Light on Unsaturated Hydrocarbons – “Gotta Heterofunctionalize Them All”

Abstract

Carbon–heteroatom bond formation is a long-standing hot topic in organic chemistry owing to the ubiquitous presence of these bonds in organic molecules. A major pathway to form them is the heterofunctionalization of unsaturated moieties mediated by transition metals or radical initiators. Recently, visible-light catalysis has become a powerful method for the synthesis of many chemical bonds, and carbon–heteroatom bond formation has attracted the particular attention of photochemists. In this review, we highlight recent advances in visible-light photocatalysis for the formation of C–N, C–O, C–S, and C–P bonds through the hydro- or carbo-heterofunctionalization reactions of unsaturated partners.