Catalysis undoubtedly is recognized as a key methodology in organic chemistry allowing for efficient and sustainable synthetic procedures.

While the efficiency of processes achieved in nature is still unmet, newly developed strategies for the activation of molecules often rely on biomimetic principles to enable formerly unattainable bond construction. This includes multicatalytic processes, where more than one reaction partner experiences activation, allowing for their successive (domino and cascade catalysis, one-pot processes) or concurrent transformation (synergistic and cooperative catalysis) into reactive intermediates. In this context this concurrent activation of complementary reaction partners and the synchronization of the different catalytic cycles are major challenges. Umpolung strategies and/or orthogonal activation such as by visible light, which both represent non-traditional reaction manifolds, are among the activation modes to circumvent these inherent problems.

The lecture will describe our latest advances in developing new (multi)catalytic transformations, both with and without the aid of light.