Catalytic Quantities of Inorganic Salt Promote an Electron Donor–Acceptor Complex to Achieve Defluorinated Cycloaddition

A novel strategy has been developed for synthesizing α-naphthols by photoinduced electron donor-acceptor (EDA) complexes. The method has mild reaction conditions, requires no external oxidants or reducing agents, and shows a broad substrate scope. Notably, the activation mode using catalytic quantities of inorganic salts as the EDA donor has scarcely been reported before. Detailed mechanism verification experiments and theoretical calculations further elucidate the details of this activation mode.