The selective installation of phosphinoyl and carbamoyl moieties on the pyridine scaffold is an important transformation in synthetic and medicinal chemistry. By employing quinolinone as an efficient organic photocatalyst, we developed a catalytic system driven by visible light that forms phosphinoyl and carbamoyl radicals, which react with various heteroarenium derivatives under mild, transition-metal-free conditions. This straightforward and environmentally friendly synthetic method represents a new approach to site-divergent pyridine functionalization that offers considerable advantages in both simplicity and efficiency. Ambient temperature is sufficient for the formation of the reactive radicals, and the site-selectivity can be switched from C2 to C4 by changing the radical coupling sources. Under standard reaction conditions, phosphinoyl radicals give access to C4 products, while carbamoyl radicals selectively give C2 products. We found that the carbamoyl radical overcomes the intrinsic preference for forming the orthoproduct by allowing the oxo functionality of the carbamoyl radical to electrostatically engage the nitrogen of the pyridinium substrate, which preferentially gives the ortho-product. The phosphinoyl radical cannot engage in the same interaction, because the phosphorus is too large. This novel synthetic route tolerates a broad range of substrates and provides a convenient and powerful synthetic tool for accessing the core structures of numerous privileged scaffolds.

The development of intermolecular alkene aminopyridylation has great potential for quickly increasing molecular complexity with two valuable groups. Here we report a strategy for the photocatalytic aminopyridylation of alkenes using a variety of N-aminopyridinium salts as both aminating and pyridylating reagents. Using Eosin Y as a photocatalyst, amino and pyridyl groups are simultaneously incorporated into alkenes, affording synthetically useful aminoethyl pyridine derivatives under mild reaction conditions. Remarkably, the C4-regioselectivity in radical trapping with N-aminopyridinium salt can be controlled by electrostatic interaction between the pyridinium nitrogen and sulfonyl group of β-amino radical. This transformation is characterized by a broad substrate scope, good functional group compatibility, and the utility of this transformation was further demonstrated by late-stage functionalization of complex biorelevant molecules. Combining experiments and DFT calculations on the mechanism of the reaction is investigated to propose a complete mechanism and regioselectivity.

By employing an N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC) catalyst, we developed a versatile catalytic system that enables deaminative cross-coupling reactions of aldehydes with redox-active pyridinium salts.

By exploiting electron donor–acceptor (EDA) complexes between 1,4-dihydropyridines and N-amidopyridinium salts under visible light irradiation, we discovered that photoinduced intermolecular charge transfer induces a single-electron transfer event without requiring a photocatalyst for the facile functionalization of pyridines. The generality of this method is amenable to various types of 1,4-dihydropyridines radical precursors to generate structurally different radicals such as alkyl, acyl, and carbamoyl radicals, ultimately providing facile access to synthetically valuable C4-functionalized pyridines. A broad range of functional groups are well accommodated under mild and metal-free conditions, and the synthetic utility of the present method is showcased by the late-stage functionalization of a variety of biologically relevant pyridine-based compounds, pharmaceuticals, and peptide feedstocks.

An efficient, transition metal-free trifluoromethylative pyridylation of unactivated alkenes was achieved by visible-light-induced photoredox catalysis.