Photoinduced chemical transformations have received in recent years a tremendous amount of attention, providing a plethora of opportunities to synthetic organic chemists. However, performing a photochemical transformation can be quite a challenge because of various issues related to the delivery of photons. These challenges have barred the widespread adoption of photochemical steps in the chemical industry. However, in the past decade, several technological innovations have led to more reproducible, selective, and scalable photoinduced reactions. Herein, we provide a comprehensive overview of these exciting technological advances, including flow chemistry, high-throughput experimentation, reactor design and scale-up, and the combination of photo- and electro-chemistry.

Despite their abundance in organic molecules, considerable limitations still exist in synthetic methods that target the direct C−H functionalization at sp3‐hybridized carbon atoms. This is even more the case for light alkanes, which bear some of the strongest C−H bonds known in Nature, requiring extreme activation conditions that are not tolerant to most organic molecules. To bypass these issues, synthetic chemists rely on prefunctionalized alkyl halides or organometallic coupling partners. However, new synthetic methods that target regioselectively C−H bonds in a variety of different organic scaffolds would be of great added value, not only for the late‐stage functionalization of biologically active molecules but also for the catalytic upgrading of cheap and abundant hydrocarbon feedstocks. Here, we describe a general, mild and scalable protocol which enables the direct C(sp3)−H carbonylation of saturated hydrocarbons, including natural products and light alkanes, using photocatalytic hydrogen atom transfer (HAT) and gaseous carbon monoxide (CO). Flow technology was deemed crucial to enable high gas‐liquid mass transfer rates and fast reaction kinetics, needed to outpace deleterious reaction pathways, but also to leverage a scalable and safe process.

The efficient C-4 selective modification of pyridines is a major challenge for the synthetic community. Current strategies are plagued with at least one drawback regarding functional group-tolerant electronic activation of...

Despite their abundance in organic molecules, considerable limitations still exist in synthetic methods that target the direct C-H functionalization at sp3-hybridized carbon atoms. This is even more the case for light alkanes, which bear some of the strongest C-H bonds known in Nature, requiring extreme activation conditions that are not tolerant to most organic molecules. To bypass these issues, synthetic chemists rely on prefunctionalized alkyl halides or organometallic coupling partners. However, new synthetic methods that target regioselectively C-H bonds in a variety of different organic scaffolds would be of great added value, not only for the late-stage functionalization of biologically active molecules but also for the catalytic upgrading of cheap and abundant hydrocarbon feedstocks. Here, we describe a general, mild and scalable protocol which enables the direct C(sp3)-H carbonylation of saturated hydrocarbons, including natural products and light alkanes, using photocatalytic hydrogen atom transfer (HAT) and gaseous carbon monoxide (CO). Flow technology was deemed crucial to enable high gas-liquid mass transfer rates and fast reaction kinetics, needed to outpace deleterious reaction pathways, but also to leverage a scalable and safe process.