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Despite significant progress in aliphatic decarboxylation, an efficient and general protocol for radical aromatic decarboxylation has lagged far behind. Herein, we describe a general strategy for rapid access to both aryl and alkyl radicals by photosensitized decarboxylation of the corresponding carboxylic acids esters followed by their successive use in divergent carbon-heteroatom and carbon-carbon bond-forming reactions. Identification of a suitable activator for carboxylic acids is the key to bypass a competing single-electron-transfer mechanism and "switch on" an energy-transfer-mediated homolysis of unsymmetrical σ-bonds for a concerted fragmentation/decarboxylation process.
Patra et al. (Tue,) studied this question.