Photocatalyzed allylic derivatization reactions

Abstract

Catalytic allylation reactions are important methodologies to introduce the versatile allyl functionality into molecules to produce fine chemicals and synthetic building blocks. Since the first reports by Tsuji and Trost, many improvements on allylation technologies have been reported. The introduction of photocatalytic techniques marked one of the major breakthroughs in this field, complementing the existing thermal chemo-catalyzed protocols, providing high selectivity under milder conditions. This review discloses state-of-the-art photocatalyzed allylation methodologies, their reaction mechanisms, and synthetic applications. The reactions are classified according to the employed catalysts, namely single photocatalyst and dual-catalytic approaches. Finally, each methodology is individually presented and evaluated based on the performance of the reaction.