Combining Rhodium and Photoredox Catalysis for CH Functionalizations of Arenes: Oxidative Heck Reactions with Visible Light

Direct, oxidative metal-catalyzed CH functionalizations of arenes are important in synthetic organic chemistry. Often, (over-)stoichoimetric amounts of organic or inorganic oxidants have to be used in these reactions. The combination of rhodium and photoredox catalysis with visible light allows the direct CH olefination of arenes. Small amounts (1mol%) of a photoredox catalyst resulted in the efficient CH functionalization of a broad range of substrates under mild conditions.