New Avenues in Synthesis Enabled by Organic Photoredox Catalysis

Single electron pathways are prevalent in numerous biosynthetic pathways that are crucial to life on our planet. As synthetic chemists, we seek to harness the power of these open-shell processes to achieve uncommon but valuable chemical reactivity. To this end, my laboratory is interested in accessing single electron pathways via the use of organic photoredox catalysis. This seminar will highlight the recent synthetic methods developed by my laboratory, C-H functionalization reactions of aromatic and aliphatic compounds as well as catalysis of the nucleophilic aromatic substitution of methoxyarenes. Where, applicable, data in support of mechanistic hypotheses will be presented.