Excited Organic Radicals in Photoredox Catalysis

Many important synthetic-oriented works have proposed excited organic radicals as photoactive species, yet mechanistic studies raised doubts about whether they can truly function as photocatalysts. This skepticism originates from the formation of (photo)redox-active degradation products and the picosecond decay of electronically excited radicals, which is considered too short for diffusion-based photoinduced electron transfer reactions. From this perspective, we analyze important synthetic transformations where organic radicals have been proposed as photocatalysts, comparing their theoretical maximum excited state potentials with the potentials required for the observed photocatalytic reactivity. We summarize…

• NS
  National Science Foundation
• SN
  Schweizerischer Nationalfonds zur Förderung der Wissenschaftlichen Forschung

  Awards: 200020_207329, 10001855, P500PN_225730
• FN
  Fonds National de la Recherche Luxembourg

  Award: 14583224