Photochemical Strategies for Carbon–Carbon Bond Forming Processes

Identifier:  TDX:3051

Handle: https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11797/TDX3051

Authors:  Buzzetti, Luca

Abstract:
The emerging field of photoredox catalysis has led to the development of new transformations due to the ability to generate radical intermediates under mild conditions. Traditionally, this relies on the use of a photocatalyst, which efficiently absorbs light and induces a single electron transfer (SET). However, the chemical reactivity of electronically excited molecules differs fundamentally from that in the ground state. An excited-state molecule is both a better electron donor and a better electron acceptor than in the ground state and behaves respectively as a better reductant and a better oxidant. The main scientific objective of this doctoral research was to investigate and understand the excited-state reactivity of some organic molecules to develop novel photochemical C–C bond-forming processes. In order to achieve this goal, different tools of organic chemistry were combined. In the first projects (discussed in Chapter III and IV), the merger of organocatalysis and photochemistry enabled the direct asymmetric β-functionalization of enals triggered by the visible-light excitation of in situ formed chiral iminium salts. In the second part of the PhD studies (discussed in Chapter V), the excited-state properties of 4-alkyl-1,4-dihydropyridines (alkyl-DHP) were exploited in combination with transition metal catalysis for the development of nickel-catalyzed radical cross-couplings.