Chapter 4 - Advances in photochemical seleno-functionalization of (hetero)arenes

Abstract

Visible light can be regarded as a sustainable and alternative source of energy, which has resulted in a growing interest in light-mediated organic synthesis. On the other hand, the design and synthesis of organoselenium compounds with biological relevance via C–H bond seleno-functionalization has attracted considerable attention from the scientific community. The prominent advantages of light-mediated reactions and their application in the construction of C–Se bond is an appealing and hot topic. Visible light–mediated seleno-functionalization has emerged as an alternative and powerful route to access interesting selenylated products with diminished cost and waste, fitting as environmentally sustainable process. In this chapter, we present a brief overview on recent advances in photochemical direct C(sp2)–H bond seleno-functionalization of (hetero)arenes, which results in interesting hybrid biological relevant structures. such as indole, imidazopyridine, coumarins, activated arenes, etc. In most cases, the ease of operation, accessibility of the light source (commercial CFL lamps, LEDs), and commercially available photocatalysts make this approach more attractive and sustainable than the traditional strategies.