Host (CdS)-guest (single-atomic Au) electron transfer mechanism for blue-LED-induced atom transfer radical addition of alkenes

Abstract

Atom transfer radical addition (ATRA) is commonly applied to introduce perfluoroalkyl groups into organic molecules, but it often suffers from harsh reaction condition, poor yield and expensive catalyst usage for practical application. Light-induced ATRA reaction is of great significance due to its merits of mild reaction condition and easy operation, but it is generally difficult to achieve high yield because of the lack of ideal photosensitizers. Herein, an Au single-atom sites (SASs) decorated hexagonal cadmium sulfide (CdS) nanocatalyst (CatCdS-Au) was synthesized to catalyze ATRA reaction under mild blue-LED-induction. As a result, the synergetic effect of CdS-Au interaction enhanced the optical properties and promoted the host (CdS)-guest (Au) electron transfer, leading to high ATRA yields (88–98%) and excellent selectivity even choosing different alkene substrates, which is remarkably superior over existing reaction systems (60–90% yields) ever reported in literatures. The present work sheds light on realizing high ATRA reaction yield via a green and high-efficient synthetic strategy.