Aerobic organocatalytic photoinitiated arene oxidations: application to electron transfer initiated cyclization reactions.

[reaction: see text] Electron transfer initiated oxidative cyclization reactions can be effected by catalytic amounts of N-methylquinolinium hexafluorophosphate through photoirradiation in the presence of dioxygen. Solid sodium thiosulfate serves as an effective reducing agent to remove the reactive oxygen species formed from catalyst regeneration and radical coupling reactions with O(2), allowing these cyclizations to proceed efficiently on preparatively useful scales.