Journal of the American Chemical Society, Vol.133, No.5, 1162-1164, 2011
[3+2] Cycloadditions of Aryl Cyclopropyl Ketones by Visible Light Photocatalysis
We report a new method for the formal [3+2] reaction of aryl cyclopropyl ketones with olefins to generate highly substituted cyclopentane ring systems. The key initiation step in this process is the one-electron reduction of the ketone to the corresponding radical anion, which is accomplished using a photocatalytic system comprising Ru(bpy)(3)(2+), La(OTf)(3), and TMEDA.