1,4-Dihydropyridine Anions as Potent Single-Electron Photoreductants

Organic anions offer a promising route for promoting difficult single-electron reductions, owing to their strongly reducing excit-ed states that can be accessed under visible light irradiation. This report describes the use of simple 1,4-dihydropyridine anions as a general platform for promoting single-electron photoreductions. In the presence of a mild base, 1,4-dihydropyridines were shown to effectively promote the hydrodechlorination and borylation of aryl chlorides and the photodetosylation of N–Tosyl aromatic amines under visible light irradiation.