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Updated: Dec 28, 2025

Light-driven Enzymatic Decarboxylation
Published on: May 22, 2016
Synthesis of α-functionalized ketones by visible-light promoted oxygenation of alkenes
Xinchi Gong1, Chunyin Zhu1, Long-Wu Ye2
1School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang 212013, China. zhucycn@gmail.com.
Abstract:
This article gives a short review on the visible-light promoted synthesis of α-functionalized ketones from alkenes. Various α-functionalized ketones, including α-halo, sulfinyl/sulfonyl, aryl, azido and thiocyanato ketones can be synthesized from the reaction of alkenes with different radical species generated by visible-light catalysis. These transformations typically use dioxygen as the terminal oxidant and do not require a transition metal to activate the double bond, which is quite different from the transition-metal catalysed reactions (Wacker oxidation or hydroformylation).
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