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ACS Catalysis
The combined effects of the numerous catalyst properties,
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
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8
such as excited-state energies, redox potentials, excited-state
lifetimes, extinction coefficients, catalyst stabilities and the
photoactivities of degradation products, underline the value of
tunability within a class of photocatalysts for the design and
optimization of photocatalytic reactions. Moreover, photosta-
ble catalysts significantly reduce further uncertainties, which
prompted us to investigate the inherent photostabilities of the
prepared acridinium dyes. Good to excellent intrinsic catalyst
stabilities that compare favorably to Ru(bpy)32+ were observed
in the photostability assay (see SI page S38 for details).
We gratefully acknowledge the Swiss National Science Founda-
tion (BSSGI0-155902/1 and 175746), the University of Basel, the
German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina and the
NCCR Molecular Systems Engineering for financial support. We
thank Prof. M. Mayor for equipment usage and Thomas Buchholz
and Dragan Miladinov for skillful experimental support.
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CONCLUSIONS
In conclusion, divergent organophotocatalytic reaction path-
ways investigated in detail by photophysical studies revealed
the hallmarks of aminoacridinium catalysts and the contribu-
tions of singlet and triplet excited state kinetics. Moreover, the
modularity of organophotocatalysts to complement tunable
polypyridyl transition metal complexes was emphasized by a
versatile acridinium synthesis using bifunctional organodilith-
ium reagents from the combination of X-M exchange and di-
rected ortho-metalation. Twelve novel acridinium catalysts
with charge transfer or π-π* lowest-energetic electronic transi-
tions, high inherent photostabilities, adjustable triplet energies
and a broad range of excited state reduction potentials were
prepared. The virtues of modular organophotocatalysts were
evident by optimal catalytic features to refine photoredox
methodology. With the growing scope of complementary
families of organophotocatalysts, significant contributions to
reaction discovery, sustainable synthesis and scale-up can be
anticipated. Our current studies focus on the applications of
the novel organophotocatalysts and the design of particularly
photostable aminoacridinium catalysts.
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AUTHOR INFORMATION
Corresponding Authors
* Email: oliver.wenger@unibas.ch, christof.sparr@unibas.ch
Author Contributions
The manuscript was written through contributions of all authors.
All authors have given approval to the final version of the manu-
script. ‡These authors contributed equally.
Funding Sources
Swiss National Science Foundation (BSSGI0-155902/1 and
175746), German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina,
NCCR Molecular Systems Engineering
Notes
The authors declare no conflict of interest. Compounds 4a-l are
part of a filed patent (C. Fischer, C. Sparr. EP 17/188,288) li-
censed to Solvias. The catalysts will be commercially available.
ASSOCIATED CONTENT
Supporting Information
The Supporting Information is available free of charge on the
ACS Publications website.
Experimental procedures, compound characterization, divergent
pathways, DFT calculations, photophysical properties, quenching
studies, emission lifetime determinations, benchmarking reactions
and inherent photostability studies (PDF)
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