Visible-Light-Driven Direct Oxidative Coupling Reaction Leading to Alkyl Aryl Ketones, Catalyzed by Nano Pd/ZnO

Direct alkyl sp(3) C-H activation to form new C-C bonds is one of the major challenges in synthetic chemistry. Herein, for the first time, we represent a new method, using nano Pd/ZnO which plays both as photoredox and transition-metal catalyst, for C-C bond formations. By using this catalyst, we have accomplished an oxidative coupling reaction between aryl halides and tertiary amines to yield the corresponding naturally occurring alkyl aryl ketones by using visible light irradiation. Furthermore, the carbonylation process was carried out on a 10 gram scale, with visible light and thermal condition, and it was proved to be scalable, efficient, and economical.