The development of a “green”, environment-friendly, organocatalytic (metal-free) photochemical organic transformation for the synthesis of ketones from the reaction between aldehydes and unactivated olefins was reported by the group of Assistant Professor Christoforos Kokotos. The publication entitled: «Green Metal-Free Photochemical Hydroacylation of Unactivated Olefins», which was carried out by PhD candidate Errika Voutyritsa and Assistant Professor Christoforos Kokotos in the Laboratory of Organic Chemistry of the Department of Chemistry of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, was published in the highly ranked international journal Angewandte Chemie. Angewandte Chemie, a journal of the Wiley publishing house, constitutes a top international journal in Chemistry with a high impact factor (12.24). Publication Link: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/anie.201912214
The methodology describes a novel organic reaction that employs a small organic molecule (phenylglyoxylic acid) as the photoinitiator, water as the solvent and is carried out under very mild conditions by irradiation employing either household lamps or sunlight. The reaction constitutes a novel C-H activation methodology that does not require metal catalysts or directing groups and can be employed in a plethora of subtrates. The reaction and its products are of high importance for the Chemical Industry and especially the Pharmaceutical Industry. Key role in the success of the work was the study of the reaction mechanism in detail. This new synthetic methodology is expected to open new avenues in Organic Synthetic Chemistry and will find applications in the synthesis of high added value chemicals and pharmaceuticals, as well as in the synthesis of natural products.
