Transition metal-catalyzed hydrosilylation of alkene has become one of the most important and fundamental homogeneous catalytic reactions, however, such reactions still face the problems of massive consumption of precious metal catalysts in industrial applications. Iron-series metals are abundant in the Earth's crust, cheap, easy to obtain, and biocompatible. Compared with precious metals such as platinum, iron-series metals have many advantages as catalysts, but there are still large gaps in catalytic hydrosilylation of alkene and tertiary silanes, especially involving industrial applications of silicones, and cannot replace precious metal catalysts for large-scale industrial production at current stage. The development of new iron-series metal catalysts for the efficient and highly selective hydrosilylation reaction of alkene with tertiary silanes and the in-depth discovery of the regulations on activity and selectivity of the catalysts are of great research value and have become a hot research area with a series of important progresses. The research progress in the hydrosilylation of olefins and tertiary silanes catalyzed by iron-series metals is systematically reviewed, the challenges faced in this field are discussed and the future development direction of this field is also prospected. Only the reactions promoted by homogeneous catalysts are introduced.

Continuous flow chemistry is an emerging technology in the chemical pharmaceutical industry. Compared with the traditional batch kettle reaction, continuous flow reaction has the advantages of rapid mass and heat transfer, improves the controllability and safety of the reaction process, and can also integrate the online analysis and purification steps into the flexible operation sequence. The new progress of continuous flow reaction technology in the continuous synthesis process from starting raw material to final active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) from 2019 to 2022 is introduced. Starting from the flow chart of continuous flow reaction, the preparation process and technical advantages of continuous flow reaction are described. At the same time, it is pointed out that the fully continuous flow reaction technology still has some challenges in the process connection and coupling treatment of each single step synthesis transformation, which needs to be further improved.

Enantioenriched C—N axial chiral compounds are ubiquitous in many important field, such as natural products, chiral drugs and chiral ligands. Therefore, efficient construction of C—N axis chirality through asymmetric catalytic synthesis has attracted more and more attention and research interest. In this review, the recent progress in asymmetric synthesis of C—N axis chiral compounds has been discussed, mainly from three aspects: desymmetrization of prochiral molecules or kinetic resolution of racemates, atroposelective functionalization of C—N axis, and atroposelective C—N coupling reaction. The topic focuses on the evolution of asymmetric catalytic system and the key factors of chiral control. The existing problems and future development direction of this field are also discussed. This paper is a timely and systematic review and will stimulate more extensive research interest.

Intramolecular hydrogen atom transfer (HAT) has proved to be an effective method to achieve the selective functionalization of remote C—H bonds. In this fascinating research area, alkoxy radicals have emerged as an important intermediate to participate in intramolecular hydrogen atom transfer reactions. In particular, the burgeoning visible-light photoredox catalysis has provided a new platform for O-radical directed remote functionalization of C(sp³)—H bonds. The progress on the different mechanisms of alkoxy radical generation and their applications in the intramolecular 1,5-HAT reactions for remote C(sp³)—H bond functionalization in the past five years are comprehensively summarized.

To meet the development of diverse flexible wearable electronic devices, a corresponding power supply system is needed. Flexible zinc-ion batteries have been widely studied due to their high safety, easy assembly, and high energy density. As an important component of flexible zinc-ion batteries, hydrogel electrolytes have been widely studied. The controllable construction methods of hydrogel electrolytes are introduced. The latest research achievements of multifunctional hydrogel electrolytes for flexible zinc-ion batteries, mainly including mechanically enhanced, self-healing, low-temperature, and environmental response hydrogel electrolytes, are summarized in detail. In addition, the future development of high-performance hydrogel electrolytes is also prospected.

Owing to its unique structure and properties, silicon-stereogenic silanes have displayed valuable application prospects in the fields of organic synthesis, functional materials and biomedicine, and have received extensive attention from chemists. In recent years, methods for the construction of silicon-stereogenic center have been rapidly developed, especially the use of transition metal catalysis to conduct the desymmetrization of prochiral silanes. Among them, asymmetric catalytic Si—H/X—H dehydrogenative coupling (Si-CADC) using dihydrosilane as the substrate has become an important approach and key technology for the construction of silicon-stereogenic center, because of its advantages of high efficiency, high atomic economy, good structural diversity and high enantioselectivity. According to the different reaction categorie and products, this review will mainly summarize and discuss in three stages: (1) asymmetric dehydrogenative coupling tandem strategy to construct tetrasubstituted silicon-stereogenic silanes, (2) intramolecular Si—H/C—H dehydrogenative coupling to construct cyclic silicon-stereogenic monohydrosilanes, and (3) intermolecular Si—H/X—H dehydrogenative coupling to construct a variety of ayclic silicon-stereogenic silanes.

Asymmetric synthesis is one of the most important and valuable frontiers in exploratory research of synthetic organic chemistry. With the renaissance and vigorous development of organic electrochemistry in recent years, combining electrochemical organic synthesis and asymmetric catalytic strategies can be used to expand the reaction types, activation modes, bond formation systems, and substrate adaptability of asymmetric catalysis using the benefits of organic electrochemistry, which brought new opportunities for the asymmetric transformation that is difficult or impossible to be achieved by traditional methods. Thus, the development of novel, efficient, precise and sustainable electrochemical asymmetric catalytic strategies under mild and eco-friendly conditions is of great research significance. Although there are many advantages and key advances in asymmetric electrocatalysis, major challenges remain. Until now, relatively few examples of asymmetric electrochemical transformations with high enantioselectivity have been reported. In recent years, scholars in the field of organic chemistry around the world have carried out a series of original works in the field of asymmetric electro- chemical catalysis, and achieved remarkable results. The theoretical innovation, technical breakthrough, and difficult challenges in asymmetric electrochemical synthesis in recent decades are summarized. Examples of enantioselective electro-organic synthesis using transition metal catalysts, organocatalysts, biological enzyme catalysts, chemically modified chiral electrodes, chiral electrolytes, chiral solvents and chiral auxiliaries are discussed, along with their related reaction machanistic aspects. Finally, perspectives on this cutting-edge area are also briefly discussed.

Organoiodine compounds belong to a very important class of functional molecules and their synthesis research is of great significance. Given the advantages of N-iodosuccinimide (NIS) with high reactivity, cheap and easy to get and environmental friendliness, it has always been the preferred iodine reagent for iodization, and in recent years, the preparation of organic iodine compounds by iodization reaction with NIS has made great progress, which has received considerable interest. To this end, the research progress is summarized, including the C—H iodization of NIS and aromatics/terminal alkynes, iodine difunctionalization between NIS and unsaturated compounds with nucleophiles, and cascade iodocyclization between NIS and unsaturated compounds.

Organic electrosynthesis can be traced back to the 19th century. The development of electroorganic synthesis has a long history. The combination of asymmetric catalysis and organic electrosynthesis opens up a new avenue for asymmetric organic synthesis. Thus, it has gradually emerged as a crucial approach for chiral compounds synthesis in recent years. Therefore, asymmetric electrosynthesis has garnered major attention of many organic synthetic researchers, and achieved considerable advances. Asymmetric electrosynthesis can transcend the limitations of traditional synthesis, controlling selectivity of the reaction through current and voltage adjustments. Moreover electrochemical synthesis is a novel sustainable methodology by replaced toxic and costly chemicals with renewable electricity. At present, asymmetric electrochemistry has been combined with organocatalysis, metal catalysis, photocatalysis, enzyme catalysis and other fields, showcasing significant potential in the synthesis of drug molecules. However, the asymmetric electrochemistry still presents several challenges to control the chemo-, regio-, and enantioselectivities. In this review, the breakthroughs and advances of asymmetric electrochemistry in the past 20 years are summarized. This overview of the field is organized by reaction types: metal reduction catalysis, metal oxidation catalysis, organic reduction catalysis and organic oxidation catalysis.

Sulfur-containing compounds are widely found in natural products, pharmaceuticals, pesticides, and materials, possessing a variety of biological activities or unique functions. C—S coupling reaction is an important method for the synthesis of sulfur-containing compounds and is one of the hot spots in the field of organic synthesis. With the in-depth development of catalysts and the continuous expansion of sulfur-containing coupling partners, a large number of C—S coupling reactions have emerged in recent years, which greatly facilitate the synthesis of sulfur-containing compounds. Aryl halides are the main kind of substrates for the synthesis of sulfur-containing compounds. C—S coupling reactions of aryl halides and sulfur-containing coupling partners can efficiently afford sulfur-containing compounds, such as thiophenols, thioethers, disulfides and sulfones in different well-designed reaction systems. In this review, the C—S coupling reactions with aryl halides as substrates are reviewed according to the different types of sulfur-containing coupling partners and catalysts (palladium, copper, nickel, and others). The mechanisms of representative reactions are briefly described and compared. In addition, a brief analysis of the current situations and limitations in this field is given, and a prospect for future development is put forward.

Carboxylic acids play important roles in basic life processes within organisms, and are powerful building blocks in the field of organic synthesis. Therefore, natural or artificial carboxylic acids have been studied from a variety of viewpoints. Silyl carboxylic acids, as analogues of carboxylic acids, are highly attractive due to their unique physical and chemical properties as well as their potential reactivity. The applications of silyl carboxylic acids in the carbonyl coupling reactions, silyl radical reactions and esterification are summarized.

Transition-metal-catalyzed cycloadditions have been evolved as important and efficient methods to construct cyclic molecules. Among them, transition-metal-catalyzed cycloadditions using carbon monoxide (CO) gas as the 1C synthon provide their unique and powerful approaches to build various cyclic molecules within a carbonyl group, which either acts as an important functional group within the cycloadducts, or can be further elaborated to other functional groups. The tremendous advances in this field are introduced.

Organic electrophotocatalysis synthesis is recognized as a powerful and scalable methodology for organic synthesis combining photocatalysis and electrolysis synthesis. However, the research in organic electrophotocatalytic synthesis is still in an early stage. In recent years, with the emergence of this strategy, an increasing number of reports have demonstrated the viability and potential of this new methodology to achieve unprecedented transformations. By harnessing light energy and electric energy as driving forces for the reaction, without relying on stoichiometric oxidants or reductants, it enables effective and highly selective redox reactions under relatively mild conditions. Consequently, it finds wide applications in various reaction systems including redox and cross coupling reactions. A comprehensive overview of the latest advancements in organic electrophotocatalysis synthesis in recent years while categorizing the reactions based on their bonding types is provided. The reaction mechanism, advantages and characteristics are also introduced. Finally, the future development direction of organic electrophotocatalytic synthesis is prospected.

The construction of luminescent materials by supramolecular self-assembly is one of the important fields in supramolecular chemistry. Supramolecular self-assembly, as a simple and efficient strategy, can construct different types of molecules through non-covalent bonding, leading to the multifunctional assembly with precise structure, which further endows supramolecular materials with unique photophysical properties. Due to the dynamic and reversible nature of non-covalent bond interaction, supramolecular luminescence materials have the characteristics of specific recognition of stimuli and sensitivity to microenvironment changes, so they are widely used in the fields of biosensing and imaging, drug delivery, chemical sensing, artificial light collection system, information encryption and photocatalysis. Based on this, in order to understand the latest research progress of supramolecular luminescence materials, the latest research progress of supramolecular luminescence materials from design to preparation and application in the last four years is systematically described, mainly in terms of hydrogen bond interaction, π-π stacking and various non-covalent bond interactions. Its future challenges are prospected.

Direct and selective functionalization of relatively inert C—H bonds is a long-standing challenge in synthetic chemistry. While many strategies have been developed to date, new approach that does not require the use of transition-metals and oxidants is in high demand. Recently, electrophotocatalysis has emerged as a powerful means to effect direct C—H functionalization and other types of challenging transformations under mild reaction conditions. The recent advances on electrophotocatalytic C—H functionalization via anode oxidation are highlighted with a focus on mechanistic aspects. Challenges and opportunities of this emerging field are also discussed.

Following the rapid advance of radical chemistry, a range of halogen atom transfer (XAT) reagents have been developed by chemists for alkyl and aryl halides, which typically feature strong bond strengths and high redox potentials. These reagents facilitate the extraction of halogen atoms from alkyl and aryl moieties via radical substitution pathways, thus generating radical species that undergo subsequent chemical transformations for the synthesis of valuable molecules. The unique reactivity and versatility of these XAT reagents have attracted much attention in organic synthesis. Recent reviews of XAT reagents have mainly focused on elucidating reaction mechanisms and classifying different types with limited exploration of activation strategies. In light of this, this paper provides a summary of the activation strategies for XAT reagents over the past three years. The discussion is organized into four aspects based on different strategies, namely single electron transfer, hydrogen atom transfer, energy transfer, and electron donor-acceptor (EDA) complexes. This review aims to address the research gaps in activation strategies of XAT reagents, providing new theoretical support and perspectives for the field.

Spirocyclohexadienones are not only widely present in bioactive molecules, but also act as key synthetic intermediates for the synthesis of natural products. Owing to the great importance of these compounds, their efficient synthesis has drawn considerable attention from synthetic chemists. In particular, there are many reports about the synthesis of spiro- cyclohexadienone derivatives via alkyne-involving dearomatization in the past few years. The success of these reactions benefits from the reaction mode: the activation of alkyne π bond by radicals, electrophiles, or metal catalysts under the conditions of photocatalysis, electrocatalysis, or chemical oxidation, and then the subsequent dearomatization process. The advances in electron-deficient, electron-ordinary, and electron-rich alkynes-participated dearomatization of phenolic deri- vatives to realize the efficient construction of spirocyclohexadienone derivatives in recent five years are systematically summarized. During the discussion, the used triggering ways are subdivided. At last, the prospects of this field are discussed.

Thiazole is a five-membered aromatic heterocycle containing nitrogen and sulfur heteroatoms, which is widely found in drugs, natural products and functional materials. So far, there have been many reports on the synthesis of thiazole compounds. This review focuses on the synthetic methods for the preparation of thiazole rings and the scope of application of these synthetic methods, which can be used as a reference for other researchers to efficiently synthesize and apply thiazole compounds.

Amide bond constructions are crucial in peptide synthesis and pharmaceutical chemistry research. The traditional methods of peptide synthesis require the use of excessive amounts reagents and solvents, posing a threat to the environment and human health. It is still the current research focus to develop environmentally friendly novel acylation reagents and efficient, green, and sustainable amide bond synthesis methods. From the green chemistry’s principles, this paper is focused on the efficient formation of amide bonds in peptide, including the catalysis of elemental organic chemicals, some green solvents and reagents, and some physical strengthening methods, etc. The application of these methods and technologies was also discussed in peptide chemistry.

With the increasing importance of peptides in the treatment of oncological diseases and biomedical applications, the development and construction of new methods for peptide molecules have become a hot research topic for organic synthetic chemists. As a green and efficient reaction tool, organic electrochemistry has been gradually utilized in the field of organic small molecule synthesis in recent years, and its mild and controllable features are suitable for solving the chemo- and regioselectivity problems of the existing bioconjugation strategies, which provide an important synthetic means for the selective modification of peptide molecules. The electrochemical approaches to amino acids and peptides modification developed in the last five years are reviewed, and the distinct advantages of electrochemical synthesis techniques and its applicability in the development of novel biocompatible methodologies are described.

Chiral allylsilanes, a versatile linchpin, are widely used in the area of asymmetric synthesis. Therefore, the development of efficient methodologies for the preparation of the enantioenriched allylsilanes has attracted great attention. Significant advances have been made in the catalytic enantioselective preparation of chiral allylsilanes by virtue of the rapid developments in asymmetric catalysis. The advances in the construction of chiral allylsilanes and their synthetic applications are summarized.

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons are widely used in optoelectronic materials, and heteroatom doping can effectively modulate the physicochemical properties of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. Boron nitrogen (BN)-doped aromatics are important members of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) family. Based on the relative positions of boron and nitrogen atoms, BN-doped aromatics can be divided into three forms: 1,2-BN heteroaromatics, 1,3-BN heteroaromatics and 1,4-BN heteroaromatics. Despite the blooming researh of 1,2-BN heteroaromatics, the 1,3- and 1,4-BN heteroaromatics were much less studied. Owing to recent advances in multi-resonance thermally acitvated fluoresence (MR-TADF) materials based on 1,4-BN heteroaromatics, the research of 1,4-BN-heteroaromatics is currently ondergoing a renassiance. In particular, researchers from China have actively participated in and promoted the rapid development of 1,4-BN heteroaromatics, and the large number of recent publications also demonstrate the remarkable growth of the MR-TADF material based on 1,4-BN heteroaromatics. Taking the structure of 1,4-BN heteroaromatics as a clue, the synthesis and development history of 1,4-BN heteroaromatics are reviewed based on the heteroatom binary doping (B/N) framework and ternary doping (X/B/N) framework. Finally, the future development and application of 1,4-BN heteroaromatics are prospected.

Natural flavin coenzymes, featuring simple structure, non-toxicity, and the ability of absorbing and utilizing visible light, frequently act as electron carriers in biological redox reactions. Inspired by the biological function of flavins, great progress has been made in the two-electron oxidation reactions catalyzed by flavins with molecular oxygen or hydrogen peroxide as the terminal oxidant over the past two decades. Due to the versatile and tunable photochemical properties of artificial flavins, in recent years, more and more interests have been drawn to the photoinduced single electron transfer reactions with biomimetic flavins, promoting the rapid developments in the corresponding organic synthetic methodologies. Herein, the advances until July 2023 in bioinspired flavins-catalyzed one-electron oxidation of organic substrates bearing aromatic rings, nitrogen-, oxygen-, and sulfur-based groups under visible-light irradiation, delivering the corresponding radical cations which subsequently take part in the following reactions and enabling various of chemical transformations, are summarized. In addition, selected substrate scopes and possible reaction mechanisms involving single electron transfer process are discussed. Meanwhile, future challenges and opportunities of flavin photocatalysis are also prospected.

Anion-π interaction is a non-covalent interaction in host-guest chemistry. In general, aromatic π-systems are regarded as electron rich and may have repulsive interactions with negatively charged systems. Therefore, the anion-π interaction, which seems counterintuitive, has attracted remarkable attention since it was first reported. And surprisingly, it has shown broad and significant potential applications in various fields, including molecular recognition, catalysis, self-assembly, aggregation-induced luminescent materials, and the design and synthesis of novel anionic receptors. This review focuses on the research progress of anion-π interactions in the fields of theoretical studies, catalysis, self-assembly, receptor design and synthesis, and aggregation-induced luminescence in the last decade. Finally, the research and application prospects of anion-π interactions in the field of supramolecular chemistry will be provided.

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) have been widely used in the field of organic electronics, due to their unique electronic and optical properties. Doping heteroatom is a popular way to modify the electronic structures and the properties of the PAHs. The resulting heteroaromatics exihit tunable physicochemical, optical, and electrochemical properties. Among the heteroatoms embedded in the scaffold of PAHs, nitrogen atom is the most common one. Ullazine, also known as indolizino[6,5,4,3-ija]quinoline, is isoelectronic with pyrene. In recent years, ullazine and its derivatives have drawn a lot attention due to its outstanding performance in dye-sensitized solar cells. The synthesis methods of ullazine developed in recent years are presented, and the overview of the current available synthetic methods of ullazine is summarized in detail.

Hypervalent iodine reagents have attracted much attention from organic synthetic chemists. Compared to the strong oxidizing iodine(V) reagents, iodine(III) reagents show a weaker oxidizing ability, which could meet green and environmentally-friendly properties. Over the past decade, visible-light-induced photoredox catalysis has merged as a powerful tool in organic synthetic methodology, and a rapid development was witnessed. It is worth noting that some iodine(III) reagents which are stable and easily available, have been widely utilized in visible light photocatalytic reactions. Particularly, benziodoxol(on)e reagents, due to their excellent activation properties, which can serve as oxidant, radical acceptor, radical precursor and co-catalyst in photocatalytic reactions, allow for many significant chemical transformations. Additionally, phenyliodine(III) diacetate and its derivatives can proceed similar pathway in photocatalytic reactions. These issues attribute to the highly polarized I—X bond of iodine reagents, leads to their oxidizing ability and superior electrophilicity. Herein, some significant advances since in 2016 are summaried and discussed in terms of chemical transformations and mechanisms of different iodine(III) reagents. In addition, the application prospects in the future are also discussed.

Organic phosphine-promoted organic synthesis reactions have developed rapidly in recent years. Triphenylphos- phine and their derivatives are the most important class of organic phosphine compounds, which can not only serve as ligands in organic synthesis reactions, but also serve as deoxygenative promoters in a large number of reactions. In recent years, visible-light-induced deoxygenative coupling reactions have aroused considerable attention. This type of reaction uses organic phosphines to promote single electron transfer to form P—O intermediates with oxygen-containing organic molecules under visible-light, followed by deoxidation to obtain highly active free radical species, and then deoxygenative coupling to afford the desired products. Herein, the recent research progress in photoredox-induced organic phosphine-promoted deoxygenative functionalization reactions is summarized.

Chiral 1,2-bis(boronic) esters are essential building blocks in the field of synthetic chemistry, and their catalytic asymmetric synthesis has attracted significant interest of chemists. Recently, asymmetric diboration of olefins, using transition metals and chiral diols, has emerged as the straightforward and atom-economical methods for producing highly valuable chiral 1,2-bis(boronic) esters. Asymmetric hydrogenation of vinyl bis(boronic) esters can be a complementary approach to asymmetric diboration for synthesizing these products. Additionally, borofunctionalization of alkenes or alkynes represents another effective strategy for constructing these highly valuable scaffolds. A recent innovation involves catalytic asymmetric migratory coupling reactions with gem-diborylalkanes, offering new avenues for synthesizing chiral 1,2-bis(boronic) esters. The latest developements and challenges in synthesizing these moleculeshis are summarized, and the potential future research directions in this field are prospected.

Abstract Due to the merits of near-infrared light (NIR) (650~1700 nm), such as deep tissue penetration, lower autofluore- scence interference in vivo, and little light damage to organisms, NIR dyes have been one of the research focuses in bioimaging. The narrow bandgaps of NIR dyes increase the probability of non-radiative transition of the excited state, resulting in a significant reduction of fluorescence intensity. Meanwhile, the longer conjugated hydrophobic skeleton and strong molecular charge transfer ability make NIR dyes easy to interact with external molecules, thus increasing the non-radiative energy loss and reducing the fluorescence intensity. To obtain NIR dyes with high brightness, researchers have made many improvements and modifications. From the perspective of the structure-property relationship of fluorescent dyes, the development of mainstream high-brightness near-infrared dyes is reviewed, hoping to provide assistance and guidance for the development of NIR fluorescent dyes with high-brightness.

The development of new chiral ligand constitutes the cornerstone of asymmetric catalysis. An asymmetric synthesis of α,α-dialkylated pyrrolidinones enabled by Ni-catalyzed reductive carbamoyl-alkylation of 1,1-disubstituted alkene- tethered carbamoyl chlorides and primary alkyl iodides is presented. After extensive investigation of Quinim ligands, it is found that the evolution of chiral ligand ^p-tolQuinim to ^1-NapQuinim is critical for formation of the all-carbon quaternary center in high yield and enantioselectivity and broad functional group tolerance. The newly developed catalytic system that combines nickel salts and the ^1-NapQuinim ligand also improves both the yield and enantioselectivity in the synthesis of α-monoalkylated γ-lactams.

Acyl-Ni has emerged as an important synthetic intermediate in organic synthesis. In recent years, a strategy for the synthesis of ketones with acyl-Ni species as a key intermediate for synthesizing ketones has attracted broad attention. Compared with the traditional cross-coupling involving organometallic reagents, reductive acylation using the in situ generated acyl-Ni species with various carbon electrophiles exhibits many notable advantages, such as mild conditions, high step economy, widely functional group tolerance, and environmentally friendly. This review focuses on the recent advances in Ni-catalyzed reductive acylation of various carbon electrophiles with a broad range of carboxylic acids or carboxylic acid derivatives.

Aniline and its derivatives are widely used and consumed in human life and industrial production, which inspires the direct aromatic C(sp²)—N construction from the corresponding C(sp²)—H bond. In recent years, as a controllable, sustainable, ambient, and highly scalable methodology, organic electrochemistry has received greater attention and also combined aromatic C(sp²)—N amination, presenting novel reactions. In this review, the common mechanism manifolds of electrochemical aromatic C(sp²)—H amination reactions are summarized, and the reactions examples are classified according to the type of amine sources. The prospects and challenges in this field are provided.

Bromodifluoromethyl trimethylsilane (TMSCF₂Br) has proved to be an important difluoromethyl(alkyl)ation reagent that is widely applied in organic synthesis over the past decade, since it was used as a difluorocarbene precursor in 2011. This review aims to provide a briefly summary for the synthesis of TMSCF₂Br, and to introduce the recent advances in the applications of TMSCF₂Br as a difluorocarbene or trimethylsilyldifluoromethyl radical precursor for developing various difluoromethyl(alkyl)ations of different kinds of substrates. Meanwhile, the activation ways of TMSCF₂Br and the possible mechanism, as well as its advantages and disadvantages in each kind of reactions are detailedly disccussed, which might provide some references and inspiration for researchers engaged in organic synthesis and organic fluorine chemistry.

Carboxylic acids are inexpensive, readily available, stable and functionally diverse molecules, and alcohols are used as important functional molecules in a variety of applications. Therefore, decarboxylative hydroxylation of carboxylic acid provides a direct and rapid route to important alcohol molecules from stabilized and easily obtainable carboxylic acid feedstocks through benign single carbon excision reductions, which is a very important and useful transformation in organic synthesis and nature. The research progress on decarboxylative hydroxylation reactions to obtain the corresponding primary, secondary and tertiary alcohols, mainly in terms of transition metal catalysis, photocatalysis, electrocatalysis and other types of catalysis, is highlighted with an emphasis on the possible mechanisms and applicable scope of these different reactions. Among them, transition metal catalysis emerged earlier and produced tertiary alcohols in higher yields, but with less universal substrates, whereas photocatalysis is a mild reaction with low environmental pollution and is suitable for the production of primary, secondary and tertiary alcohols.

The unique properties of difluorinated compounds have attracted widespread attention in the fields of medicine and material sciences. The conversion of inexpensive and easily available trifluoromethyl groups into difluoro groups is of great importance in organic synthesis. However, there still exist great challenges in the selective cleavage of C—F bonds, because the dissociation energy of single C—F bond in trifluoromethyl group is much higher than that of the C—F bond in the difluoro unit of the generated product. Thus, the selective cleavage of C—F bond is difficult to control, which can easily lead to excessive defluorination. Compared with the traditional thermal reaction, the visible-light irradiated reaction provides an alternative pathway to achieve C—F cleavage more efficiently and selectively. The research progress on the selective cleavage of C—F bonds mediated by visible light in the past three years is summarized and its future perspective is prospected.

Due to their high ring strain, aziridines readily undergo ring-expansion reactions, reacting with various unsaturated compounds to form heterocyclic compounds. These heterocyclic compounds serve as important scaffolds for drugs, natural products, and bioactive molecules. Additionally, they are valuable organic intermediates with wide-ranging applications in medicine, agriculture, chemical engineering, organic synthesis, and related fields. In recent years, there has been a significant increase in the synthesis of heterocyclic compounds using aziridines as three-atom synthons, resulting in a rapid advancement of research in this area. This review aims to provide an overview of the most recent [3+2] ring-expansion reactions involving aziridines and unsaturated compounds, such as olefins, aldehydes, ketones, and nitriles, over the past decade. Furthermore, the prospect in this field is also discussed.

Silahydrocarbons are often encountered in pharmaceuticals and material chemistry. In comparison with all-carbon parent compounds, carbon/silicon switch generally endows the corresponding compounds with different biological activity and physical-chemical properties. In this review, the methods and strategies of synthesis of organosilanes by photoredox in recent years are reviewed, and the corresponding reaction mechanisms and limitations are discussed.