Enantioselective organo-photocatalysis mediated by atropisomeric thiourea derivatives.

Can photocatalysis be performed without electron or energy transfer? To address this, organo-photocatalysts that are based on atropisomeric thioureas and display lower excited-state energies than the reactive substrates have been developed. These photocatalysts were found to be efficient in promoting the [2+2] photocycloaddition of 4-alkenyl-substituted coumarins, which led to the corresponding products with high enantioselectivity (77-96% ee) at low catalyst loading (1-10 mol%). The photocatalytic cycle proceeds by energy sharing via the formation of both static and dynamic complexes (exciplex formation), which is aided by hydrogen bonding.