Heteroleptic Copper(I)-Based Complexes for Photocatalysis: Combinatorial Assembly, Discovery, and Optimization

Abstract

A library of 50 copper-based complexes derived from bisphosphines and diamines was prepared and evaluated in three mechanistically distinct photocatalytic reactions. In all cases, a copper-based catalyst was identified to afford high yields, where new heteroleptic complexes derived from the bisphosphine BINAP displayed high efficiency across all reaction types. Importantly, the evaluation of the library of copper complexes revealed that even when photophysical data is available, it is not always possible to predict which catalyst structure will be efficient or inefficient in a given process, emphasizing the advantages for catalyst structures with high modularity and structural variability.

Keywords: copper complexes; energy transfer; photocatalysis; photoredox reactions; proton-coupled electron transfer.