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

• and co-workers (2022) prepared N-acyl sulfenamide 355 in good yield from dioxolane 88 and thiols through Cu catalysis via Cu–acyl-nitrenoid 357 (Scheme 79A) [133]. Recently, Son and co-workers (2024) also employed a Cu catalyst to cleave dioxolane 88 in the presence of silanes as the reductant

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

• , Koenigs, and co-workers demonstrated solvent-controlled bifurcation in the light-driven reactivity of cyclic diazo imides 41 with thiols 42, unveiling two mechanistically distinct pathways (Scheme 11) [40]. In dichloromethane (DCM), the reaction proceeds via a carbene intermediate, enabling cascade C(sp2

• thiols act as stoichiometric reductants. Mechanistic insights, elucidated through control experiments and DFT calculations, revealed that photoexcitation of diazo imide 41 triggers nitrogen extrusion (ΔG‡ = +10.0 kcal·mol−1), generating the triplet carbene intermediate Int-45. In DCM, this species

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

• oxide radicals gave a corresponding phosphorylated products (Scheme 26). Electrochemical S–P bond formation Phosphorothioates are essential compounds with broad applications in industry and medicine. Wang et al. [65] reported a novel electrochemical process for direct P–S coupling of thiols with

• oxidation of phosphines to phosphine oxides, followed by further anodic oxidation to give a phosphine oxide radical. In the subsequent step, treatment of the thiol radical (formed via the deprotonation of thiols with cesium carbonate and anodic oxidation) with the phosphine oxide radical gave the

Asymmetric synthesis of β-amino cyanoesters with contiguous tetrasubstituted carbon centers by halogen-bonding catalysis with chiral halonium salt

• Yasushi Yoshida,
• Maho Aono,
• Takashi Mino and
• Masami Sakamoto

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 547–555, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.43

• developed chiral halonium salts and applied them to asymmetric reactions such as vinylogous Mannich reactions of cyanomethylcoumarins 6 with isatin-derived ketimines 7 [33][35] and 1,2-addition reaction of thiols to ketimine [34], which formed the corresponding products 8 in high yields with high to

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

• tetrabutylammonium iodide (TBAI)/H2SO4 reduction system using sodium sulfinate as key component, thus eliminating the need for thiols and redox reagents commonly used in traditional methods. Various disulfides and 3-sulfenylchromones were obtained in moderate to excellent yields through this methodology. Mechanistic

• importance. In the field of disulfide synthesis, the conventional approach mainly involves oxidizing thiols to form disulfides. This process employs various oxidation agents, which can be categorized as nonmetallic and metal derivatives [12][13][14][15][16]. Over the past few years, the implementation of

• catalysts in conjunction with oxygen [17][18][19][20][21][22], electrochemical oxidation [23][24], and photochemical oxidation techniques [25] have emerged as alternative methods. However, these approaches have a significant limitation: the substrates must be thiols, which have unpleasant odors. This has

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

• on both thiols and dioxazolones were well tolerated in late-stage functionalizations, representing excellent chemoselectivity (20e–g). This copper-catalyzed conjugative strategy allows for the modular preparation of biologically relevant N-acyl sulfenamides. Based on several mechanistic experiments

• the copper-catalyzed synthesis of N-acyl iminophosphoranes from dioxazolones. Proposed reaction mechanism for the copper-catalyzed S-amidation of thiols. Proposed reaction mechanism for the copper-catalyzed hydroamidation of vinylarenes. Proposed reaction mechanism for the copper-catalyzed amidation

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

• , secondary aliphatic or aromatic amines and thiols in the presence of catalytic Cu(OTf)2 (1 mol %) in aqueous media was proven to be a sustainable procedure to access thioaminals 5, avoiding high temperatures and/or hazardous reagents required by classical conditions (Scheme 4) [18]. The 1,2

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

• lengths and angles fall within the expected range for similar compounds [31]. Later, the β-sulfinyl esters 4 were prepared by Michael addition reaction of thiols and α,β-unsaturated esters [32], followed by oxidation of the corresponding sulfides 3 using two different oxidizing agents (oxone and m-CPBA

• functionalized thiols (aromatic, aliphatic, and heterocyclic) were chosen to produce the β-sulfinyl esters 4 (Scheme 3). We next investigated the electrophilic amination reaction (Scheme 4). First, different functionalized β-sulfinyl esters were reacted with BBX 2a. For the aromatic and pyridine moieties, the

Advances in radical peroxidation with hydroperoxides

• Oleg V. Bityukov,
• Pavel Yu. Serdyuchenko,
• Andrey S. Kirillov,
• Gennady I. Nikishin,
• Vera A. Vil’ and
• Alexander O. Terent’ev

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 2959–3006, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.249

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

• biologically active compounds and natural products. Consequently, the synthesis of aryl sulfides has drawn increasing attention. Diaryliodonium salts have been reported to be utilized to arylate thiols in a number of publications in recent years [44][86][87]. In 2022, Sarkar et al. demonstrated a synthesis of

• aryl sulfides 85 from thiols 84 using diaryliodonium salts 16 in basic conditions (Scheme 34). A multitude of thiols and diaryliodonium salts was examined in the reaction under optimized conditions, yielding exceptional yields [88]. To embrace the chemical process, DFT calculations were performed in

• , reductive elimination of intermediate C yields the desired sulfoxides 87 (Scheme 36). Recently, a detailed study by Thakur and group on the metal-free arylation of tetrazole-5-thiols 88, exploring various substrate scopes under optimized conditions was conducted (Scheme 37) [90]. The findings indicated a

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

5th International Symposium on Synthesis and Catalysis (ISySyCat2023)

• Anthony J. Burke and
• Elisabete P. Carreiro

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 2704–2707, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.227

• novel diketopyrrolopyrrole derivatives through versatile SNAr reactions between N,N’-bis(pentafluorobenzyl)-substituted diketopyrrolopyrrole and thiols and phenols under smooth conditions, resulting in the final compounds with satisfactory yields [20]. These newly synthesized compounds exhibited a high

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

• method for the formation of C–S bonds [25]. This method achieves the difunctionalization of a carbon atom by reacting isocyanide 2-isocyanoacetate with a thiophenol and an alcohol. The scope is very broad for thiophenols, alcohols, and isocyanides, and even alkyl thiols are compatible. In addition to

Facile preparation of fluorine-containing 2,3-epoxypropanoates and their epoxy ring-opening reactions with various nucleophiles

• Yutaro Miyashita,
• Sae Someya,
• Tomoko Kawasaki-Takasuka,
• Tomohiro Agou and
• Takashi Yamazaki

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 2421–2433, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.206

• shorter period possibly because of its significantly high electrophilicity by the attachment of three strongly electron-withdrawing moieties. Reactions of (E)-3-Rf-2,3-epoxypropanoates 2 with amines, thiols, and metal halides Because the epoxide ring opening is known to occur in an SN2 fashion, compounds

• successful employment of amines as nucleophiles for the epoxy ring opening in a highly stereoselective fashion, we next turned our attention to thiols. Optimization of the reaction conditions based on the ones for amines clarified the tendency that the longer reaction time and the higher temperature

• -possessing epoxyester 2b furnished a single stereoisomer (entry 6) whose reason was not clear yet. Other thiols like decanethiol, thiophenol, and thioglycolate all worked nicely to furnish the corresponding products 4bb–bd in good to excellent chemical yields with high stereoselectivities (Table 3, entries 9

Synthesis, electrochemical properties, and antioxidant activity of sterically hindered catechols with 1,3,4-oxadiazole, 1,2,4-triazole, thiazole or pyridine fragments

• Daria A. Burmistrova,
• Andrey Galustyan,
• Nadezhda P. Pomortseva,
• Kristina D. Pashaeva,
• Maxim V. Arsenyev,
• Oleg P. Demidov,
• Mikhail A. Kiskin,
• Andrey I. Poddel’sky,
• Nadezhda T. Berberova and
• Ivan V. Smolyaninov

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 2378–2391, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.202

• -triazole, thiazole, or pyridine were synthesized by the reaction of 3,5-di-tert-butyl-o-benzoquinone or 3,5-di-tert-butyl-6-methoxymethylcatechol with different heterocyclic thiols. The S-functionalized catechols were prepared by the Michael reaction from 3,5-di-tert-butyl-o-benzoquinone and the

• corresponding thiols. The starting reagents such as substituted 1,3,4-oxadiazole-2-thiols and 4H-triazole-3-thiols are characterized by thiol–thione tautomerism, therefore their reactions with 3,5-di-tert-butyl-6-methoxymethylcatechol can proceed at the sulfur or nitrogen atom. In the case of mercapto

• previously found that the reaction between 3,5-di-tert-butyl-6-methoxymethylcatechol and different functionalized thiols occurs via an acid-catalyzed mechanism and leads to corresponding thioethers with methylene linker [53][54]. Hybrid structures of this type are of particular interest from the point of

Improved deconvolution of natural products’ protein targets using diagnostic ions from chemical proteomics linkers

• Andreas Wiest and
• Pavel Kielkowski

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 2323–2341, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.199

• with free thiols, including the protein cysteines reacting to thioalkyne conjugates [66][67]. This is caused by the relatively high concentration of the alkyne tag which is used to accelerate the reaction. The chemical proteomics workflows can be differentiated based on their read out, which can be

• , in this case, the cysteine thiols were derivatized and the cysteine C–S bond was previously described to be susceptible to fragmentation, the fragments containing the thiol provide the information on the structure of the modified amino acid side chain [107][108]. Although the study was focused on the

• several anticipated diagnostic ions, including the b-type ions from fragmented peptide bonds of the linker (Figure 9A). The study builds on the reactivity of free cysteine thiols, which are reacted on the proteome-wide level with iodoacetamide-alkyne via SN reaction. Similar as for the above-described DTB

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

• additions to imines, comprising alcohols, thiols, phosphonates, diazoacetamides, peroxides, benzothiazolines and more as nucleophiles. Apart from reactant classes, the reactions also vary in additives, and solvent among others. Since these reactions all adhere to the same mechanism of enantioinduction, the

Selective hydrolysis of α-oxo ketene N,S-acetals in water: switchable aqueous synthesis of β-keto thioesters and β-keto amides

• Haifeng Yu,
• Wanting Zhang,
• Xuejing Cui,
• Zida Liu,
• Xifu Zhang and
• Xiaobo Zhao

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 2225–2233, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.190

• hydrolysis reactions were carried out in the presence of 3.0 equiv of NaOH. The green approach to β-keto thioesters and β-keto amides avoids the use of harmful organic solvents, thiols and thiolacetates as well as amines, which could result in serious environmental and safety issues. Keywords: α-oxo ketene

Efficacy of radical reactions of isocyanides with heteroatom radicals in organic synthesis

• Akiya Ogawa and
• Yuki Yamamoto

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 2114–2128, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.182

• a pioneering study, Ito and Saegusa et al. reported the radical addition of thiols to isocyanides (Scheme 2) [27]. Thermal decomposition of AIBN as a radical initiator generates the 2-cyano-2-propyl radical ((NC)(CH3)2C•), which abstracts hydrogen from the thiol (R’SH) to form the thiyl radical (R’S

• •). The formed R’S• adds to isocyanide (RNC) to generate imidoyl radical intermediate 2 (E = R’S), which abstracts hydrogen from thiol to give the corresponding thioformimidate 3 (E = R’S) with regeneration of R’S•. Thus, the hydrothiolation of isocyanides with thiols proceeds by the radical chain

• reaction. At the same time, Bachi et al. succeeded in synthesizing a 5-membered nitrogen-containing heterocycle based on the 5-exo cyclization of isocyanides with alkenyl or alkynyl groups using thiols as mediators (Scheme 14) [57]. The generated thiyl radical attacks the isocyano group and forms imidoyl

A new platform for the synthesis of diketopyrrolopyrrole derivatives via nucleophilic aromatic substitution reactions

• Vitor A. S. Almodovar and
• Augusto C. Tomé

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 1933–1939, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.169

• synthesis of highly fluorescent DPP derivatives through straightforward nucleophilic aromatic substitution reactions with thiols and phenols. These nucleophilic substitutions occur at room temperature and manifest a remarkable selectivity for the 4-position of the pentafluorophenyl groups. Both symmetrical

• pentafluorobenzyl bromide, followed by a nucleophilic aromatic substitution (SNAr) with thiols and phenols. This approach is based on the well-established reactivity of perfluoroaromatic compounds in nucleophilic aromatic substitutions [32][33][34][35]. By varying the reaction conditions and the number of

• generating new DPP derivatives through nucleophilic aromatic substitution reactions with thiols and phenols. The main objective of this study was to employ the N,N’-bis(pentafluorobenzyl)-DPP 2 as an electrophile and investigate its reactivity with thiols and phenols (Scheme 1). All SNAr reactions were

Access to 2-oxoazetidine-3-carboxylic acid derivatives via thermal microwave-assisted Wolff rearrangement of 3-diazotetramic acids in the presence of nucleophiles

• Ivan Lyutin,
• Vasilisa Krivovicheva,
• Grigory Kantin and
• Dmitry Dar’in

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 1894–1899, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.164

• the exocyclic carbonyl group by preformed ring contraction and interaction of the intermediate ketene with the selected nucleophile. Various aromatic and aliphatic amines as well as alcohols and thiols can be used as nucleophiles. 5-Monosubstituted diazotetramic acids give exclusively trans

Photoswitchable glycoligands targeting Pseudomonas aeruginosa LecA

• Yu Fan,
• Ahmed El Rhaz,
• Stéphane Maisonneuve,
• Emilie Gillon,
• Maha Fatthalla,
• Franck Le Bideau,
• Guillaume Laurent,
• Samir Messaoudi,
• Anne Imberty and
• Juan Xie

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 1486–1496, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.132

• the o,o’-bis-substituted derivative failed. For the β-S-galactosyl azobenzene derivatives which are accessible by our previously reported Pd-catalyzed cross-coupling methodology between glycosyl thiols and iodoaryl partners [30][38], the required p-, m- or o-iodo-p’-hydroxyazobenzenes 12, 17, and 21

Synthesis of new representatives of A₃B-type carboranylporphyrins based on meso-tetra(pentafluorophenyl)porphyrin transformations

• Victoria M. Alpatova,
• Evgeny G. Rys,
• Elena G. Kononova and
• Valentina A. Ol'shevskaya

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 767–776, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.70

• biomolecules via the nucleophilic aromatic (SNAr) substitution reactions [15][16]. A variety of nucleophiles such as amines [17][18], alcohols [18][19][20], thiols [17][19][21][22][23], and carboranes [17][24][25][26][27] have been studied in selective SNAr substitution reactions of the p-fluorine atoms in

• reactions were carried out in CH2Cl2 in the presence of Et3N (Scheme 4) to afford the acylated derivatives 11 and 12 in 63 and 85% yield, respectively. It is known [42][43] that maleimido-substituted compounds readily enter reactions with thiols to generate thiosuccinimide products and meanwhile this method

Regioselective quinazoline C2 modifications through the azide–tetrazole tautomeric equilibrium

• Dāgs Dāvis Līpiņš,
• Andris Jeminejs,
• Una Ušacka,
• Anatoly Mishnev,
• Māris Turks and
• Irina Novosjolova

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 675–683, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.61

• resulted in full degradation of the formed product. Consequently, an alternative pathway toward product 8 was explored (Scheme 4). 2-Chloro-4-thioquinazolines 10 were prepared from starting material 7 in an SNAr reaction with thiols in the presence of K2CO3 in good 75–93% yields. Next, thioquinazolines 10

Mechanisms for radical reactions initiating from N-hydroxyphthalimide esters

• Carlos R. Azpilcueta-Nicolas and
• Jean-Philip Lumb

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 346–378, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.35

• with aryl thiols [70]. Further studies showed that 4-(trifluoromethyl)thiophenol (97) could act as a catalytic reductant in the aminodecarboxylation reaction of NHPI esters derived from α-amino acids [71] (Scheme 19). Accordingly, visible light irradiation of a mixture consisting of N-Boc-alanine NHPI