Work

Reduction of aryl halides by consecutive visible light-induced electron transfer processes

Year: 2014

Type: article

Abstract: Biological photosynthesis uses the energy of several visible light photons for the challenging oxidation of water, whereas chemical photocatalysis typically involves only single-photon excitation. Perylene bisimide is reduced by visible light photoinduced electron transfer (PET) to its stable and colored radical anion. We report here that subsequent excitation of the radical anion accumulates sufficient energy for the reduction of stable aryl chlorides giving aryl radicals, which were trapped by hydrogen atom donors or used in carbon-carbon bond formation. This consecutive PET (conPET) overcomes the current energetic limitation of visible light photoredox catalysis and allows the photocatalytic conversion of less reactive chemical bonds in organic synthesis.

Source: Science

DOI: 10.1126/science.1258232

Authors: Indrajit Ghosh, Tamal Ghosh, Javier I. Bardagi, Burkhard König

Institution: University of Regensburg

Language: English

Topic: Radical Photochemical Reactions

Subfield: Organic Chemistry

Field: Chemistry

Domain: Physical Sciences

Open Access status: green

Funders: National Science Foundation, Minerva Foundation, Israel Science Foundation, Division of Materials Research

Awards: Emergent Behavior of Microscopic Model Systems, G8934432371