Progress in Photo-Catalyzed Trifluoromethylthiolation and Trifluoromethylselenolation Reactions

Photoredox catalysis has evolved into a widely used method and has fostered the extensive utilization of radical coupling partners in organic synthesis over the past years. The integration of visible-light photocatalysis into fluorine chemistry has achieved many important transformations for radical fluorination and fluoroalkylation, which usually proceeded smoothly under mild conditions with simple oxidants or reductants, exhibiting a broad range of substrates and excellent functional group tolerance. In this review, we highlight the photoredox-catalyzed procedures for the trifluoromethylthiolation and trifluoromethylselenolation reactions as well as their possible mechanisms. The ease and environment-friendliness of shuttling electrons back and forth to substrates or intermediates, and selectively transferring energy through visible-light-absorbing catalysts or EDA complexes holds promise to improve the trifluoromethylthiolation and trifluoromethylselenolation in radical chemistry.