Issue 5, 2018

First use of a divalent lanthanide for visible-light-promoted photoredox catalysis

Abstract

We report the first catalytic use of a divalent lanthanide in visible-light-promoted bond-forming reactions. Our new precatalyst uses europium in the +2 oxidation state and is active in the presence of blue light from light-emitting diodes. The use of low-energy visible light reduces the occurrence of potential side reactions that might be induced by higher-energy UV light. The system described here uses zinc metal as a sacrificial reductant and is tolerant to wet, protic solvents. The catalyst can be made in situ from relatively inexpensive and air-stable EuCl3·6H2O, and the ligand can be synthesized in large quantities in two steps. With 0.5% loading of precatalyst, an average of 120 turnovers was observed in six hours for reductive coupling of benzyl chloride. We expect that the results will initiate the study of visible-light-promoted photoredox catalysis using divalent europium in a variety of reactions.

Graphical abstract: First use of a divalent lanthanide for visible-light-promoted photoredox catalysis

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Edge Article
Submitted
02 Jun 2017
Accepted
13 Dec 2017
First published
21 Dec 2017
This article is Open Access

All publication charges for this article have been paid for by the Royal Society of Chemistry
Creative Commons BY license

Chem. Sci., 2018,9, 1273-1278

First use of a divalent lanthanide for visible-light-promoted photoredox catalysis

T. C. Jenks, M. D. Bailey, Jessica L. Hovey, S. Fernando, G. Basnayake, M. E. Cross, W. Li and M. J. Allen, Chem. Sci., 2018, 9, 1273 DOI: 10.1039/C7SC02479G

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported Licence. You can use material from this article in other publications without requesting further permissions from the RSC, provided that the correct acknowledgement is given.

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