoit Crousse and
• Sandrine Ongeri

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 3174–3181, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.262

• groups (CF3 or CF2H) in organic molecules can modulate their physicochemical (pKa, lipophilicity), structural (additional hydrophobic and hydrogen-bond interactions), and biological properties (metabolic stability, membrane permeability) [14][15]. Alongside the very well-known CF3 group, the CF2H group

Surprising acidity for the methylene of 1,3-indenocorannulenes?

• Shi Liu,
• Märt Lõkov,
• Sofja Tshepelevitsh,
• Ivo Leito,
• Kim K. Baldridge and
• Jay S. Siegel

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 3144–3150, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.260

• of the first acidity constant (pKa) for BFC (27.6 in CH3CN) and FIC (27.8 in CH3CN) shows the methylene protons to be significantly more acidic than those in related cyclopentadiene (32 in CH3CN), indene (34 in CH3CN), or fluorene (37 in CH3CN) and comparable to the methine of 9

• -perfluorophenylfluorene (28.14 in CH3CN). This work reports quantitative pKa values of BFC and FIC, places those values in a broadened context of CpH-cognate hydrocarbon acidity and presents a Clar–Loschmidt graph perspective to help understand the “surprises”. Keywords: acidity; aromatic hydrocarbon; Clar sextet

• ; Loschmidt group element; molecular graph; Introduction A classic textbook tetrad linking hydrocarbon acidity to aromatic stabilization energy comprises cyclopentadiene (CpH), indene (InH), fluorene (FlH), and diphenylmethane (DPMH) [1][2], with pKa values in DMSO equal to 18 [3], 20.1 [3], 22.6 [3], and

Synthesis of fluorinated acid-functionalized, electron-rich nickel porphyrins

• Mike Brockmann,
• Jonas Lobbel,
• Lara Unterriker and
• Rainer Herges

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 2954–2958, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.248

• –CH2–(CF2)n–COOCH3) with triflate as leaving group in terminal position are easily accessible and versatile building blocks for attaching long chain acids (pKa 0–1) to substrates in Williamson ether-type reactions. Keywords: acid-functionalized porphyrin; electron-rich porphyrin; nickel porphyrin

• -triflated, perfluoroalkylated carboxylic acids 16, 17, and 18 are easily accessible and versatile building blocks for connecting long chain acids (pKa range between 0 and 1) to substrates in Williamson ether-type reactions. Synthesis of the starting materials 16, 17, and 18 for the subsequent Williamson

gem-Difluorovinyl and trifluorovinyl Michael acceptors in the synthesis of α,β-unsaturated fluorinated and nonfluorinated amides

• Monika Bilska-Markowska,
• Marcin Kaźmierczak,
• Wojciech Jankowski and
• Marcin Hoffmann

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 2946–2953, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.247

• , such a reaction pathway was absent for derivatives 11a–d, where the alpha-positioned proton exhibited a low pKa, favouring an easy elimination reaction. This is supported by the higher yields of products 12a–d compared to their 11a–d counterparts. The exclusive formation of E isomers in compounds 11a–d

Structure and thermal stability of phosphorus-iodonium ylids

• Andrew Greener,
• Stephen P. Argent,
• Coby J. Clarke and
• Miriam L. O’Duill

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 2931–2939, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.245

• Information File 1, Figure S6), the Kamlet–Taft hydrogen bond acceptor ability (β) (Supporting Information File 1, Figure S7) [37], the pKa of the conjugate acid HX (Figure S8), or the anion’s position (axial vs equatorial). The main stabilising factor we identified was the torsion angle φ between the

Investigation of a bimetallic terbium(III)/copper(II) chemosensor for the detection of aqueous hydrogen sulfide

• Parvathy Mini,
• Michael R. Grace,
• Genevieve H. Dennison and
• Kellie L. Tuck

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 2818–2826, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.237

• ). It was interesting to note that neither of the sulfur-containing compounds caused a remarkable increase in luminescence, especially lipoic acid and glutathione which contain an –S–S (pKa = 4.7) and –SH (pKa = 9.65) group respectively similar to HS−(aq) (pKa = 6.9). This demonstrates that the sensors

C–C Coupling in sterically demanding porphyrin environments

• Liam Cribbin,
• Brendan Twamley,
• Nicolae Buga,
• John E. O’ Brien,
• Raphael Bühler,
• Roland A. Fischer and
• Mathias O. Senge

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 2784–2798, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.234

• stability than boronic acids and other employed esters as the four methyl groups protect the boron center from attack of water [44][45], preventing protodeboronation from the hydrolysis route. However, protodeboronation can be complex when it comes to pKa considerations, for example, 3,5

• -dinitrophenylboronic acid has a marginally lower pKa than pentafluorophenyl boronic acid [46]; however, it undergoes protodeboronation, several orders of magnitude slower [47]. The synthesis of porphyrin 31 with a benzothiophene moiety, proved challenging (Table 1, entries 14–19). Use of a microwave-assisted procedure

HFIP as a versatile solvent in resorcin[n]arene synthesis

• Hormoz Khosravi,
• Valeria Stevens and
• Raúl Hernández Sánchez

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 2469–2475, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.211

• ][75]. Variations in catalyst nature between a Brønsted and Lewis acid, and the acid’s pKa (Table 1, entries 6–8) did not improve the yield compared to HCl (Table 1, entry 4). Last, further exploration of the conditions using HFIP/HCl revealed that the reaction progress achieves its maximum conversion