Photochemical radical generation has profoundly altered the landscape of synthetic chemistry. Alkyl chlorides are desirable radical progenitors but are generally considered inert to photochemical activation. We are developing copper photosensitizers featuring amido-phosphine ligands which expand the toolbox of reductive photochemistry to include such substrates. The photosensitizers exhibit long lifetimes and extreme excited state reduction potentials and can be rendered catalytic under electrochemical conditions. Mechanistic investigations rationalize the catalyst activity, stability, and functional group tolerance, and implicate outer-sphere electron transfer.

Reductive radical generation via outer-sphere photoelectrochemistry

ACS Spring 2022

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.