Themed collection 2025 Organic Chemistry Frontiers Review-type Articles

The Truce–Smiles rearrangement is a powerful method for functionalizing aromatic compounds, enabling the synthesis of various (hetero)aromatic groups. This work summarizes recent advancements in this area.

This review summarizes recent achievements in photosynthesis of vicinally functionalized organohalides through the halofunctionalization of alkenes.

Photobiocatalysis combines the advantages of photocatalytic and enzymatic processes, enabling diverse non-natural asymmetric transformations. We highlight recent advances in asymmetric photobiocatalysis categorized by light-enzyme coupling modes.

This review summarizes the latest research progress on photocatalytic reactions involving typical Sc, Ti, V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, and Cu metal catalysts, mainly focusing on the role of metals and light in the reaction process.

Organocatalysis has emerged as a powerful synthetic platform for classical asymmetric multicomponent reactions, demonstrating remarkable versatility in constructing diverse molecular architectures with precise stereochemical induction.

This review provides an overview of recent advancements in generating N, Si, B, and C radicals through the decarboxylation of preinstalled carboxyl substrates under visible light catalysis.

Fluorinated reagents have emerged as a valuable tool in peptide chemistry. This review summarizes recent advances in polyfluorinated reagents for peptide stapling, exploring their design principles, reaction mechanisms, and biological applications.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming molecular catalysis by addressing long-standing challenges in retrosynthetic design, catalyst design, reaction development, and autonomous experimentation.

Developments in the synthesis of indolizines during the last decade are reviewed, with special emphasis given to strategies relying on pyrrole derivatives and on π-expanded systems.

We have provided a comprehensive analysis of the construction of N-containing heterocyclic compounds and their functionalization without the use of external photocatalysts, under UV/visible-light exposure in different conditions.

This review summarizes the application of steroidal sapogenin-derived lactones with methyl-branched chiral centers in the synthesis of insect pheromones, pharmaceuticals and complex natural products.

Transposition of molecular fragments enabling strategic bond disconnection within carbon frameworks.

This review discusses emerging strategies in three-component, stereoselective C–N bond-forming alkene difunctionalization, emphasizing mechanistic innovations and their impact on synthetic organic chemistry.

Recent advances in the photochemistry of EDA complexes: a practical and modern strategy for efficient carbon–sulfur bond formation in organic synthesis.

In this paper, the diverse transformations of α-trifluoromethyl olefins, mainly including difunctionalization of α-trifluoromethyl olefins, defluorination functionalization to gem-difluoroalkenes, and other types, are described.

The advances in the Povarov reactions under visible-light conditions are highlighted, offering helpful guidance for selecting suitable synthetic protocols.

Katritzky's pioneering studies revealed the multifaceted cycloaddition reactivities of oxidopyridinium betaines. In this review, the follow-up research into oxidopyridinium cycloadditions and their applications are discussed.

This review provides a detailed examination of methods for synthesizing boron compounds, focusing on the insertion of new atoms into boron heterocyclics, or inserting boron atoms into other heterocyclic frameworks.

This review highlights recent advances in the hydrofunctionalisation of cyclopropenes through the formation of carbon–heteroatom bonds for the synthesis of polysubstituted cyclopropanes.

The recent advances on the application of electrocyclic reactions in the total synthesis of notable natural products are summarized.

This article reviews the organic reactions catalyzed by the Brønsted acid B(C₆F₅)₃·H₂O and their mechanisms, along with an outlook on its future catalytic prospects.

This review covers synthetic approaches towards crystalline 2D conjugated polymers linked by imines, pyrazines, vinylenes, C–C, or imidazoles. It explores the interplay between structures and properties, highlighting their prospects in electronics.

Electrochemical-mediated rearrangement has emerged as one of the most important research fields in organic chemistry. This review systematically summarizes the diverse transformations and applications of electrochemistry in rearrangement reactions.

This review outlines recent progress in the total synthesis of cyclopropane-containing natural products, with a particular focus on the application of novel synthetic methodologies and tactics for assembling naturally occurring three-membered rings.

This review summarizes the latest literature on photoredox alkene difunctionalization reactions, focusing on oxoalkylation and oxoarylation reactions, as well as CO/C–N, CO/C–P, and CO/C–O/S bond-forming procedures.

Cooperative iridium-organocatalysis has emerged as a valuable tool for producing biologically active chiral molecules from easily accessible starting materials by activating inert coupling partners in separate catalytic cycles.

Morita–Baylis–Hillman adducts have become an efficient synthon for the construction of C–C or C–heteroatom bonds, and have been widely used in the asymmetric synthesis of various new optically pure compounds.

This review focuses on the progress in catalytic asymmetric difluoroalkylation to construction of difluoroalkylated stereogenic centers. Synthetic methods, active intermediates involved and asymmetric strategies applied were summarized.

Chiral sp³-geminated bimetallic reagents based on B, Si, and Sn have drawn much attention due to their unique structure and reaction mode. This review summarizes the synthesis of nonracemic gem-borylstannyl, gem-borylsilyl, and gem-diboryl compounds.

Mechanophoric hydrogels undergo visible color changes or alterations in optical properties in response to mechanical stimuli.

The advancements in the synthesis of nitrogen-containing heterocycles via Rh(III)-catalyzed chelation-assisted tandem C–H activation/carbene insertion/annulation with diazo compounds as carbene precursors have been summarized.

This review offers a comprehensive overview of recent advancements in the asymmetric construction of C–N bonds involving radical intermediates.

Skeletal editing enables atom-level modifications to molecular skeletons. This review highlights advances in single-atom insertions, deletions, and transmutations in (hetero)cyclic systems, offering a comprehensive view on cutting-edge strategies.

This highlight discusses the synthesis strategies and topological features of nitrogen-containing bowl-shaped polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons.