Photoinduced Addition Reactions in Aqueous Media

The scope of this account on addition reactions in aqueous media is to demonstrate that the syntheses of useful targets or functionalizations can be accomplished through photoaddition reactions in benign environments. Ammination reactions of olefins and constrained cycloalkanes, addition products derived from quinonemethides, aromatic arylation reactions of furanones and alkenes, and radical addition reactions to alpha,beta-unsaturated aldehydes performed in aqueous media constitute valuable reactions and hence interesting synthetic targets in organic syntheses. In studying these synthetic targets, different light sources are employed to achieve excitation. Also, photoinduced electron transfer sequences will account for the addition products. This account does exclude the photoaddition reactions performed by the aid of metals or metallic complexes, or the addition of perfluoroalkyl radicals to carbon-carbon and carbon-heteroatom multiple bonds in aqueous media.