Dichromatic Photocatalytic Substitutions of Aryl Halides with a Small Organic Dye

Photocatalytic bond activations are generally limited by the photon energy and the efficiency of energy and electron transfer processes. Direct two-photon processes provide sufficient energy but the ultra-short lifetimes of the excited states prohibit chemical reactions. The commercial dye 9,10-dicyanoanthracene enabled photocatalytic aromatic substitutions of non-activated aryl halides. This reaction operates under VIS-irradiation via sequential photonic, electronic, and photonic activation of the simple organic dye. The resultant highly reducing excited photocatalyst anion readily effected C-H, C-C, C-P, C-S, and C-B bond formations. Detailed synthetic, spectroscopic, and theoretical studies support a biphotonic catalytic mechanism.