Red light mediated energy transfer catalysis via stable organic radicals
- 1Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California San Diego 92093 La Jolla CA USA
- 2Program in Materials Science and Engineering, University of California San Diego 92093 La Jolla CA USA
Abstract
Photocatalysis is a versatile tool for chemical synthesis but has largely relied on high energy ultraviolet (UV) or blue light excitation. Recently, efforts have been made to conduct photocatalysis with lower-energy (red light) excitation. It offers key advantages, such as improved selectivity with fewer side reactions, greater biocompatibility, and deeper light penetration through reaction media. However, current red light photocatalysts often require rare and expensive metals, have limited reaction scope, or are difficult to prepare. Herein, we report a stable organic radical, TTM-3PCz, as a red-light-absorbing energy transfer photocatalyst. The radical consists of a tris(2,4,6-trichlorophenyl)methyl moiety that is readily synthesized from inexpensive precursors. TTM-3PCz can be optically excited to a doublet state because of its open-shell character. This excited doublet state directly populates the reactive triplet excited state of various substrates via Dexter-type doublet-to-triplet energy transfer. We show that TTM-3PCz promotes a broad range of reactions, including photooxidation, cyclization, [2 + 2] cycloaddition, and isomerization. Its performance is on par with traditional rare-metal containing photocatalysts excited with high-energy light. We demonstrate stable organic radicals as a powerful new class of air-tolerant, rare-metal-free photocatalysts for red light mediated transformations.
Related
- Tuning the Efficiency of Iridium(III) Complexes for Energy Transfer (EnT) Catalysis through Ligand Design
- GSH-derived carbon dot-mediated interfacial electron transfer modulates pH-Dependent redox catalysis of Ce-MOF nanozymes for wound healing
- Geminal Metalloid Substituents Enable Stereoselective Geometric Isomerization of Highly Substituted Alkenes via Energy-Transfer Catalysis
- Metal Nanocluster-Based Metal-Organic Frameworks for Catalysis
- Neutral photogenerated N-centred radicals as a general, catalytic direct hydrogen atom transfer platform for aliphatic C–H functionalization
BibTeX
@article{feng2026light,
title = {{Red light mediated energy transfer catalysis via stable organic radicals}},
author = {Tzu-Hsuan Feng and Ana Paula Nita Vizcardo and Andrew Brian Pun},
journal = {Chemical Science},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.1039/d6sc05431e},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1039/d6sc05431e},
note = {CC BY 3.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Red light mediated energy transfer catalysis via stable organic radicals
AU - Tzu-Hsuan Feng
AU - Ana Paula Nita Vizcardo
AU - Andrew Brian Pun
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/01
JO - Chemical Science
DO - 10.1039/d6sc05431e
UR - https://doi.org/10.1039/d6sc05431e
AB - Photocatalysis is a versatile tool for chemical synthesis but has largely relied on high energy ultraviolet (UV) or blue light excitation. Recently, efforts have been made to conduct photocatalysis with lower-energy (red light) excitation. It offers key advantages, such as improved selectivity with fewer side reactions, greater biocompatibility, and deeper light penetration through reaction media. However, current red light photocatalysts often require rare and expensive metals, have limited reaction scope, or are difficult to prepare. Herein, we report a stable organic radical, TTM-3PCz, as a red-light-absorbing energy transfer photocatalyst. The radical consists of a tris(2,4,6-trichlorophenyl)methyl moiety that is readily synthesized from inexpensive precursors. TTM-3PCz can be optically excited to a doublet state because of its open-shell character. This excited doublet state directly populates the reactive triplet excited state of various substrates via Dexter-type doublet-to-triplet energy transfer. We show that TTM-3PCz promotes a broad range of reactions, including photooxidation, cyclization, [2 + 2] cycloaddition, and isomerization. Its performance is on par with traditional rare-metal containing photocatalysts excited with high-energy light. We demonstrate stable organic radicals as a powerful new class of air-tolerant, rare-metal-free photocatalysts for red light mediated transformations.
SN - 2041-6520
SN - 2041-6539
ER -