Photocatalytic acylarylation of unactivated alkenes with diaryliodonium salts toward indanones and related compounds.

A novel photocatalytic acylarylation of unactivated alkenes using diaryliodonium salts as the arylation reagent is described. The reaction produces a variety of 2-benzyl indanones, 3,4-dihydronaphthalen-1(2H)-ones, and 2,3-dihydroquinolin-4(1H)-ones in promising yields with excellent diastereoselectivity under very mild conditions, which may be appealing for the synthesis of biologically active molecules.