Organic Dye-Catalyzed, Visible-Light Photoredox Bromination of Arenes and Heteroarenes Using -Bromosuccinimide.

A variety of arenes and heteroarenes are brominated in good to excellent yields using -bromosuccinimide (NBS) under mild and practical conditions. According to mechanistic investigations described within, the reaction is speculated to proceed via activation of NBS through a visible-light photoredox pathway utilizing erythrosine B as a photocatalyst. A photo-oxidative approach effectively amplifies the positive polarization on the bromine atom of the NBS reagent.