Photoinduced transition-metal-catalyzed cross-coupling reactions have emerged as powerful tools for C(sp2)-O bond formation under mild conditions. Visible-light activation enables access to reactive catalytic intermediates that are difficult to generate thermally. Depending on the activation mode, these transformations proceed through photocatalyst-mediated single-electron transfer (SET), energy transfer (EnT), or direct photoexcitation of transition-metal complexes. This synopsis summarizes recent advances in photoinduced transition-metal-catalyzed C(sp2)-O coupling reactions, highlighting representative examples, mechanistic insights, and future opportunities.
Yao et al. (Fri,) studied this question.