A Paradigm Shift in Catalysis: Electro- and Photomediated Nickel-Catalyzed Cross-Coupling Reactions

Conspectus Transition-metal catalyzed cross-coupling reactions are fundamental reactions in organic chemistry, facilitating strategic bond formations for accessing natural products, organic materials, agrochemicals, and pharmaceuticals. Redox chemistry enables access to elusive cross-coupling mechanisms through single-electron processes as an alternative to classical two-electron strategies predominated by palladium catalysis. The seminal reports of Baran, MacMillan, Doyle, Molander, Weix, Lin, Fu, Reisman, and others in merging redox perturbation (photochemical, electrochemical, and purely chemical) with catalysis are pivotal to the current resurgence and mechanistic understanding of first-row transition metal-based catalysis. The hallmark of this redox platform is the systematic modulation of transition-metal oxidation states by a photoredox catalyst or at a heterogeneous electrode surface. Electrocatalysis and photocatalysis enhance transition metal catalysis’ capacity for bond formation through electron- or energy-transfer processes that promote otherwise challenging elementary steps or elusive mechanisms. Cross-coupling conditions promoted by electrocatalysis and photocatalysis are mild, and bond formation proceeds with exceptionally high chemoselectivity and wide functional group tolerance. The interfacing of abundant first-row transition-metal catalysis with electrocatalysis and photocatalysis has brought about a paradigm shift in cross-coupling technology as practitioners are quickly applying these tools in synthesizing fine chemicals and pharmaceutically relevant motifs. In particular, the merger of Ni catalysis with electro- and photochemistry ushered in a new era for carbon–carbon and carbon–heteroatom cross-couplings with expanded generality compared to their thermally driven counterparts. Over the past decade, we have developed enabling photo- and electrochemical methods throughout our combined research experience in industry (BMS, AstraZeneca) and academia (Professor Baran, Scripps Research) in cross-disciplinary collaborative environments. In this Account, we will outline recent progress from our past and present laboratories in photo- and electrochemically mediated Ni-catalyzed cross-couplings. By highlighting these cross-coupling methodologies, we will also compare mechanistic features of both electro– and photochemical strategies for forging C(sp 2 )–C(sp 3 ), C(sp 3 )–C(sp 3 ), C–O, C–N, and C–S bonds. Through these side-by-side comparisons, we hope to demystify the subtle differences between the two complementary tools to enact redox control over transition metal catalysis. Finally, building off the collective experience of ourselves and the rest of the community, we propose a tactical user guide to photo- and electrochemically driven cross-coupling reactions to aid the practitioner in rapidly applying such tools in their synthetic designs.