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

Advances in the use of metal-free tetrapyrrolic macrocycles as catalysts

• Mandeep K. Chahal

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 3085–3112, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.257

• activates the Cu–Cl bond via chloride···calixpyrrole (N–H···Cl) hydrogen-bonding interactions toward the formation of the nitrene intermediate from chloramine-T (NaCl=NTs). Additionally, calix[4]pyrrole served as a phase-transfer catalyst in this reaction. Since chloramine-T had low solubility in

Catalysing (organo-)catalysis: Trends in the application of machine learning to enantioselective organocatalysis

• Stefan P. Schmid,
• Leon Schlosser,
• Frank Glorius and
• Kjell Jorner

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 2280–2304, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.196

• phase transfer catalyst and an arylboronic acid [97] (Figure 7). After a systematic data set design involving eight phosphoric acids and eight boronic acids, the authors observed breaks in linearity of the model of enantioinduction for some catalyst combinations. Further experiments, such as non-linear

Diastereoselective synthesis of highly substituted cyclohexanones and tetrahydrochromene-4-ones via conjugate addition of curcumins to arylidenemalonates

• Deepa Nair,
• Abhishek Tiwari,
• Banamali Laha and
• Irishi N. N. Namboothiri

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 2016–2023, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.177

• from curcumins and arylidenemalonates is reported. This strategy works in the presence of aqueous KOH using TBAB as a suitable phase transfer catalyst at room temperature. The functionalized cyclohexanones are formed as major products in moderate to excellent yields with complete diastereoselectivity

• base (KOH) and a phase-transfer catalyst (PTC) in a biphasic medium (toluene–H2O) at room temperature, leading to highly functionalized cyclohexanones and tetrahydrochromenones as major and minor products, respectively, in moderate to high yield and excellent diastereoselectivity. Results and

• Discussion Initially, the reaction of 1a with 2a was carried out with 3.0 equiv of aq KOH as base and toluene as a solvent in the presence of 20 mol % tetrabutylammonium bromide (TBAB) as a phase-transfer catalyst at room temperature for 24 h (Table 1, entry 1). To our delight, the formation of double

Benzylic C(sp³)–H fluorination

• Alexander P. Atkins,
• Alice C. Dean and
• Alastair J. J. Lennox

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 1527–1547, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.137

• secondary and tertiary substrates too. In 2012, Lectka reported a fluorination of mostly aliphatic C–H bonds that used a molecularly defined copper catalyst with a bis imine ligand, along with co-catalytic N-hydroxyphthalimide and a phase-transfer catalyst [51]. Although only a few benzylic substrates were

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

• -transfer catalyst in the presence of KOH as the base. Canipelle et al. [28] put forward an improved Cannizzaro disproportionation of 4-biphenylcarboxaldehyde into the corresponding alcohol and carboxylic acid products employing cyclodextrins as the phase-transfer agent. A Cannizzaro desymmetrization

• different phase-transfer reagents and catalysts such as benzyltriethylammonium chloride, tetrabutylammonium bromide and many others have had profound impacts on the Cannizzaro reaction. Entezari and Shameli [27] studied the effect of an ultrasonic wave on the Cannizzaro reaction catalyzed by a phase

Advancements in hydrochlorination of alkenes

• Daniel S. Müller

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 787–814, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.72

• hydrochlorination report [73]. Although seemingly unbelievable, the reasons for this delayed progress will become apparent in the subsequent discussion. Rolla introduced a noteworthy enhancement by incorporating 10 mol % of tributylhexadecylphosphonium bromide (TBHDPB; CAS: 14937-45-2) as a phase-transfer catalyst

• , yielding 4 with 90% yield and 99% conversion. A drawback of the Rolla protocol is the cost associated with the phase-transfer catalyst, and that the crude mixture requires purification through distillation or column chromatography. Another inconvenience is the high reaction temperature which limits the

• . The acridinium ion 161 now takes on the additional role of a phase-transfer catalyst, facilitating the transport of the chloride ion into the lipophilic alkene phase. Subsequently, under irradiation with blue LEDs, the acridinium cation 161 and the chloride anion engage in a single-electron-transfer

Synthesis of ether lipids: natural compounds and analogues

• Marco Antônio G. B. Gomes,
• Alicia Bauduin,
• Chloé Le Roux,
• Romain Fouinneteau,
• Wilfried Berthe,
• Mathieu Berchel,
• Hélène Couthon and
• Paul-Alain Jaffrès

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 1299–1369, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.96

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

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

• -workers demonstrated an enantioselective aza-Friedel–Crafts reaction between indoles 4 and isatin-derived ketimines 49. A chiral phase transfer catalyst O3 derived from urea assisted this organic transformation featuring a C3–H bond functionalization of indoles. Different protecting groups for the imine

• benzothiazolimines. Thiourea-catalyzed reaction between β-naphthol and isatin-derived ketamine. Quinine-derived molecule as catalyst. Cinchona alkaloid as catalyst. aza-Friedel–Crafts reaction by phase transfer catalyst. Disulfonamide-catalyzed reaction. Heterogenous thiourea-catalyzed aza-Friedel–Crafts reaction

Transition-metal-catalyzed domino reactions of strained bicyclic alkenes

• Austin Pounder,
• Eric Neufeld,
• Peter Myler and
• William Tam

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 487–540, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.38

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

• of alcohols using a phase transfer catalyst (PTC) [55]. In a scale-up run, a three-stage counter-current cascade was used downstream of the first separation to remove the PTC (Scheme 4). In this scenario more than 90% of the phase transfer catalyst was separated from the phase containing the desired

• system for purifications of an immobilized enzyme-based reaction. Redrawn from [54]. Countercurrent L–L purification using large Zaiput membranes in the presence of a phase transfer catalyst (PTC). Redrawn from [55]. General scheme of a telescoped flow process using L–L separators. Example of phase

Preparation of β-cyclodextrin-based dimers with selectively methylated rims and their use for solubilization of tetracene

• Konstantin Lebedinskiy,
• Volodymyr Lobaz and
• Jindřich Jindřich

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2022, 18, 1596–1606, doi:10.3762/bjoc.18.170

• undermethylated products regardless of the reaction time or the amount of methyl iodide added. In the literature [25], this problem is solved by using methyltriphenylphosphine bromide as a phase-transfer catalyst, and it has also worked in our reaction. Refluxing in NH4F methanol solution was chosen to cleave the

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

• ) [102]. Another interesting approach to menadione epoxidation is the use of a phase-transfer catalyst (PTC). Ooi and co-workers studied the epoxidation of menadione (10) and other carbonylated substrates using tetrabutylammonium bromide (TBAB) as catalyst and the optimized reaction conditions involved

Recent advances in organocatalytic asymmetric aza-Michael reactions of amines and amides

• Pratibha Sharma,
• Raakhi Gupta and
• Raj K. Bansal

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2021, 17, 2585–2610, doi:10.3762/bjoc.17.173

• cinchona alkaloid-derived quaternary ammonium salts (cat. 55) as the phase-transfer catalyst. The products were obtained in high yields (53–93%) with high enantioselectivities (40–76% ee) (Table 12) [46]. Lebrun et al. developed a new method to synthesize optically active isoindolinones via asymmetric

• synthesis of dihydro-β-carbolines. Asymmetric aza-Michael synthesis of N-substituted 2-pyridones. Asymmetric aza-Michael–Henry cascade reaction. Asymmetric aza-Michael addition for the formation of (S)-(−)-pyrazoline. Asymmetric aza-Michael addition reaction catalyzed by phase-transfer catalyst. Asymmetric

Base-free enantioselective S_N2 alkylation of 2-oxindoles via bifunctional phase-transfer catalysis

• Mili Litvajova,
• Emiliano Sorrentino,
• Brendan Twamley and
• Stephen J. Connon

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2021, 17, 2287–2294, doi:10.3762/bjoc.17.146

• reactive centre dramatically increases the acidity at this position and, in preliminary studies, we found that under biphasic basic conditions 2-oxindole 5 was undergoing alkylation also in the absence of a phase-transfer catalyst (not ideal when designing a catalytic enantioselective process). Despite

• investigating the effects of different solvents, bases and buffer systems, in preliminary experiments we were not able to prevent the non-catalysed benzylation of substrate 5; nevertheless, the enantioselective alkylation of 5 with benzyl bromide in the presence of a phase-transfer catalyst was attempted. This

• product was not observed in the absence of a phase-transfer catalyst after a prolonged reaction time of 504 hours (see Supporting Information File 1). With this new set of conditions in hand, a rational catalyst design process commenced, aimed at improving the selectivity of the base-free SN2 alkylation

Development of N-F fluorinating agents and their fluorinations: Historical perspective

• Teruo Umemoto,
• Yuhao Yang and
• Gerald B. Hammond

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2021, 17, 1752–1813, doi:10.3762/bjoc.17.123

Beyond ribose and phosphate: Selected nucleic acid modifications for structure–function investigations and therapeutic applications

• Christopher Liczner,
• Kieran Duke,
• Gabrielle Juneau,
• Martin Egli and
• Christopher J. Wilds

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2021, 17, 908–931, doi:10.3762/bjoc.17.76

• 3'-OH with an acetyl group gave the fully protected intermediate [211]. Treatment of this intermediate with m-CPBA in the presence of a phase-transfer catalyst in acidic medium gave the resulting 5'-OH compound [211]. The authors reported no transfer of the 2'-TBDMS group onto the 5'-OH, however

Synthetic reactions driven by electron-donor–acceptor (EDA) complexes

• Zhonglie Yang,
• Yutong Liu,
• Kun Cao,
• Xiaobin Zhang,
• Hezhong Jiang and
• Jiahong Li

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2021, 17, 771–799, doi:10.3762/bjoc.17.67

• ] designed a reaction, with indanone derivatives 65 and perfluorohexyl iodide (66) as substrates and a phase-transfer catalyst (PTC) to give perfluoroalkylation product 67 under white-light irradiation (Scheme 23). A variety of electron-withdrawing substituents on the aromatic ring of 65 were well tolerated

• ; however, the presence of electron-donating substituents lowered the reactivity due to a negative impact on the EDA complex formation and led to a low yield. It is worth noting that the phase-transfer catalyst employed in this experiment is a suitable donor for the photosensitive EDA complex while at the

The preparation and properties of 1,1-difluorocyclopropane derivatives

• Kymbat S. Adekenova,
• Peter B. Wyatt and
• Sergazy M. Adekenov

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2021, 17, 245–272, doi:10.3762/bjoc.17.25

• and chloroform in an aqueous 40% NaOH solution using the phase-transfer catalyst benzyltriethylammonium chloride (Scheme 28) [70][71]. Although difluorocarbene is not involved in the cyclopropanation step, this approach does employ dichlorocarbene. 1.4 Transformation of functional groups gem

Convenient access to pyrrolidin-3-ylphosphonic acids and tetrahydro-2H-pyran-3-ylphosphonates with multiple contiguous stereocenters from nonracemic adducts of a Ni(II)-catalyzed Michael reaction

• Alexander N. Reznikov,
• Dmitry S. Nikerov,
• Anastasiya E. Sibiryakova,
• Victor B. Rybakov,
• Evgeniy V. Golovin and
• Yuri N. Klimochkin

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 2073–2079, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.174

• to get the best yield (Table 1, entry 9). Lower yields and dr values for compound 13a were obtained when 18-crown-6 was used as the phase-transfer catalyst (Table 1, entries 10–12). With the optimized reaction conditions in hand, the transformation was studied with a series of phosphonates and

Recent applications of porphyrins as photocatalysts in organic synthesis: batch and continuous flow approaches

• Rodrigo Costa e Silva,
• Luely Oliveira da Silva,
• Aloisio de Andrade Bartolomeu,
• Timothy John Brocksom and
• Kleber Thiago de Oliveira

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 917–955, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.83

• 96:4), but low dr (up to 66:33) (Scheme 40) [90]. Another relevant example has been described by Meng and co-workers with the synthesis of α-hydroxy-β-keto esters using TPP, a visible-light source, and a phase-transfer catalyst (PTC) as enantio-catalyst [91]. They reported the preparation of indanone

Preparation of 2-phospholene oxides by the isomerization of 3-phospholene oxides

• Péter Bagi,
• Réka Herbay,
• Nikolett Péczka,
• Zoltán Mucsi,
• István Timári and
• György Keglevich

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 818–832, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.75

• as a model compound for the alkyl derivatives. The isomerization of these two model compounds (1a and 1h) was tested in the presence of several inorganic bases, such as Na2CO3, K2CO3, Cs2CO3, NaOH and NaOEt in toluene, DMF or DMSO, with or without a phase transfer catalyst. The results indicated that

Recent advances in transition-metal-catalyzed incorporation of fluorine-containing groups

• Xiaowei Li,
• Xiaolin Shi,
• Xiangqian Li and
• Dayong Shi

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2019, 15, 2213–2270, doi:10.3762/bjoc.15.218

• radical precursor N-hydroxyphthalimide (NHPI), an anionic phase-transfer catalyst (KB(C6F5)4), and a Cu(I)-bisimine complex, to give the corresponding monofluorinated product (Scheme 25). One year later, Weng and co-workers [68] synthesized and characterized a new copper(I) fluoride complex ligated by a

A heteroditopic macrocycle as organocatalytic nanoreactor for pyrroloacridinone synthesis in water

• Piyali Sarkar,
• Sayan Sarkar and
• Pradyut Ghosh

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2019, 15, 1505–1514, doi:10.3762/bjoc.15.152

• the product was detected when the reaction was carried out in ethanol/water 1:1 (Table 1, entry 12). Even when repeating the reaction in the presence of the phase-transfer catalyst, poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) no mentionable yield of product was observed (Table 1, entries 13 and 14). The subsequent