2021/10/04 by Matthew J. Genzink, Jesse B. Kidd, Wesley B. Swords +1 · 11 citations
Chemistry · #Chemical Synthesis and Reactions #Radical Photochemical Reactions #Sulfur-Based Synthesis Techniques
paper · doi:10.1021/acs.chemrev.1c00467
openalex publication_date 2021/10/04 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/01
Asymmetric catalysis is a major theme of research in contemporary synthetic organic chemistry. The discovery of general strategies for highly enantioselective photochemical reactions, however, has been a relatively recent development, and the variety of photoreactions that can be conducted in a stereocontrolled manner is consequently somewhat limited. Asymmetric photocatalysis is complicated by the short lifetimes and high reactivities characteristic of photogenerated reactive intermediates; the design of catalyst architectures that can provide effective enantiodifferentiating environments for these intermediates while minimizing the participation of uncontrolled racemic background processes has proven to be a key challenge for progress in this field. This review provides a summary of the chiral catalyst structures that have been studied for solution-phase asymmetric photochemistry, including chiral organic sensitizers, inorganic chromophores, and soluble macromolecules. While some of these photocatalysts are derived from privileged catalyst structures that are effective for both ground-state and photochemical transformations, others are structural designs unique to photocatalysis and offer insight into the logic required for highly effective stereocontrolled photocatalysis.