Light opens a new window for N-heterocyclic carbene catalysis

N-Heterocyclic carbenes (NHCs) are efficient Lewis basic catalysts for the umpolung of various polarized unsaturated compounds usually including aldehydes, imines, acyl chlorides and activated esters. NHC catalysis involving electron pair transfer steps has been extensively studied; however, NHC catalysis through single-electron transfer (SET) processes, despite having the potential to achieve chemical transformations of inert chemical bonds and using green reagents, has long been a challenging task in organic synthesis. In parallel, visible-light-induced photocatalysis and photoexcitation have been established as powerful tools to facilitate sustainable organic synthesis, as they enable the generation of various reactive radical intermediates under extremely mild conditions. Recently, a number of elegant visible-light-induced, NHC-catalyzed transformations were developed for accessing valuable organic compounds. As a result, this minireview will highlight the recent advances in this field.

Cobalt(II)-Catalyzed Alkoxycarbonylation of Aliphatic Amines via C-N Bond Activation

The first cobalt-catalyzed deaminative alkoxycarbonylation reaction was described for the conversion of readily available primary alkyl amines to synthetically versatile esters with moderate to high yields. This transformation shows good functional group compatibility and can serve as a powerful tool for the modification of alkyl amine-containing complex natural products and drug molecules.

Recent advances in the catalytic asymmetric alkylation of stabilized phosphorous ylides

The Wittig reaction is a reliable method for synthesizing alkenes from phosphorous ylides (P-ylides) and carbonyls, and is thus widely applied in medicine and pharmaceutical production. Among them, asymmetric Wittig reactions using chiral P-ylides are believed to be a conventional pathway towards chiral alkenes. Obviously, the key of this transformation is the efficient construction of chiral P-ylides. Over the past decade, the coupling of the in situ generated chiral P-ylides through the catalytic asymmetric alkylation of easily available P-ylides and the subsequent Wittig reaction with carbonyls has already been achieved, allowing the efficient and selective synthesis of versatile chiral alkenes. This review highlights these impressive advances according to the catalysis type, and the general mechanisms and stereochemical inductions are briefly discussed as well. We hope this article will be a useful reference and inspiration for those who are exploring new methods and new applications of chiral P-ylides.

Visible-Light-Driven Organic Photochemical Reactions in the Absence of External Photocatalysts

Visible-light-driven organic photochemical reactions have attracted substantial attention from the synthetic community. Typically, catalytic quantities of photosensitizers, such as transition metal complexes, organic dyes, or inorganic semiconductors, are necessary to absorb visible light and trigger subsequent organic transformations. Recently, in contrast to these photocatalytic processes, a variety of photocatalyst-free organic photochemical transformations have been exploited for the efficient formation of carbon–carbon and carbon–heteroatom bonds. In addition to not requiring additional photocatalysts, they employ low-energy visible light irradiation, have mild reaction conditions, and enable broad substrate diversity and functional group tolerance. This review will focus on a summary of representative work in this field in terms of different photoexcitation modes.

1 Introduction

2 Visible Light Photoexcitation of a Single Substrate

3 Visible Light Photoexcitation of Reaction Intermediates

4 Visible Light Photoexcitation of EDA Complexes between Substrates

5 Visible Light Photoexcitation of EDA Complexes between Substrates and Reaction Intermediates

6 Visible Light Photoexcitation of Products

7 Conclusion and Outlook

Deaminative (Carbonylative) Alkyl-Heck-type Reactions Enabled by Photocatalytic C-N Bond Activation

The palladium-catalyzed Heck reaction is a well-known, Nobel Prize winning transformation for producing alkenes. Unlike the alkenyl and aryl variants of the Heck reaction, the alkyl-Heck reaction is still underdeveloped owing to the competitive side reactions of alkyl-palladium species. Herein, we describe the development of a deaminative alkyl-Heck-type reaction that proceeds through C-N bond activation by visible-light photoredox catalysis. A variety of aliphatic primary amines were found to be efficient starting materials for this new process, affording the corresponding alkene products in good yields under mild reaction conditions. Moreover, this strategy was successfully applied to deaminative carbonylative alkyl-Heck-type reactions.

Alkenylation of unactivated alkyl bromides through visible light photocatalysis

Two visible-light driven alkenylation reactions of unactivated alkyl bromides, which were enabled by the use of Ir(dF(CF₃)ppy)₂(dtbbpy)PF₆ as the photocatalyst and (TMS)₃SiH as the atom transfer reagent to activate the alkyl bromides, were described for the first time.

A photoinduced Wolff rearrangement/Pd-catalyzed [3+2] cycloaddition sequence: an unexpected route to tetrahydrofurans

A novel sequential reaction that combines a visible light-induced Wolff rearrangement of α-diazoketones and a Pd-catalyzed [3+2] cycloaddition of vinyl cyclopropanes with the resulting ketenes is described in this work.

Practical heterogeneous photoredox/nickel dual catalysis for C-N and C-O coupling reactions

Efficient C-N and C-O coupling reactions of aryl halides with amines and alcohols have been developed by using the strategy of heterogeneous visible light photoredox and nickel dual catalysis. Obviously, the joint use of inexpensive and bench-stable CdS and nickel salts, together with mild reaction conditions, makes these two transformations attractive for the synthetic community. This heterogeneous dual catalysis system also proved to be successful in the ligand-free catalytic hydroxylation of aryl bromide with water as a nucleophile. The practicality of this protocol is further emphasized by the scaled-up reaction and the reusability of heterogeneous photocatalysts.

Visible-Light-Induced Organic Photochemical Reactions through Energy-Transfer Pathways

Visible-light photocatalysis is a rapidly developing and powerful strategy to initiate organic transformations, as it closely adheres to the tenants of green and sustainable chemistry. Generally, most visible-light-induced photochemical reactions occur through single-electron transfer (SET) pathways. Recently, visible-light-induced energy-transfer (EnT) reactions have received considerable attentions from the synthetic community as this strategy provides a distinct reaction pathway, and remarkable achievements have been made in this field. In this Review, we highlight the most recent advances in visible-light-induced EnT reactions.

Enantioselective Di-/Perfluoroalkylation of β-Ketoesters Enabled by Cooperative Photoredox/Nickel Catalysis

Efficient and enantioselective radical difluoroalkylation and perfluoroalkylation reactions of β-ketoesters were successfully developed through an asymmetric photoredox and nickel catalysis cascade. This protocol provides R_f-containing quaternary stereocenters in up to 67% yield and 95:5 er with ethyl iododifluoroacetate and perfluoroalkyl iodides (C₃F₇I and C₄F₉I) as radical sources under extremely mild conditions.

Copper-catalyzed decarboxylative cyclization via tandem C–P and C–N bond formation: access to 2-phosphorylmethyl indoles

A copper-catalyzed decarboxylative cyclization of ethynyl benzoxazinanones with P(O)H compounds has been developed for the synthesis of 2-phosphorylmethyl indoles.

Dual photoredox and nickel-catalyzed desymmetric C–O coupling reactions: visible light-mediated enantioselective synthesis of 1,4-benzodioxanes

Chiral 2,2′-bipyridine ligands are key to success in an enantioselective desymmetric C–O cross coupling reaction via dual visible light photoredox and nickel catalysis, resulting in chiral 1,4-benzodioxanes under mild reaction conditions.