Light activation of gold complexes

Abstract

Gold has been considered an inert metal in catalysis until the seminal work of Teles and Hashmi unveiled the potential of homogeneous gold catalysis. Acting as a Lewis acid, numerous gold complexes are now considered as robust and versatile catalysts that efficiently activate carbon–carbon π bonds toward nucleophilic attack. Since the last decade, an emerging field exploits the redox potential of gold through Au(i)/Au(iii) catalytic cycles, using organic oxidants or using light-related processes. The latter approach is covered by this photochemistry lecture which reports the different strategies used: the photophysical behaviour of gold complexes, cooperative gold catalysis/photoredox chemistry (named dual gold/photoredox catalysis) and light-triggered gold catalysis with mono- and dinuclear complexes (named gold photoredox catalysis). Each approach of light-assisted gold catalysis is presented with a general mechanism followed by the organic transformation scopes.