Visible-Light-Driven Germyl Radical Generation via EDA-Catalyzed ET-HAT Process

Kaito Yoshizawa; Bi-Xiao Li; Taro Matsuyama; Chao Wang; Masanobu Uchiyama

doi:10.1002/chem.202401546

Visible-Light-Driven Germyl Radical Generation via EDA-Catalyzed ET-HAT Process

Chemistry. 2024 May 8:e202401546. doi: 10.1002/chem.202401546. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Kaito Yoshizawa¹, Bi-Xiao Li¹, Taro Matsuyama¹, Chao Wang², Masanobu Uchiyama³

Affiliations

¹ The University of Tokyo, Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, JAPAN.
² Kanazawa University, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Institute of Medicinal, Pharmaceutical, and Health Sciences, JAPAN.
³ The University of Tokyo, Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, 113-0033, Tokyo, JAPAN.

PMID: 38716768
DOI: 10.1002/chem.202401546

Abstract

We have established a facile and efficient protocol for the generation of germyl radicals by employing photo-excited electron transfer (ET) in an electron donor-acceptor (EDA) complex to drive hydrogen-atom transfer (HAT) from germyl hydride (R3GeH). Using a catalytic amount of EDA complex of commercially available thiol and benzophenone derivatives, the ET-HAT cycle smoothly proceeds simply upon blue-light irradiation without any transition metal or photocatalyst. This protocol also affords silyl radical from silyl hydride.

Keywords: EDA complex; Germyl Radical; HAT; photochemical reaction; silyl radical.