Red light excitation: illuminating photocatalysis in a new spectrum

• Lucas Fortier,
• Corentin Lefebvre and
• Norbert Hoffmann

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 296–326, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.22

• transition-metal-based photosensitizers acting by triplet energy transfer for which high singlet oxygen quantum yields are crucial, the silicon phthalocyanins in this study have exhibited relatively low singlet oxygen quantum yield values (around 0.27 for the silicon-based photocatalysts used in this work

• -established for their use in organic photovoltaic cells and as efficient photosensitizers for singlet oxygen generation. In 2022, Goddard et al. have reported the groundbreaking use of squaraine derivatives as novel organic NIR photocatalysts for various chemical transformations, marking the first application

• same team further proposed various infrared-mediated reactions catalyzed by 40 as presented in Figure 7. It has to be noted that other squaraine derivatives have also been explored as innovative photoinitiators and photosensitizers for initiating the free radical polymerization (FRP) of methacrylates

Advances in the use of metal-free tetrapyrrolic macrocycles as catalysts

• Mandeep K. Chahal

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 3085–3112, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.257

• few examples present in the literature. This section also includes the first example of photoredox catalysis utilizing corroles, another tetrapyrrolic photosensitizers. Porphyrins are well-known photosensitizers widely studied for their use in photobiology. Their extensive aromatic system enables them

• frameworks (COF), have been extensively studied as photosensitizers of singlet oxygen and photoredox catalysts [87][88][89][90]. However, using metal-free porphyrins as photoredox catalysts for C–C or C–heteroatom bond formation is an area which has recently started to be explored. In 2016, Gryko and co

Visible-light-mediated flow protocol for Achmatowicz rearrangement

• Joachyutharayalu Oja,
• Sanjeev Kumar and
• Srihari Pabbaraja

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 2493–2499, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.213

• -prefunctionalized materials in order to proceed with the rearrangement. However, the Achmatowicz reaction or similar methodologies involve a catalytic to stoichiometric amount of oxidants such as m-CPBA [7], PCC [8], Br2 [9], NBS [10], DMDO [11], KBr/Oxone [12], Na2S2O8 [13], photosensitizers/O21 [14], or Me2S [15

A new platform for the synthesis of diketopyrrolopyrrole derivatives via nucleophilic aromatic substitution reactions

• Vitor A. S. Almodovar and
• Augusto C. Tomé

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 1933–1939, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.169

• used in a wide range of applications, namely as organic semiconductors [8], acceptors for organic solar cells [9][10], as fluorescent probes [11][12][13], or as photosensitizers for photodynamic therapy and antimicrobial photodynamic therapy [14][15][16][17]. DPP derivatives with improved performance

Supramolecular assemblies of amphiphilic donor–acceptor Stenhouse adducts as macroscopic soft scaffolds

• Ka-Lung Hung,
• Leong-Hung Cheung,
• Yikun Ren,
• Ming-Hin Chau,
• Yan-Yi Lam,
• Takashi Kajitani and
• Franco King-Chi Leung

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 1590–1603, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.142

• functionalized with photoresponsive and photoabsorbing functional motifs, serving as the counterpart of natural photosystems. This allowed to construct smart materials that harvest light energy, e.g., solar cells, photosensitizers, and photochromic materials [1][2][3][4]. Supramolecular assemblies are commonly

Generation of alkyl and acyl radicals by visible-light photoredox catalysis: direct activation of C–O bonds in organic transformations

• Mithu Roy,
• Bitan Sardar,
• Itu Mallick and
• Dipankar Srimani

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 1348–1375, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.119

• of novel synthetic strategies. It has expanded the scope of available synthetic methods and contributed to the synthesis of complex molecules with high efficiency and selectivity. Ongoing research in this field continues to explore new catalysts, photosensitizers, and reaction mechanisms to further

Synthesis and characterization of water-soluble C₆₀–peptide conjugates

• Yue Ma,
• Lorenzo Persi and
• Yoko Yamakoshi

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 777–786, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.71

• photodynamic therapy photosensitizers (PDT PSs) [41] and magnetic resonance imaging contrast agents (MRI CAs) [42], which are the most relevant topics in fullerene biological studies. Aggregated fullerenes in the micelle structure may cause self-quenching of the excited state of PS fullerenes or may inhibit

Synthesis of new representatives of A₃B-type carboranylporphyrins based on meso-tetra(pentafluorophenyl)porphyrin transformations

• Victoria M. Alpatova,
• Evgeny G. Rys,
• Elena G. Kononova and
• Valentina A. Ol'shevskaya

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 767–776, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.70

• biosensors, bioimaging probes, and especially as photosensitizers (PSs) in photodynamic therapy (PDT) [2]. PDT is a treatment modality that uses the combination of a non-toxic PS, oxygen, and light to treat diseases ranging from cancer to age-related macular degeneration and antibiotic-resistant infections

• [3][4][5][6]. Currently, there are a few photosensitizers approved for clinical PDT such as Photofrin®, Foscan®, Lutex®, Tookad®, Purlytin®, Visudyne® and Laserphyrin® [7] and experience in clinical use of PDT shows that this method belongs to one of promising directions in modern clinical oncology

• [8]. Further improvement of the PDT method requires the search for new photosensitizers having higher photoactivity, tumor selectivity, and high singlet oxygen quantum yield, as well as low in vivo toxicity [7]. Therefore, some strategies have been developed to enhance the therapeutic efficiency of

Photoinduced in situ generation of DNA-targeting ligands: DNA-binding and DNA-photodamaging properties of benzo[c]quinolizinium ions

• Julika Schlosser,
• Olga Fedorova,
• Yuri Fedorov and
• Heiko Ihmels

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 101–117, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.11

• irradiation of the styrylpyridines and formation of the intercalator directly in the presence of DNA. In addition to the DNA-binding properties, the tested benzo[c]quinolizinium derivatives also operate as photosensitizers, which induce DNA damage at relative low concentrations and short irradiation times

• turn oxidizes the DNA bases [46]. As a result, various classes of photosensitizers [47][48][49] have been established, for example, porphyrins [50], chlorins [51], phthalocyanines [52], porphycenes [53], metal-organic complexes [54][55][56], dye aggregates [57], as well as nano-drug carriers and metal

• side-effects. Therefore, the search for a class of photosensitizers is still a topical research area in photobiology [60]. To this end, benzo[c]quinolizinium derivatives may be considered as feasible photosensitizers because they can be formed readily in situ in the presence of DNA and because the

Multi-redox indenofluorene chromophores incorporating dithiafulvene donor and ene/enediyne acceptor units

• Christina Schøttler,
• Kasper Lund-Rasmussen,
• Line Broløs,
• Philip Vinterberg,
• Ema Bazikova,
• Viktor B. R. Pedersen and
• Mogens Brøndsted Nielsen

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 59–73, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.8

• (without an acetylenic moiety as in 20) are themselves poor photosensitizers for singlet oxygen. Electrochemistry Cyclic voltammograms of compounds 11, 13, 15, 16, and 17 (in MeCN for compounds 11 and 15 and in CH2Cl2 for compounds 13, 16, and 17, all with 0.1 M Bu4NPF6 as supporting electrolyte) are shown

Thienothiophene-based organic light-emitting diode: synthesis, photophysical properties and application

• Recep Isci and
• Turan Ozturk

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 1849–1857, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.137

• (OFETs) [26][27][28], capacitors [29][30], hybrid films [31], and photosensitizers [32][33][34]. Another important π-conjugated unit is triphenylamine (TPA), having an ionization potential of 6.80 eV, which is lower compared to many other organic cores, thus providing a strong electron-donating ability

Substituent-controlled construction of A₄B₂-hexaphyrins and A₃B-porphyrins: a mechanistic evaluation

• Seda Cinar,
• Dilek Isik Tasgin and
• Canan Unaleroglu

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 1832–1840, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.135

• building blocks in the fields of near-infrared (NIR) dyes [5], nonlinear optical (NLO) materials [2], and photosensitizers in photodynamic therapy [1], however, their synthesis is still a challenge for chemists. Hexaphyrins are one of the most investigated structures among expanded porphyrins owing to

Recent advancements in iodide/phosphine-mediated photoredox radical reactions

• Tinglan Liu,
• Yu Zhou,
• Junhong Tang and
• Chengming Wang

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 1785–1803, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.131

• utilities, there are still a few drawbacks associated with these photoredox reactions. One of the main limitations is the reliance on precious metals such as Ir, Ru, and Pd, or elaborate organic dyes that act as photosensitizers, which are either limited in abundance or require additional synthetic steps to

• light irradiation at either 440 nm or 456 nm, and they occurred in acetone at room temperature, without the need for transition metals or organic dyes as photosensitizers. Interestingly, it was discovered that solvation played a vital role in the overall process. These findings shed light on the

• has emerged as an attractive approach for nitroarene reduction [43][44]. In 2021, Huang and colleagues discovered a photoredox system that did not require any transition metal or other photosensitizers [45]. This system employed a combination of NaI and PPh3 to achieve highly selective reduction of

Unravelling a trichloroacetic acid-catalyzed cascade access to benzo[f]chromeno[2,3-h]quinoxalinoporphyrins

• Chandra Sekhar Tekuri,
• Pargat Singh and
• Mahendra Nath

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 1216–1224, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.89

• quinoxalinoporphyrins displayed a wide range of applications in many fields including molecular electronics [8][9][10]. Additionally, appropriately functionalized quinoxalinoporphyrin-based photosensitizers are of great interest in the area of dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSC) due to their strong absorption in the

• visible and near IR regions [11][12][13][14]. Similarly, simple quinoxaline-based heterocycles have shown their potential as photosensitizers to induce toxicity in a single cell green algae such as Chlamydomonas reinhardtii [15] and also displayed efficacy against Mycobacterium tuberculosis and other

Enabling artificial photosynthesis systems with molecular recycling: A review of photo- and electrochemical methods for regenerating organic sacrificial electron donors

• Grace A. Lowe

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 1198–1215, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.88

• decoupled water splitting research, are introduced as alternative recyclable sacrificial electron donors and their oxidation potentials are compared to the redox potentials of some model photosensitizers. The aim of this review is to act as a reference for researchers developing photocatalytic systems with

• What makes a good sacrificial electron donor? Before exploring sacrificial electron donor recycling, it is important to understand what chemical properties and behavior make efficient sacrificial electron donors. Sacrificial electron donors reduce either photoexcited or photooxidized photosensitizers

• in systems for carbon dioxide reduction (see Figure 1). Reductive quenching of the photosensitizer occurs when the sacrificial donor reduces the photoexcited photosensitizer (reductive quenching pathway). Regeneration of photooxidized photosensitizers occurs when the excited dye is first oxidatively

Photoredox catalysis harvesting multiple photon or electrochemical energies

• Mattia Lepori,
• Simon Schmid and
• Joshua P. Barham

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 1055–1145, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.81

Synthesis, structure, and properties of switchable cross-conjugated 1,4-diaryl-1,3-butadiynes based on 1,8-bis(dimethylamino)naphthalene

• Semyon V. Tsybulin,
• Ekaterina A. Filatova,
• Alexander F. Pozharskii,
• Valery A. Ozeryanskii and
• Anna V. Gulevskaya

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 674–686, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.49

• theoretical and experimental studies revealed that the side groups of 1,4-diaryl-1,3-butadiynes have a significant impact on their useful characteristics [7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14]. For example, single-molecule conductivity, nonlinear optical properties, and the ability to serve as photosensitizers of

Naphthalimide-phenothiazine dyads: effect of conformational flexibility and matching of the energy of the charge-transfer state and the localized triplet excited state on the thermally activated delayed fluorescence

• Kaiyue Ye,
• Liyuan Cao,
• Davita M. E. van Raamsdonk,
• Zhijia Wang,
• Jianzhang Zhao,
• Daniel Escudero and
• Denis Jacquemin

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2022, 18, 1435–1453, doi:10.3762/bjoc.18.149

• actually a special case of SOCT-ISC, when the three 1CT/3CT/3LE states have similar energies. Nevertheless, in most orthogonal dyads showing SOCT-ISC, the 3LE state has a much lower energy than the CT states, especially in triplet photosensitizers, for which a final 3LE state is desired [32][33]. As

Structural basis for endoperoxide-forming oxygenases

• Takahiro Mori and
• Ikuro Abe

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2022, 18, 707–721, doi:10.3762/bjoc.18.71

• photosensitizers or visible light, non-enzymatically reacts with the biosynthetic intermediates to produce endoperoxide structures [16][22][23]. However, over the past three decades, only a few endoperoxide-forming enzymes have been identified, including the cyclooxygenases in the biosynthesis of prostaglandins

Visible-light-mediated copper photocatalysis for organic syntheses

• Yajing Zhang,
• Qian Wang,
• Zongsheng Yan,
• Donglai Ma and
• Yuguang Zheng

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2021, 17, 2520–2542, doi:10.3762/bjoc.17.169

• . This review discussed the fundamental mechanisms underlying copper-based photocatalysis, including CuI/CuII-mediated and copper substrate-mediated catalytic cycles, which are important in metallo-photoredox mechanisms. The excited-state properties of Cu-based photosensitizers can be efficiently tuned

Constrained thermoresponsive polymers – new insights into fundamentals and applications

• Patricia Flemming,
• Alexander S. Münch,
• Andreas Fery and
• Petra Uhlmann

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2021, 17, 2123–2163, doi:10.3762/bjoc.17.138

Synthetic reactions driven by electron-donor–acceptor (EDA) complexes

• Zhonglie Yang,
• Yutong Liu,
• Kun Cao,
• Xiaobin Zhang,
• Hezhong Jiang and
• Jiahong Li

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2021, 17, 771–799, doi:10.3762/bjoc.17.67

• the excited state, causing an electron transfer to give radicals and to initiate subsequent reactions. Besides light as an external energy source, reactions involving the participation of EDA complexes are mild, obviating transition metal catalysts or photosensitizers in the majority of cases and are

• reactions, C–C-, C–S-, C–B-, C–N-, C–P-, C–O-, and C–H bond formations. The absence of transitional-metal catalysts and photosensitizers is the most profound feature of EDA-complex- mediated reactions in most cases. On the other hand, the reaction conditions are mild, and light is utilized as the only

Insight into functionalized-macrocycles-guided supramolecular photocatalysis

• Minzan Zuo,
• Krishnasamy Velmurugan,
• Kaiya Wang,
• Xueqi Tian and
• Xiao-Yu Hu

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2021, 17, 139–155, doi:10.3762/bjoc.17.15

• macrocycle has inherent chromophores that can function as photosensitizers, the efficiency of the energy transfer will be higher and the systems will be simplified. 3) Other kinds of macrocycle-based catalysis need to be explored, such as esterification, polymerization, redox reaction, etc. 4) Hyperbranched

Dawn of a new era in industrial photochemistry: the scale-up of micro- and mesostructured photoreactors

• Emine Kayahan,
• Mathias Jacobs,
• Leen Braeken,
• Leen C.J. Thomassen,
• Simon Kuhn,
• Tom van Gerven and
• M. Enis Leblebici

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 2484–2504, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.202

• solvents used in the photoreactor. Several singlet-oxygen-mediated photooxidation reactions were performed in the aerosol photoreactor. Singlet oxygen is a highly reactive state of oxygen, which can be formed by some photosensitizers or dyes when an appropriate light source is used. The authors performed

Photosensitized direct C–H fluorination and trifluoromethylation in organic synthesis

• Shahboz Yakubov and
• Joshua P. Barham

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 2151–2192, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.183

• . One exciting development in C–F bond formation is the use of small-molecule photosensitizers, allowing the reactions i) to proceed under mild conditions, ii) to be user-friendly, iii) to be cost-effective and iv) to be more amenable to scalability than typical photoredox-catalyzed methods. In this

• metal-based catalysts in organic synthesis and due to the exhaustive coverage of transition metal-based photosensitizers in the literature, we focus on detailing the properties of small-organic-molecule photosensitizers. Section 2 also highlights common fluorinating reagents, especially those used in C

• byproducts. It is inexpensive, sustainable (ideally not ruthenium or iridium complexes) and commercially available. Due to their comparatively high triplet energies and the long lifetime of their triplet states; organic dyes and various ruthenium and iridium complexes are well-suited photosensitizers [118