Faculty Opinions recommendation of Merging photoredox catalysis with organocatalysis: the direct asymmetric alkylation of aldehydes.

Photoredox catalysis and organocatalysis represent two powerful fields of molecule activation that have found widespread application in the areas of inorganic and organic chemistry, respectively. We merged these two catalysis fields to solve problems in asymmetric chemical synthesis. Specifically, the enantioselective intermolecular alpha-alkylation of aldehydes has been accomplished using an interwoven activation pathway that combines both the photoredox catalyst Ru(bpy)3Cl2 (where bpy is 2,2'-bipyridine) and an imidazolidinone organocatalyst. This broadly applicable, yet previously elusive, alkylation reaction is now highly enantioselective and operationally trivial. PMID: 18772399 Funding information This work was supported by: NIGMS NIH HHS, United States Grant ID: R01 GM078201-01-01 NIGMS NIH HHS, United States Grant ID: F32GM076816 NIGMS NIH HHS, United States Grant ID: R01 GM078201-03 NIGMS NIH HHS, United States Grant ID: R01 GM078201