Light on Unsaturated Hydrocarbons – “Gotta Heterofunctionalize Them All”

Carbon–heteroatom bond formation is a long‐standing hot topic in organic chemistry owing to the ubiquitous presence of these bonds in organic molecules. A major pathway to form them is the heterofunctionalization of unsaturated moieties mediated by transition metals or radical initiators. Recently, visible‐light catalysis has become a powerful method for the synthesis of many chemical bonds, and carbon–heteroatom bond formation has attracted the particular attention of photochemists. In this review, we highlight recent advances in visible‐light photocatalysis for the formation of C–N, C–O, C–S, and C–P bonds through the hydro‐ or carbo‐heterofunctionalization reactions of unsaturated partners.