Recent advances in synthetic approaches for bioactive cinnamic acid derivatives

• Betty A. Kustiana,
• Galuh Widiyarti and
• Teni Ernawati

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 1031–1086, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.85

• . Furthermore, Sato and co-workers (2019) employed an air-stable Ni nanoparticle supported on sulfur-modified gold (SANi) to convert alkynes to the corresponding cinnamic acids 285–287 (Scheme 70B) [120]. In addition, the SANi catalyst could be recycled without significant loss of activity. By generating CO in

Biobased carbon dots as photoreductants – an investigation by using triarylsulfonium salts

• Valentina Benazzi,
• Arianna Bini,
• Ilaria Bertuol,
• Mariangela Novello,
• Federica Baldi,
• Matteo Hoch,
• Alvise Perosa and
• Stefano Protti

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 1024–1030, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.84

• photoreductants, and we considered triarylsulfonium salts Ar3S+X− as suitable probes. Such derivatives are photoreactive molecules characterized by a positively charged sulfur atom bonded to three aromatic moieties [20][21][22][23], mainly employed as photoacid generators in cationic polymerization [19]. Apart

Studies on the syntheses of β-carboline alkaloids brevicarine and brevicolline

• Benedek Batizi,
• Patrik Pollák,
• András Dancsó,
• Péter Keglevich,
• Gyula Simig,
• Balázs Volk and
• Mátyás Milen

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 955–963, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.79

• : the formation of compound 31 was always observed, and brevicolline ((±)-1) was not formed. Interestingly, our attempts made for the transformation of compound 31 by dehydrogenative aromatization to brevicolline ((±)-1) by using several reagents (DDQ, Pd/C, MnO2, CuCl2, I2, elemental sulfur, KMnO4

Study of tribenzo[b,d,f]azepine as donor in D–A photocatalysts

• Katy Medrano-Uribe,
• Jorge Humbrías-Martín and
• Luca Dell’Amico

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 935–944, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.76

• of D–A structures makes them the ideal structures to further understand the structure–property relationship of D–A molecules for optimizing their photocatalytic performance by simpler modification of the different D–A subunits. In particular, D–A structures featuring sulfur-based acceptors and

• nitrogen donors have gained increasing attention for their use as photoredox catalysts. This study introduces a new family of D–A molecules by exploring various sulfur-based acceptors and nitrogen donors, including a novel tribenzo[b,d,f]azepine (TBA) unit and 5H-dibenz[b,f]azepine (IMD). Our findings

• diverse scaffolds have been reported in the literature, the identification and use of novel PCs with tunable and diverse optical and redox properties can pave the way to uncharted reactivity. In this context, sulfur-based cores, widely used as acceptors in photoelectric materials [9][10][11][12][13][14

Recent advances in controllable/divergent synthesis

• Jilei Cao,
• Leiyang Bai and
• Xuefeng Jiang

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 890–914, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.73

• double methylene insertions into nitrogen–boron bonds [53]. Copper-catalyzed substrate-controlled carbonylative synthesis of α-keto amides and amides [54]. Divergent sulfur(VI) fluoride exchange linkage of sulfonimidoyl fluorides and alkynes [55]. Modular and divergent syntheses of protoberberine and

Recent advances in the electrochemical synthesis of organophosphorus compounds

• Babak Kaboudin,
• Milad Behroozi,
• Sepideh Sadighi and
• Fatemeh Asgharzadeh

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 770–797, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.61

• synthesis of various organophosphorus compounds through the formation of phosphorus–carbon, phosphorus–nitrogen, phosphorus–oxygen, phosphorus–sulfur, and phosphorus–selenium bonds. The impact of different electrodes is also discussed in this matter. Graphite, platinum, RVC, and nickel electrodes have been

• , phosphorus–sulfur, and phosphorus–selenium bonds. The impact of different electrodes is also discussed in this matter. Graphite, platinum, reticulated vitreous carbon (RVC), and nickel electrodes have been used extensively for the electrochemical synthesis of organophosphorus compounds. Review

• ). Although using other solvents improved the solubility, it reduced the reaction yield. Ammonium thiocyanate is used as a sulfur source in the presence of DBU as a base and n-Bu4NBF4 as an electrolyte. When electron-donating groups were present at the C2-benzene ring, the reaction yield was higher than when

New advances in asymmetric organocatalysis II

• Radovan Šebesta

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 766–769, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.60

• , or sulfur. The year 2000 is typically regarded as the birth of organocatalysis, which was at that time regarded as a new mode of action for chemical catalysts. In that year, List and MacMillan et al. published their landmark studies on proline- and imidazolidine-catalyzed aldol, Mannich, and

Copper-catalyzed domino cyclization of anilines and cyclobutanone oxime: a scalable and versatile route to spirotetrahydroquinoline derivatives

• Qingqing Jiang,
• Xinyi Lei,
• Pan Gao and
• Yu Yuan

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 749–754, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.58

• moderate to good yields. Subsequently, we investigated the scope of cyclobutanones and their analogues in the domino cyclization to access structurally diverse spirotetrahydroquinoline derivatives (Scheme 2). Heterocyclic analogues incorporating oxygen or sulfur atoms within the four-membered ring proved

Acyclic cucurbit[n]uril bearing alkyl sulfate ionic groups

• Christian Akakpo,
• Peter Y. Zavalij and
• Lyle Isaacs

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 717–726, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.55

• pyridine sulfur trioxide (1.1838 g, 7.437 mmol) was dissolved in dry pyridine (57 mL). The resulting mixture was heated at 90 °C under N2 for 18 h and then cooled to rt. The precipitate was collected by first decanting some of the solvent and then the remaining mixture was transferred to a 50 mL centrifuge

• %; c) dry pyridine, pyridine sulfur trioxide complex (20 equiv), 90 °C, 18 h, 68%. Thermodynamic parameters (Ka (M−1), ∆H° (kcal/mol) determined for the C1·guest, M1·guest and M0·guest complexes by ITC. Conditions: 298.0 K, phosphate-buffered saline, pH 7.4. Supporting Information The X-ray crystal

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

• scaffolds – alkanes – then we will progress to ethers, alcohols, sugars, amines (and their derivatives), carbonyl compounds, peptides, and finally sulfur-containing compounds. By arranging the material in this way, we hope that newcomers to the field might be able to readily envisage ways to apply these

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

• only when aliphatic disulfides are used because of the higher Lewis basicity of the alkylated sulfur atom, which poisons the copper catalyst. When the reaction was carried out with paraformaldehyde and other solvents (such as DMF, 1,4- dioxane, toluene, and DCE) the yield was very low (between 0–34

• %), but when DMSO is used as solvent and reagent, the yield was greatly improved. The proposed mechanism involves the activation of the disulfide component by CuBr2 as the Lewis acid (Scheme 14). The copper(II) center coordinates the sulfur atom of the disulfide allowing for the electrophilic addition to

• " of the methyl sulfur group in intermediate 22 for the cleavage of the C–S bond. In the end, the C–C bond is formed between intermediate 23 and the enol form from the methyl ketone 18. Sodium carbonate is added to prevent too much acidification of the reaction medium and to deprotonate the NH that

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

• such as zinc as proposed by Furuyama et al. [35]. In this way, the authors have developed a series of phthalocyanin zinc complexes with electron-rich sulfur atoms at the non-peripheral positions of the phthalocyanin ring. This functionalization allows the destabilization of the highest occupied

Synthesis of disulfides and 3-sulfenylchromones from sodium sulfinates catalyzed by TBAI

• Zhenlei Zhang,
• Ying Wang,
• Xingxing Pan,
• Manqi Zhang,
• Wei Zhao,
• Meng Li and
• Hao Zhang

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 253–261, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.17

• this study, we report the synthesis of corresponding disulfides under the catalysis of TBAI (tetrabutylammonium iodide) using sodium alkyl or aromatic sulfinates as sulfur sources. Sodium sulfinates are more stable than sulfonyl hydrazides, sulfonyl chlorides, and thiols, and there is no need to add

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

• modular copper-catalyzed method for the synthesis of N-acyl sulfenamides 20 from dioxazolones 18 using thiols 19 via nitrogen–sulfur bond formation (Scheme 7) [92]. Secondary and tertiary thiols were highly effective in affording the corresponding N-acyl sulfenamides 20a–d. Moreover, the bioactive motifs

• slightly diminished reactivity (23c and 23d). In addition, poor reactivity was observed with dioxazolones bearing thiophene, implying that the undesired coordination of sulfur to copper reduces the reactivity (23e). Despite the reduced reactivity, excellent enantioselectivity was still maintained. Moreover

Quantifying the ability of the CF₂H group as a hydrogen bond donor

• Matthew E. Paolella,
• Daniel S. Honeycutt,
• Bradley M. Lipka,
• Jacob M. Goldberg and
• Fang Wang

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 189–199, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.11

• oxygen, nitrogen, or sulfur, and a positively charged hydrogen atom, which interacts with a lone pair on the acceptor. Apart from these common heteroatom-containing hydrogen bond donors, certain carbon–hydrogen moieties can also act in this way, although in a substantially weaker capacity [5][6][7][8][9

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

• and sulfur dioxide afforded vinyl sulfones with excellent regio- and stereoselectivity (Scheme 9) [22]. The authors used DABCO(SO2)2 to generate sulfur dioxide, and visible light irradiation and the mandatory presence of a photocatalyst for this transformation suggested a radical mechanism. The

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

Reactivity of hypervalent iodine(III) reagents bearing a benzylamine with sulfenate salts

• Beatriz Dedeiras,
• Catarina S. Caldeira,
• José C. Cunha,
• Clara S. B. Gomes and
• M. Manuel B. Marques

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 3281–3289, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.272

• oxidative chlorination with aqueous chlorine [30], or treatment with toxic sulfur dioxide. Thus, we envisaged to further investigate BBX reactivity to address the S–N-bond formation, as an alternative method towards sulfur-containing compounds [22]. Results and Discussion We initiated our study by extending

• Supporting Information File 1). We propose a mechanism pathway involving the retro-Michael addition of 4, releasing acrylate and hydrogen (H2). The charge of the sulfenate anion may shift between sulfur and oxygen atoms, possibly leading to an O-Michael addition (pathway B) [35]. The intermediate of these

• reactions could undergo disproportionation, a radical process resulting in the homolytic cleavage of the S–O bond [35]. The formation of disulfide 7 isolated in the experiments can be explained by combining two radical sulfur species. Furthermore, the oxygen species generated in this radical reaction may

Controlled oligomerization of [1.1.1]propellane through radical polarity matching: selective synthesis of SF₅- and CF₃SF₄-containing [2]staffanes

• Jón Atiba Buldt,
• Wang-Yeuk Kong,
• Yannick Kraemer,
• Masiel M. Belsuzarri,
• Ansh Hiten Patel,
• James C. Fettinger,
• Dean J. Tantillo and
• Cody Ross Pitts

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 3134–3143, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.259

• phenomenon is quite sensitive to changes in the fluorinated sulfur reagent scaffold (see Supporting Information File 1 for more details). This second instance of controlled oligomerization of 1 using CF3SF4Cl was also studied at the PWPB95-D4/def2-QZVPP//PCM(Et2O)-ωB97X-D/def2-TZVP level of theory (Figure 3

Hypervalent iodine-mediated intramolecular alkene halocyclisation

• Charu Bansal,
• Oliver Ruggles,
• Albert C. Rowett and
• Alastair J. J. Lennox

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 3113–3133, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.258

• , the intramolecular HVI-mediated halocyclisation of alkenes using carbon, oxygen, nitrogen or sulfur nucleophiles. Herein, we describe the examples reported in the literature, which are organised by the different halogens involved and the internal nucleophiles. Keywords: cyclisation; halogenation

• excellent yields. The structures were also assigned by X-ray crystallography. Sulfur nucleophiles In 2015, Li and co-workers reported the synthesis of 5-bromomethyl-2-phenylthiazoline (79, Scheme 41) [48]. Sulfur was used as the internal nucleophile instead of nitrogen, as previously reported by the authors

• -phenylthiazoline (87) in 2015 in addition to the synthesis of 5-bromomethtyl-2-thiazoline (Scheme 41), using sulfur as an internal nucleophile (Scheme 48) [48]. Using PhI(OAc)2 with TMSI, N-allylbenzothioamide (78) was cyclised to form 87 in excellent yield. Conclusion The HVI-mediated halocyclization of alkenes

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

• and diphenyliodonium triflates 16 using an optimal sulfur dioxide surrogate, 1,4-diazabicyclo[2.2.2]octane bis(sulfur dioxide) (DABSO, Scheme 13). The Z-isomer of the desired products was obtained by optimizing the reaction conditions. The involvement of radicals in both the arylation and aryl

• strong C–N bond. The ring opening incorporated nitrogen, oxygen, sulfur, carbon, and halogen-containing nucleophiles and their derivatives. The substrate scope was examined with numerous aryl groups on iodonium salts 40 and the progress of aryl migration happens fruitfully by considering electronic

• compound 57 was obtained by treating hypervalent iodine salt 56 with NaNO2 in the presence of DBU as the base (Scheme 23). This salt was also studied for the arylation of sulfur, oxygen, and carbon giving good yields of corresponding products [74]. O-Arylation Arylation of oxygen is a significant chemical

C–H Trifluoromethylthiolation of aldehyde hydrazones

• Victor Levet,
• Balu Ramesh,
• Congyang Wang and
• Tatiana Besset

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 2883–2890, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.242

• corresponding sulfur-containing heteroarenes, only a few methods have been developed (Scheme 1). In 1988, Lee and co-workers reported the synthesis of SR-containing hydrazones in a two-step process (chlorination [65] then reaction with thiols) from readily available aldehyde-derived hydrazones [66]. Wang et al

• cyclization of aryl hydrazones with aryl isothiocyanates promoted by elemental sulfur [70]. In the course of their studies for the thiocyanation of ketene dithioacetals, Yang, Wang and co-workers developed an electrochemical oxidization-based synthetic strategy to circumvent the need for external oxidants. In

N-Glycosides of indigo, indirubin, and isoindigo: blue, red, and yellow sugars and their cancerostatic activity

• Peter Langer

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 2840–2869, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.240

• in collaboration with Jürgen Eberle (Charité Berlin) [27]. In fact, melanoma is a dangerous type of skin cancer which can be life threatening. Excellent IC50 values were observed for β-33d and other thioindirubin-N-glycosides. In contrast, indirubin-N-rhamnoside β-17a, lacking the sulfur atom, proved

• represents a π-donor. Although nitrogen, as present in indirubins 17, is an even better donor than oxygen, the stability of the intramolecular hydrogen bond overrules this effect. Sulfur and selenium are very weak π-donors. It was not studied so far whether the E/Z ratio of indirubin derivatives can be

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

• at low concentrations through enzymatic conversions of sulfur-containing substrates, and it exerts diverse biological roles across nearly all organ systems. Within the central nervous system, H2S functions as a neuromodulator, influencing pain perception and neuronal potentiation [2]. H2S is

• removal of Na2S followed by the precipitation and re-addition of Cu2+ ions (Figure 5). Comprehensive selectivity studies were conducted with various anions/sulfur compounds (SO42−, SO32−, S2O52−, S2O42−, S2O32−, ClO−, OAc−, NO3−, I−, HCO3−, CO32−, Cl−, lipoic acid, and glutathione, as depicted in Figure 6

• ). 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

• porphyrins, achieved porphyrins 32 and 33 in a 47% and 56% yield, respectively (Table 1, entries 13 and 21), using Cs2CO3 as the base. Electron-withdrawing sulfur-containing heterocyclic substrates 21 and 23 do not readily undergo protodeboronation even at high pH [44][47] making the yields of porphyrins 31