Photobiocatalysis: A promising tool for sustainable synthesis

Photobiocatalysis has emerged as a powerful tool in organic synthesis because the integrated technology blends the complementary advantages of the two distinct catalytic subdisciplines. More important, photobiocatalysis holds great promise for green manufacturing of various chemicals, materials, and fuels. In this perspective, we summarize recent impressive developments in photobiocatalysis, ranging from parallel/linear photobiocatalytic cascades and light-assisted biotransformations to synergistic photoenzymatic catalysis, and discuss the major limitations. In addition, multicatalytic processes beyond photobiocatalysis are highlighted, and an outlook on future research directions is proposed. [Display omitted] Challenges and opportunities.•Integrating photocatalysis with biocatalysis is a powerful strategy to streamline multistep synthesis in a single reaction vessel, holding great promise for green manufacturing of various chemicals, materials, and fuels.•Photobiocatalysis may open up potentially unlimited possibilities for implementing synthetically valuable yet challenging transformations that are inaccessible by individual catalytic techniques.•Developing efficient photobiocatalytic processes remains a great challenge, due to catalyst inactivation and incompatibility issues between the two types of catalysts in terms of solvents, pH, reaction temperature, reagents, and so on. The development/choice of appropriate catalysts is of great importance to establish integrated catalytic routes because it may be free of many issues aforementioned. Photobiocatalysis has emerged as a powerful tool in organic synthesis, holding great promise in green industrial manufacturing. In this perspective, we summarize recent impressive developments in photobiocatalysis, ranging from parallel/linear photobiocatalytic cascades and light-assisted biotransformations to synergistic photoenzymatic catalysis, and discuss the major limitations. In addition, multicatalytic processes beyond photobiocatalysis are highlighted, and an outlook on future research directions is proposed.