Photocatalysis Enabling Acceptorless Dehydrogenation of Benzofused Saturated Rings at Room Temperature.

Sunburned: Visible light facilitates the acceptorless dehydrogenation of saturated hetero- and carbocycles with an annulated benzene ring (see scheme; X=N and CH2 ). These aromatizations occur at room temperature. The new methods are not only useful for the synthesis of bicyclic heteroarenes and arenes with diverse substitution patterns but also potentially attractive for hydrogen-storage materials.