Photoactivation of an electron donor–acceptor encounter complex in an organic solvent cage, a phenomenon that has been described in Mulliken theory, has been known for decades, but it has not been employed as a photoactivation step in the design of photocatalysis for organic synthesis until recent years. We report herein an iododecarboxylation reaction that applies this concept for photoactivation by using a catalyst to facilitate electron transfer and to suppress back electron transfer in the photoexcited state. Under irradiation of 456 nm blue light-emitting diodes, PPh3 catalyzes the iododecarboxylation of aliphatic carboxylic acid-derived N-(acyloxy)phthalimide with lithium iodide as iodine source. The reaction delivers primary, secondary, and bridgehead tertiary alkyl iodides in acetone solvent, and the alkyl iodide products were easily used to generate C–N, C–O, C–F, and C–S bonds to allow various decarboxylative transformations without using transition-metal or organic dye-based photocatalysts. This protocol is applicable to redox-active esters derived from various natural products and pharmaceuticals.
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