Themed collection Most popular 2025 organic methodology articles
Electrochemical deamination functionalization via C–N bond cleavage and radical formation
Electrochemical cleavage of C–N bonds has emerged as a sustainable alternative to traditional methods. This review highlights advances (2015–2025) in electrochemically driven radical deamination. functionalization.
Chem. Sci., 2025,16, 18519-18534
https://doi.org/10.1039/D5SC05603A
Harnessing C–H acetoxylation: a gateway to oxygen-enriched organic frameworks
An overview of C(sp2)–H and C(sp3)–H acetoxylation: from noble and base metal catalysis to cutting-edge electrochemical and photochemical strategies, unveiling sustainable pathways and mechanistic elegance.
Chem. Sci., 2025,16, 10141-10158
https://doi.org/10.1039/D5SC00449G
Photochemical Cu(III)-mediated trifluoromethylation of (hetero)arenes and biomolecules
Atom-economical trifluoromethylation of (hetero)arenes, including selected biomolecules, was achieved using a substoichiometric amount of a Cu(III) trifluoromethyl complex.
Chem. Sci., 2026,17, 430-435
https://doi.org/10.1039/D5SC07405C
Highly selective and AI-predictable Se–N exchange chemistry between benzoselenazolones and boronic acids for programmable, parallel, and DNA-encoded library synthesis
An unprecedented chemo-selective and multi-orthogonal SeNEx chemistry is reported as a powerful tool for programmable synthesis, on-plate nanomole-scale parallel synthesis and DNA-encoded library synthesis, thus accelerating functional discovery.
Chem. Sci., 2026,17, 225-239
https://doi.org/10.1039/D5SC05512A
Electrochemically promoted defluorinative sulfoximination and fluorosulfonylation of non-activated aryl fluorides at room temperature
The first defluorinative sulfoximination and fluorosulfonylation of non-activated aryl fluorides at room temperature has been achieved.
Chem. Sci., 2025,16, 14161-14169
https://doi.org/10.1039/D5SC03674G
Copper-catalyzed asymmetric carbonylative hydroallylation of vinylarenes
An efficient copper-catalyzed carbonylative hydroallylation of vinylarenes has been developed using carbon monoxide as the C1 source.
Chem. Sci., 2025,16, 10951-10956
https://doi.org/10.1039/D5SC02421H
Accelerated click reactions using boronic acids for heterocyclic synthesis in microdroplets
Accelerated synthesis of heterocycles such as iminoboronates, boroxines, thiazolidines, and diazaborines using the reaction between boronic acid and amines in microdroplets.
Chem. Sci., 2025,16, 8800-8806
https://doi.org/10.1039/D5SC00851D
Controlling the spatial distribution of electronic excitation in asymmetric D–A–D′ and symmetric D′–A–D–A–D′ electron donor–acceptor molecules
Using ultrafast time-resolved IR spectroscopy, we find that charge-transfer excitation does not always localise on the strongest electron donor–acceptor pair. Solvation is another crucial factor which determines where the exciton is trapped.
Chem. Sci., 2025,16, 8443-8453
https://doi.org/10.1039/D5SC01257K
Directly optimizing for synthesizability in generative molecular design using retrosynthesis models
Existing approaches to consider the synthesizability of generated molecules. This work demonstrates the use of an explicit retrosynthesis model directly as an optimization objective.
Chem. Sci., 2025,16, 6943-6956
https://doi.org/10.1039/D5SC01476J
Multiligand-enabled, copper-catalyzed Hiyama coupling of arylsilanes with unactivated secondary alkyl halides: reaction development and mechanistic insights
A multiligand-involved Cu catalysis offers an efficient Hiyama coupling of arylsilanes with unactivated alkyl halides, where copper with NHC and phenanthroline ligands were account for C(sp2)–Si activation and C(sp2)–C(sp3) formation, respectively.
Chem. Sci., 2025,16, 5109-5117
https://doi.org/10.1039/D4SC07441F
Ni-catalyzed regioselective and site-divergent reductive arylalkylations of allylic amines
A Ni-catalyzed cross-electrophile regioselective and site-divergent 1,2- and 1,3-arylalkylations of allylic amines has been developed, representing the first controllable migratory difunctionalization of alkenes under reductive conditions.
Chem. Sci., 2025,16, 4442-4449
https://doi.org/10.1039/D4SC07728H
Modular assembly of amines and diborons with photocatalysis enabled halogen atom transfer of organohalides for C(sp3)–C(sp3) bond formation
A new photocatalytic approach by using the assembly of DABCO A1 and B2Nep2B1 has been established to enable the cross-coupling of organohalides and alkenes for C(sp3)–C(sp3) bond formation.
Chem. Sci., 2025,16, 3580-3587
https://doi.org/10.1039/D5SC00190K
Organic photoredox-catalyzed unimolecular PCET of benzylic alcohols
Proton-coupled electron transfer (PCET) is a crucial chemical process involving the simultaneous or sequential transfer of protons and electrons, playing a vital role in biological processes and energy conversion technologies.
Chem. Sci., 2025,16, 3150-3156
https://doi.org/10.1039/D4SC07048H
Photocatalytic [3 + 2]-annulation via sodium tetraarylborate: a fundamental approach for synthesizing 1,4,2-diazaborole analogs
Nitriles stabilize neutral diarylboryl radicals, generating the RCN-BAr2 complex, an efficient boron-nitrogen synthon that reacts with imines and olefins for photocatalytic synthesis of boron–nitrogen heterocycles, such as 1,4,2-diazaboroles.
Chem. Sci., 2025,16, 2837-2842
https://doi.org/10.1039/D4SC08085H
About this collection
This specially curated collection highlights some of our most popular articles from 2025 in the field of organic methodology.
The collection presents some outstanding contributions to the field focused on methodology and mechanistic insights, including AI-enabled retrosynthesis, heterocyclic synthesis in microdroplets, and multi-ligand enabled catalytic reactions.
As with all Chemical Science articles, they are all completely free to access and read. We hope you enjoy browsing through this collection!