Light-driven activation of carbon-halogen bonds by readily available amines for photocatalytic hydrodehalogenation

Abstract A straightforward protocol using readily available aromatic amines, N,N,N′,N′-tetramethyl- p-phenylenediamine or N,N′,N′-tetramethylbenzidine, as photocatalysts was developed for the efficient hydrodehalogenation of organic halides, such as 4′-bromoacetophenone, polyfluoroarenes, cholorobenzene, and 2,2′,4,4′-tetrabromodiphenyl ether(a resistant and persistent organic pollutant). The strongly reducing singlet excited states of the amines enabled diffusion-controlled dissociative electron transfer to effectively cleave carbon-halogen bonds, followed by radical hydrogenation. Diisopropylethylamine served as the terminal electron/proton donor and regenerated the amine sensitizers.