A chiral copper catalyst, generated in situ from commercially available components, can be used to achieve photoinduced deracemization of alkyl halides through carbon–halogen bond cleavage.

The photoinduced accumulation of redox equivalents is a challenging requirement for artificial photosynthesis. Now a molecule has been developed in which the sequential absorption of photons results i...

The photoinduced accumulation of redox equivalents is a challenging requirement for artificial photosynthesis. Now a molecule has been developed in which the sequential absorption of photons results in the temporary accumulation of two holes and two electrons. The employed strategy opens up new possibilities for charge accumulation under low photon densities.

Femtosecond photoexcitation drives a coherent twist–untwist motion of the moiré superlattice in 2° and 57° twisted WSe2/MoSe2 heterobilayers.

Ultrafast IR absorption spectroscopy was utilized to interrogate excited-state electron transfer in a strongly-coupled, cyanide-bridged photoinduced mixed-valent system. Despite structural asymmetry,...

Ligand-to-metal charge transfer photocatalysts (LMCT PCs) are being increasingly implemented towards construction and functionalization of organic molecules. Leveraging photoinduced metal-ligand bond ...

The photoinduced accumulation of redox equivalents is a challenging requirement for artificial photosynthesis. Now a molecule has been developed in which the sequential absorption of photons results i...

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Photochemical oxygen atom migration into carbon–carbon bonds enables the efficient synthesis of ethers from alcohol motifs.

Light-activatable iridium(III) anticancer prodrugs demonstrate how chalcogen coordination controls photoinduced therapeutic activity. Upon visible-light irradiation, sulfur- and selenium-based caging....

A family of 17 sugar-based alternating copolymers was synthesized via photoinduced radical copolymerization of naturally occurring levoglucosenone (LGO) and commercially available vinyl ethers. The r...

The synthesis of the hindered and polyfluorinated dialkyl ethers poses challenges owing to the bulkiness of tertiary alcohols and the low nucleophilicity of polyfluorinated alcohols. Additionally, associated competitive side reactions always provide poor reactivities. Although certain strategies, such as electrocatalytic decarboxylation and hydroalkoxylation, have been explored, a straightforward method for obtaining ethers with structural diversity remains elusive. In this study, we have exploited the photoinduced approach that involves the in situ formation of singlet carbenes followed by O–H insertions to access the hindered and polyfluorinated ethers with congested or polyfluorinated alcohols. Moreover, other nucleophiles such as phenols, H2O, thiols, silanols, tributyltin hydride, etc., are also tolerable to obtain valuable products. The gram-scale synthesis of marketed drugs and the modification of complex molecules demonstrate the practicality of this approach. The detailed mechanistic studies have elucidated the key intermediates and reaction mechanism, which were distinct from traditional metal-carbenoid O–H insertions.

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