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Abstract Chlorine radical, which is classically generated by the homolysis of Cl 2 under UV irradiation, can abstract a hydrogen atom from an unactivated C(sp 3 )−H bond. We herein demonstrate the use of HCl as an effective hydrogen‐atom‐transfer catalyst precursor activated by an organic acridinium photoredox catalyst under visible‐light irradiation for C−H alkylation and allylation. The key to success relied on the utilization of microtubing reactors to maintain the volatile HCl catalyst. This photomediated chlorine‐based C−H activation protocol is effective for a variety of unactivated C(sp 3 )−H bond patterns, even with primary C(sp 3 )−H bonds, as in ethane. The merit of this strategy is illustrated by rapid access to several pharmaceutical drugs from abundant unfunctionalized alkane feedstocks.
Deng et al. (Wed,) studied this question.