Taking benzyl fluorides beyond game changing reports

Sometimes a new piece of chemistry fills a gap perfectly. While a study might not feature a novel reaction, it can still be very important if it optimises conditions for a new set of substrates – such as those used in the life sciences. These substrates are often missing from the brilliant ‘game changing’ reports that describe new reactivity, so it is often later publications that consolidate a reaction’s usefulness.

Over the last ten years, photoredox catalysis has arguably been the most innovative field of synthetic chemistry. One of the most important of these reactions is decarboxylative cross-coupling of carboxylic acids and aryl halides. Typically, an iridium catalyst and visible light drive decarboxylation to generate an alkyl radical that is trapped and coupled with the (hetero)aryl halide by a nickel catalyst.