Photo-induced oxidative cleavage of C–C double bonds for the synthesis of biaryl methanone via CeCl3 catalysis

Abstract

A Ce-catalyzed strategy is developed to produce biaryl methanones via photooxidative cleavage of C–C double bonds at room temperature. This reaction is performed under air and demonstrates high activity as well as functional group tolerance. A synergistic Ce/ROH catalytic mechanism is also proposed based on the experimental observations. This protocol should be the first successful Ce-catalyzed photooxidation reaction of olefins with air as the oxidant, which would provide inspiration for the development of novel Ce-catalyzed photochemical synthesis processes.