Photocatalytic halogen atom transfer enables general dicarbofunctionalization of alkenes with organic halides and CO2
4 affiliations
- 1Division of Applied Chemistry, Graduate School of Engineering, The University of Osaka, Suita, Osaka Japan
- 2Innovative Catalysis Science Division, Institute for Open and Transdisciplinary Research Initiatives (ICS-OTRI), The University of Osaka, Suita, Osaka Japan
- 3Fakultät für Chemie und Pharmazie, Universität Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany
- 4Nanotechnology Centre, Centre for Energy and Environmental Technologies, VSB - Technical University of Ostrava, Ostrava-Poruba, Czech Republic
Abstract
The dicarbofunctionalization of alkenes using organic halides and CO₂ provides a valuable platform for synthesizing carboxylic acids through two C–C bond-forming steps, motifs widely found in pharmaceuticals, agrochemicals, and functional materials. Existing strategies predominantly rely on sequential single-electron transfer (SET) events for substrate activation and carbanion generation, restricting their scope to readily reducible halides. Consequently, many organic halides with highly negative reduction potentials and strong C–X bonds, including electron-rich aryl bromides, aryl chlorides, and alkyl chlorides, remain largely unreactive. Here, we report a visible-light-driven photocatalytic strategy that combines halogen-atom transfer (XAT) and SET processes, where XAT enables generation of carbon-centered radicals from challenging halides, and SET promotes efficient carbanion formation for CO₂ incorporation. This approach enables three-component dicarbofunctionalization of alkenes with a broad range of aryl and alkyl halides, affording carboxylated products in yields of up to 94% across more than fifty examples.
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BibTeX
@article{watanabe2026photocatalytic,
title = {{Photocatalytic halogen atom transfer enables general dicarbofunctionalization of alkenes with organic halides and CO2}},
author = {Taito Watanabe and Shigeyuki Masaoka and Burkhard König and Indrajit Ghosh},
journal = {Communications Chemistry},
year = {2026},
month = jul,
doi = {10.1038/s42004-026-02112-5},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1038/s42004-026-02112-5},
note = {CC BY-NC-ND 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Photocatalytic halogen atom transfer enables general dicarbofunctionalization of alkenes with organic halides and CO2
AU - Taito Watanabe
AU - Shigeyuki Masaoka
AU - Burkhard König
AU - Indrajit Ghosh
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/07/10
JO - Communications Chemistry
DO - 10.1038/s42004-026-02112-5
UR - https://doi.org/10.1038/s42004-026-02112-5
AB - The dicarbofunctionalization of alkenes using organic halides and CO₂ provides a valuable platform for synthesizing carboxylic acids through two C–C bond-forming steps, motifs widely found in pharmaceuticals, agrochemicals, and functional materials. Existing strategies predominantly rely on sequential single-electron transfer (SET) events for substrate activation and carbanion generation, restricting their scope to readily reducible halides. Consequently, many organic halides with highly negative reduction potentials and strong C–X bonds, including electron-rich aryl bromides, aryl chlorides, and alkyl chlorides, remain largely unreactive. Here, we report a visible-light-driven photocatalytic strategy that combines halogen-atom transfer (XAT) and SET processes, where XAT enables generation of carbon-centered radicals from challenging halides, and SET promotes efficient carbanion formation for CO₂ incorporation. This approach enables three-component dicarbofunctionalization of alkenes with a broad range of aryl and alkyl halides, affording carboxylated products in yields of up to 94% across more than fifty examples.
SN - 2399-3669
ER -