Sustainable Ir-Photoredox Catalysis by Means of Heterogenization.

A heterogenized iridium catalyst was employed to perform photoredox catalysis for a collection of mechanistically orthogonal reactions using very low quantities of iridium (0.01-0.1 mol %).

Utilizing a needle as a source of iron in synergistic dual photoredox catalytic generation of alkoxy radicals.

A visible-light mediated alkoxy radical generation is described, which allows for a structurally divergent oxidative C(sp)-H bond functionalization. This protocol employs a photoredox/iron dual catalysis allowing for an unprecedented chemoselective single-step transformation of alcohol derivatives giving access to two valuable sets of products, tetrahydrofurans and γ-bromoketones, under one set of conditions. Addition of iron, by slow corrosion of a needle, provides superior reaction efficiency as compared to various iron(III) complexes.

Visible-Light Mediated Oxidative Fragmentation of Ethers and Acetals by Means of Fe(III) Catalysis.

A new method employing iron(III) acetylacetonate along with visible light is described to effect oxidative ring opening of cyclic ethers and acetals with unparalleled efficiency. The method allows for a photocatalytic radical chemistry approach to functionalize relatively inert cyclic ethers into useful synthetic intermediates. The methodology sheds further light on the use of underexplored iron complexes in visible-light photochemical contexts and illustrates that simple Fe(III) complexes can initiate redox processes from LMCT excited states.

Highly efficient direct visible-light-mediated oxidative esterification of aldehydes.

A very efficient one-pot procedure for the direct oxidation of aldehydes to esters mediated by visible-light is presented. Utilizing a combination of indium triflate and N-bromosuccinimide, NBS, with either ortho-esters or alcohols provided rapid access to a variety of esters. Certain substrates convert fully within a few seconds, other more challenging tert-butyl esters were formed in good yield after no more than 4 h.