Formaldehyde surrogates in multicomponent reactions

• Cecilia I. Attorresi,
• Javier A. Ramírez and
• Bernhard Westermann

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 564–595, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.45

• products (products 2 to 5, Scheme 4). In other cases, under acidic and thermal conditions, DMSO can undergo a Pummerer-type process in which, upon activation of the sulfoxide oxygen, a reactive methyl(methylene)sulfonium ion (MMS) is formed (Scheme 5) that acts as an active electrophile. Depending on the

• traps the sulfonium ylide (Scheme 16). In an independent work, Mhaske et al. proposed an alternative methodology to furnish β-amino ketone 20a (Scheme 17), using DMSO as a formaldehyde surrogate but with activation via ammonium persulfate (APS), avoiding the use of transition-metal catalysis [51]. In

Recent advances in transition-metal-free arylation reactions involving hypervalent iodine salts

• Ritu Mamgain,
• Kokila Sakthivel and
• Fateh V. Singh

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 2891–2920, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.243

The Groebke–Blackburn–Bienaymé reaction in its maturity: innovation and improvements since its 21st birthday (2019–2023)

• Cristina Martini,
• Muhammad Idham Darussalam Mardjan and
• Andrea Basso

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 1839–1879, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.162

• traditional metal catalysts, the authors synthetized 14 GBB adducts with yields ranging from 25% to 91% (compound 12 was obtained in 91% yield). In the same year, the authors also reported aryl sulfonium and selenonium salts as alternatives to the previously described catalysts [14]. These compounds displayed

Three-component N-alkenylation of azoles with alkynes and iodine(III) electrophile: synthesis of multisubstituted N-vinylazoles

• Jun Kikuchi,
• Roi Nakajima and
• Naohiko Yoshikai

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 891–897, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.79

• motif in bioactive compounds and the synthetic utility of its olefinic C=C bond. The most extensively explored approach to this transformation is the transition metal-catalyzed C–N coupling between azoles and vinylating agents, including vinyl halides [4], boronates [5], sulfonium salts [6][7][8], and

Nucleophilic functionalization of thianthrenium salts under basic conditions

• Xinting Fan,
• Duo Zhang,
• Xiangchuan Xiu,
• Bin Xu,
• Yu Yuan,
• Feng Chen and
• Pan Gao

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 257–263, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.26

• -free conditions. This strategy exhibits good functional-group tolerance, operational simplicity, and an extensive range of compatible substrates. Keywords: amination; functionalization of alcohol; metal-free; S-(alkyl)thianthrenium salts; thioetherification; Introduction Sulfonium salts [1][2][3][4

• ][5][6][7][8][9][10] have been extensively utilized as readily accessible synthetic building blocks in organic synthesis, particularly in the ipso-functionalization of C–S bonds. Of the sulfonium salts, organothianthrenium salts exhibit distinct structural properties and reactivities, thereby offering

• ][20]. On the other hand, sulfonium salts have emerged as appealing sources of aryl radicals for a wide range of transformations aimed at creating novel chemical bonds driven by their distinctive structural attributes and chemical tendencies (Scheme 1a) [9][21][22][23][24][25][26]. In addition to late

N-Sulfenylsuccinimide/phthalimide: an alternative sulfenylating reagent in organic transformations

• Fatemeh Doraghi,
• Seyedeh Pegah Aledavoud,
• Mehdi Ghanbarlou,
• Bagher Larijani and
• Mohammad Mahdavi

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 1471–1502, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.106

• important factors, and the commonly utilized chemicals include thiols [16][17][18], disulfides [19][20][21][22], sulfenyl halides [23][24][25], sulfonamides [26], sulfenate esters [27][28], and methyl(bismethylthio)sulfonium salts [29][30]. Among various organic molecules, aryl sulfides are recognized as

• (PIDA) and meta-chloroperbenzoic acid (m-CPBA) toward 3-sulfinylated and 3-sulfonylated product, respectively, were performed in this work. A plausible mechanism involves the treatment of 1 with BF3·Et2O toward cation I, which reacted with the C–C triple bond in 12 to give sulfonium intermediate II

• formation of three-membered cyclic sulfonium ion II followed by ring-opening of sulfonium ion and intramolecular cyclization. The use of a Lewis base/Brønsted acid catalysis system for the sulfenylation of aromatic substrates 4 was reported by Gustafson et al. (Scheme 55) [87]. In the method, catalyst P

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

• -haloalkylsulfide via a cyclic sulfonium intermediate, which then ring opens and eliminates the halide to give the unsaturated 1,4-dithiane ring. We have found this Parham ring expansion to be the most practical preparatory procedure for 2 on large scale [30]. Thus, a simple condensation of ethane-1,2-dithiol (10

• nucleophile to the putative sulfonium-type dithiin intermediates such as 134. It is noteworthy that these Pummerer rearrangement-generated sulfonium intermediates do not give the expected fully unsaturated dithiin rings, but can be captured by nucleophiles before elimination of a proton happens. Conclusion In

Strategies for the synthesis of brevipolides

• Yudhi D. Kurniawan and
• A'liyatur Rosyidah

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2021, 17, 2399–2416, doi:10.3762/bjoc.17.157

• epoxide using vinyl Grignard reagent followed by esterification with acrylic acid (35) proved to be inefficient due to low reproducibility and poor isolation of product 36. The strategy was altered by changing the terminal epoxide 34 to an allylic alcohol (95%) utilizing dimethyl sulfonium methylide

CF₃-substituted carbocations: underexploited intermediates with great potential in modern synthetic chemistry

• Anthony J. Fernandes,
• Armen Panossian,
• Bastien Michelet,
• Agnès Martin-Mingot,
• Frédéric R. Leroux and
• Sébastien Thibaudeau

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2021, 17, 343–378, doi:10.3762/bjoc.17.32

• )-substituted sulfonium cation). Analogous to thioacetals 204a, chloroalkylthio derivatives 207a–c, bearing an adjacent CF3 group, were also investigated [140]. It appeared that a sulfur-stabilized α-(trifluoromethyl)carbenium ion 208 can be generated from 207a by chloride abstraction following Lewis acid

• the electron-withdrawing CF3 group and the electron donor sulfur atom through a captodative effect. Further oxidative electron transfer produces α-(trifluoromethyl)-substituted sulfonium ion 206, leading to 204a,f after reacting with the solvent. α-(Trifluoromethyl)alkylcarbenium ions Hypothetical

Metal-free synthesis of biarenes via photoextrusion in di(tri)aryl phosphates

• Hisham Qrareya,
• Lorenzo Meazza,
• Stefano Protti and
• Maurizio Fagnoni

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 3008–3014, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.250

• Truce–Smiles rearrangement in aryl sulfonamides and aryl phenylsulfonates [44][45][46] or the [3,3]-sigmatropic rearrangement of sulfonium salts arising from the reaction of aryl sulfoxides and phenols [47]. To overcome this problem, the use of a metal catalyst (mainly Ni) was mandatory as reported for

Recent synthesis of thietanes

• Jiaxi Xu

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 1357–1410, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.116

• -thiopyrrolidin-2-one (338b, R = Me) initially generated a tricyclic fused thietane derivative (339b, R = Me), which gave rise to 2,5,6,7-tetrahydropyrrolizin-3-one 341 upon the treatment with dimethyl(methylthio)sulfonium tetrafluoroborate (DMTSF), or hexahydropyrrolizin-3-one 342 in the presence of Ra-Ni in

Photocatalysis with organic dyes: facile access to reactive intermediates for synthesis

• Stephanie G. E. Amos,
• Marion Garreau,
• Luca Buzzetti and
• Jerome Waser

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 1163–1187, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.103

• generation of aryl radicals. Although inaccessible to date, a two-step strategy was recently developed by the Procter group. They reported a one-pot organophotocatalytic strategy for the heteroarylation of nonprefunctionalized arenes (Scheme 15) [87]. First, a triaryl sulfonium salt 15.3 is generated from

Asymmetric synthesis of CF₂-functionalized aziridines by combined strong Brønsted acid catalysis

• Xing-Fa Tan,
• Fa-Guang Zhang and
• Jun-An Ma

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 638–644, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.60

• , and difluoromethyl vinyl sulfonium salts as the fluorinating partner en route to various CF2-substituted aziridines [27][28][29][30][31], and a general protocol to chiral CF2-aziridines remains an unsolved challenge. Thus, herein we report a diastereo- and enantioselective aza-Darzens reaction between

An overview of the cycloaddition chemistry of fulvenes and emerging applications

• Ellen Swan,
• Kirsten Platts and
• Anton Blencowe

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2019, 15, 2113–2132, doi:10.3762/bjoc.15.209

• be generated in situ from methyl(2-methylenecyclopropyl)(phenyl)sulfonium tetrafluoroborate (Scheme 13b). As pentafulvenes are the most commonly studied fulvenes, it follows that there is a great deal of literature surrounding their reactivity in cycloaddition reactions. Due to conjugation, they can

Unprecedented nucleophile-promoted 1,7-S or Se shift reactions under Pummerer reaction conditions of 4-alkenyl-3-sulfinylmethylpyrroles

• Takashi Go,
• Akane Morimatsu,
• Hiroaki Wasada,
• Genzoh Tanabe,
• Osamu Muraoka,
• Yoshiharu Sawada and
• Mitsuhiro Yoshimatsu

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2018, 14, 2722–2729, doi:10.3762/bjoc.14.250

• TFAA to form sulfonium salt 14, which is characterised by an intramolecular double bond [34][35]. A less substituted double bond easily approaches the sulfonium ion and undergoes an addition reaction to produce intermediate 15. The trifluoroacetate anion attacks the posterior side of the α-carbon of

• the sulfur atom. Bis(trifluoro)acetate 16 resulted from the opening of the ring is hydrolysed by TBAH to yield diol 17. Conversely, sterically hindered double bonds of 14 are not easily accessible to the sulfonium ion; therefore, the Pummerer intermediate α-thio carbenium ion 18 is generated through

• involves the transannular sulfonium intermediate 22, which is attacked by a hydroxide anion from the anti-direction. Both products, diols and azepinopyrroles, are obtained in a stereoselective manner. In order to confirm the reaction mechanism, we performed crossover experiments with arylthiol (Scheme 5

One-pot synthesis of epoxides from benzyl alcohols and aldehydes

• Edwin Alfonzo,
• Jesse W. L. Mendoza and
• Aaron B. Beeler

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2018, 14, 2308–2312, doi:10.3762/bjoc.14.205

• through in situ generation of sulfonium salts from benzyl alcohols and their subsequent deprotonation for use in Corey–Chaykovsky epoxidation of aldehydes. The generality of the method is exemplified by the synthesis of 34 epoxides that were made from an array of electronically and sterically varied

• for a general and operationally simple method to generate benzyl epoxides. One of the most powerful methods to access epoxides is through the Corey–Chaykovsky reaction [21] which uses sulfonium ylides and their subsequent reaction with carbonyl groups. This reaction has seen major advancement since

• its original disclosure, particular in the area of asymmetric synthesis [22][23][24]. Other notable advancements include the expansion of its scope by using organic bases and a one-pot oxidation/epoxidation sequence of benzyl alcohols with manganese dioxide and an exogenous sulfonium salt [25][26

β-Hydroxy sulfides and their syntheses

• Mokgethwa B. Marakalala,
• Edwin M. Mmutlane and
• Henok H. Kinfe

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2018, 14, 1668–1692, doi:10.3762/bjoc.14.143

• then attacks the electrophilic site of the disulfide to provide the sulfonium ion 92, which then undergoes regioselective ring opening to afford the 1,2-acetoxysulfide 91. The R2SCu(I)Ln that was produced in the previous step is oxidized to regenerate the active catalyst and a disulfide that is re

• liquid for up to four times without any loss of efficiency. The proposed mechanism of the reaction is depicted in Scheme 36 [70]. The reactive R2S+ that is generated from the reaction of the CuI catalyst and the disulfide reacts with the β-ketomethylene 94 to form sulfonium intermediate 96

• . Regioselective ring opening of the sulfonium ion then provides the β-hydroxy sulfide 95. The R2SCu(I)Ln generated in the reaction is oxidized to form the disulfide and regenerates the Cu(I)Ln catalyst. 3.3.4 Acetoxysulfenylation of alkenes using DIB/KI. Muangkaew et al. reported a convenient method for 1,2

Glycosylation reactions mediated by hypervalent iodine: application to the synthesis of nucleosides and carbohydrates

• Yuichi Yoshimura,
• Hideaki Wakamatsu,
• Yoshihiro Natori,
• Yukako Saito and
• Noriaki Minakawa

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2018, 14, 1595–1618, doi:10.3762/bjoc.14.137

• Minakawa and Matsuda’s synthesis described above. Nishizono considered that the difference between the stereoselectivities of the coupling reactions in methods A and B was caused by the existence of another reaction path of the sulfonium salt (38 or 39). In path b, the 4-thiosugar 41 was generated and

• catalyzed the intramolecular SN2 reaction of sulfur to form the epi-sulfonium ion 55, which proceeded only from the cis-isomer due to the steric requirement. The subsequent nucleophilic attack leaving the benzoate anion resulted in the formation of a ring-expanded product 56, which became a substrate of the

Atom-economical group-transfer reactions with hypervalent iodine compounds

• Andreas Boelke,
• Peter Finkbeiner and
• Boris J. Nachtsheim

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2018, 14, 1263–1280, doi:10.3762/bjoc.14.108

• substituted acrylamidines 35 (Scheme 19). The proposed reaction mechanism starts with the activation of DMSO (A) via the iodine(III) species 20b. Iodosoarene C is released under basic conditions, forming the sulfonium intermediate D. This intermediate reacts with the amidine 34 to give the sulfide E, which is

Rapid transformation of sulfinate salts into sulfonates promoted by a hypervalent iodine(III) reagent

• Elsa Deruer,
• Vincent Hamel,
• Samuel Blais and
• Sylvain Canesi

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2018, 14, 1203–1207, doi:10.3762/bjoc.14.101

• hypervalent iodine(III) reagent-mediated oxidation of sodium sulfinates has been developed. This transformation involves trapping reactive sulfonium species using alcohols. With additional optimization of the reaction conditions, the method appears extendable to other nucleophiles such as electron-rich

• aromatic systems or cyclic ethers through a ring opening pathway. Keywords: hypervalent iodine; oxidation; sulfinates; sulfonation; sulfonium; Introduction Over the past few decades, hypervalent iodine reagents [1][2][3][4] have emerged as versatile and environmentally benign substitutes for heavy metal

• sulfonyl chloride in the presence of a base to trap the hydrochloric acid byproduct. As an alternative method involving oxidation rather than chloride substitution, we envisaged generating an electrophilic sulfonium species through oxidation of a sulfinate salt [29] that would be subsequently trapped by

Stimuli-responsive oligonucleotides in prodrug-based approaches for gene silencing

• Françoise Debart,
• Christelle Dupouy and
• Jean-Jacques Vasseur

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2018, 14, 436–469, doi:10.3762/bjoc.14.32

• the 2’-O-tert-butyldithiomethyl-protecting group [18]. In the recent approach, the MDTM modification was obtained in excellent yield after conversion of the 2,4,6-trimethoxybenzylthiomethyl precursor group by treatment with dimethyl(methylthio)sulfonium tetrafluoroborate (DMTSF, Scheme 2). First, ONs

One-pot sequential synthesis of tetrasubstituted thiophenes via sulfur ylide-like intermediates

• Jun Ki Kim,
• Hwan Jung Lim,
• Kyung Chae Jeong and
• Seong Jun Park

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2018, 14, 243–252, doi:10.3762/bjoc.14.16

• those of others. Keywords: 5-(heterocyclic)thiophenes; one-pot sequential synthesis; sulfur ylide; tetrasubstituted thiophene; Introduction Since the discovery of stable sulfonium ylides 1 in 1930 [1] and the pioneering work of several research groups during the 1960s (2 and 3) [2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9

• ], these carbene precursors have been played an important role in organic chemistry [10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22]. As shown in Figure 1, sulfur(IV) and sulfur(VI) ylides are stable. The stability of sulfonium ylides is determined by the electron delocalization of the carbanionic

• reactions involving sulfonium and sulfoxonium ylides have been reported recently [26][27][28][29][30][31][32]. For example, Shen and co-workers reported the use of trifluoromethyl-substituted sulfonium ylide 5 in electrophilic trifluoromethylation reactions [33][34]. Moreover, Maulide and co-workers

Progress in copper-catalyzed trifluoromethylation

• Guan-bao Li,
• Chao Zhang,
• Chun Song and
• Yu-dao Ma

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2018, 14, 155–181, doi:10.3762/bjoc.14.11

• halides with traditional trifluoromethylation reagents and a trifluoromethyl-substituted sulfonium ylide as a new reagent The CuI-mediated cross-coupling protocol using TESCF3 was firstly reported by Urata and Fuchikami [11]. The proposed mechanism of this reaction was demonstrated in Scheme 1. But it was

• reagent, trifluoromethyl-substituted sulfonium ylide, which was prepared by a Rh-catalyzed carbenoid addition to trifluoromethyl thioether (Scheme 4). This process was conducted in dichloromethane at 40 °C for 4 h with a catalyst loading of 100 ppm. Moreover, this new reagent was easily scaled-up and

CF₃SO₂X (X = Na, Cl) as reagents for trifluoromethylation, trifluoromethylsulfenyl-, -sulfinyl- and -sulfonylation. Part 1: Use of CF₃SO₂Na

• Hélène Guyon,
• Hélène Chachignon and
• Dominique Cahard

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2017, 13, 2764–2799, doi:10.3762/bjoc.13.272

• , CF3H, as an ideal source of trifluoromethide offered new horizons for atom-economical, low-cost trifluoromethylation reactions. With regard to electrophilic CF3 donors, S-(trifluoromethyl)sulfonium salts developed by Yagupolskii and Umemoto and hypervalent iodine(III)-CF3 reagents developed by Togni

Conjugated nitrosoalkenes as Michael acceptors in carbon–carbon bond forming reactions: a review and perspective

• Yaroslav D. Boyko,
• Valentin S. Dorokhov,
• Alexey Yu. Sukhorukov and
• Sema L. Ioffe

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2017, 13, 2214–2234, doi:10.3762/bjoc.13.220

• heterocycles using nitrosoalkenes as intermediates. An early example is the reaction of sulfonium ylides 92 with α-halo ketoximes 1 leading to isoxazolines 93 reported by Bravo [11] and Gilchrist [83] (Scheme 35). The process is believed to proceed via the generation of a nitrosoalkene intermediate (NSA

• ) followed by a formal [4 + 1]-annulation reaction with ylide (tandem Michael addition/intramolecular nucleophilic substitution of dimethylsulfide by oximate anion in intermediate 94). The addition of sulfonium ylides to nitrosoalkenes can end up not only with cyclic products, but also with α,β-unsaturated

• observed. Triphenylarsonium ylides were also studied in the reaction with nitrosoalkenes, yet lower yields of isoxazolines 93 were obtained as compared to sulfonium ylides [11]. Following the same reaction pattern, Cheng and co-workers [84] applied diazo compounds 96 instead of sulfonium ylides 92 in the