Photocatalytic Reductive Radical-Polar Crossover for a Base-Free Corey–Seebach Reaction

A metal-free generation of carbanion nucleophiles is of prime importance in organic synthesis. Herein we report a photocatalytic approach to the Corey–Seebach reaction. The presented method operates under mild redox-neutral and base-free conditions giving the desired product with high functional group tolerance. The reaction is enabled by the combination of photo- and hydrogen atom transfer (HAT) catalysis. This catalytic merger allows a C−H to carbanion activation by the abstraction of a hydrogen atom followed by radical reduction. The generated nucleophilic intermediate is then capable of adding to carbonyl electrophiles. The obtained dithiane can be easily converted to the valuable α-hydroxy carbonyl in a subsequent step. The proposed reaction mechanism is supported by emission quenching, radical–radical homocoupling and deuterium labeling studies as well as by calculated redox-potentials and bond strengths.