Ketyl Radical Coupling Enabled by Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon Electrophotocatalysts

Herein, we report a new class of electrophotocatalysts, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, that promote the reduction of unactivated carbonyl compounds to generate versatile ketyl radical intermediates. This catalytic platform enables previously challenging intermolecular ketyl radical coupling reactions, including those that classic reductants (e.g., SmI2/HMPA) have failed to promote. More broadly, this study outlines an approach to fundamentally expand the array of reactive radical intermediates that can be generated via electrophotocatalysis by obviating the need for rapid mesolytic cleavage following substrate reduction.