Electrophotochemical Metal-Catalyzed Decarboxylative Coupling of Aliphatic Carboxylic Acids

An electrophotochemical dual metal-catalyzed protocol for decarboxylative arylation of simple aliphatic carboxylic acids with aryl halides is reported. The relative stabilities of catalytically active metal complexes simultaneously generated at anode and cathode are the key design elements for the success of this convergent paired electrolysis. This new electrophotocatalytic method is mild, robust, and most importantly, capable of accommodating simple primary aliphatic acids including acetic acid - ubiquitous and variegated structural motifs yet remain oddly challenging substrates - directly as native functional groups for decarboxylative C(sp(2))-C(sp(3)) bond formation.