The recent breackthrough discovery by Melchiorre’s research group in the use of aromatic aldehydes as energy-transfer photoorganocatalysts in atom-transfer radical addition reactions is discussed in this article by D. Ravelli and M. Fagnoni:

Aromatic Aldehydes as Energy-Transfer Photoorganocatalysts
D. Ravelli and M. Fagnoni
ChemCatChem, 2015, 7, 735-737

 

Melchiorre’s paper deals with the use of and organic molecule as simple as p-anisaldehyde as an efficient catalyst for the intermolecular atom-transfer radical addition (ATRA) of a variety of haloalkanes onto olefins, one of the fundaental carbon-carbon bond-forming transformations in organic chemistry.