Photons as a reagent in organic synthesis

The modern world relies on organic synthesis in order to build the pharmaceuticals, agrochemicals and materials that form the basis of modern life.

The overall objective of this research program concerns the development of synthetic methodologies that are driven by visible light.

The purpose is to use low-energy visible light to mediate synthetic manifolds for construction of molecular complexity that are aligned with prevailing sustainability principles.

For achieving this, photoredox catalysis will be used for selective and controlled functionalization of unactivated carbon–hydrogen (C–H) bonds.

The research program will provide a sustainable and uniform framework for accessing molecular complexity by integrating new approaches for generating and utilizing radical intermediates in coupled processes as well as cooperative catalytic systems.

Furthermore, the conceived synthetic methodologies are highly beneficial in terms of synthetic manipulations and addresses the shortcomings commonly associated with current multistep reactions in which large quantities of chemical waste is generated, thus affording strategic alternatives for accessing modular building blocks for early- or late-stage synthetic efforts in a sustainable and atom economical manner.