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Updated: Dec 27, 2025

Light-driven Enzymatic Decarboxylation
Published on: May 22, 2016
A General Method for Photocatalytic Decarboxylative Hydroxylation of Carboxylic Acids
Shah Nawaz Khan1, Muhammad Kashif Zaman1, Ruining Li1
1Shanghai Key Laboratory for Molecular Engineering of Chiral Drugs, School of Pharmacy, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, No. 800 Dongchuan Road, Shanghai 200240, China.
Abstract:
A general and practical method for decarboxylative hydroxylation of carboxylic acids was developed through visible light-induced photocatalysis using molecular oxygen as the green oxidant. The addition of NaBH4 to in situ reduce the unstable peroxyl radical intermediate much broadened the substrate scope. Different sp3 carbon-bearing carboxylic acids were successfully employed as substrates, including phenylacetic acid-type substrates, as well as aliphatic carboxylic acids. This transformation worked smoothly on primary, secondary, and tertiary carboxylic acids.
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