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Low-energy photoredox catalysis

Nature Reviews Chemistry volume 9, pages 28–45 (2025)Cite this article

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Abstract

With the advent of photoredox catalysis, new synthetic paradigms have been established with many novel transformations being achieved. Nevertheless, modern photoredox chemistry has several drawbacks, namely, deficiencies in reaction efficiency and scalability. Furthermore, wavelengths of light in excess of the energy required for a chemical reaction are often used. In this Review, we document recent developments of low-energy light-absorbing catalysts and their cognate photochemical methods, advantageously mitigating off-cycle photochemical reactivity of excited-state species in the reaction mixture and improving batch scalability of photochemical reactions. Finally, developments in red-light photoredox catalysis are leading the next-generation applications to polymer science and biochemistry–chemical biology, enabling catalytic reactions within media composites — including mammalian tissue — that are historically recalcitrant with blue-light photoredox catalysis.

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Fig. 1: Photoredox catalysis explanation and examples of red-light-absorbing photocatalysts.
Fig. 2: Red-light organophotoredox catalysis.
Fig. 3: Main group-based and transition metal-based red-light photoredox catalysts.
Fig. 4: Accessing higher-energy photoredox catalysis.
Fig. 5: Applications of red-light photoredox catalysis in polymer chemistry.
Fig. 6: Applications of red-light photocatalysis in biology.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank N. Tay for the helpful discussions.

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  1. Department of Chemistry, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA

    David C. Cabanero & Tomislav Rovis

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Glossary

Dexter EnT

An energy transfer mechanism through which electrons are exchanged between an excited-state donor and an acceptor molecule. This exchange requires overlap of the wavefunctions of the donor and acceptor and, thus, occurs at short distances.

Förster EnT

An energy transfer mechanism through which a non-radiative relaxation of an excited-state electron from the donor results in the excitation of the electron of an acceptor molecule. The distance between the molecules exceeds that of the sum of their van der Waals radii, and the efficiency of quenching is characteristically sensitive to changes in the distance between the two molecules.

Streptavidin

A tetrameric protein with an extremely strong affinity for biotin. This pair is typically used in biotechnology for purification and detection of biomolecules.

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Cabanero, D.C., Rovis, T. Low-energy photoredox catalysis. Nat Rev Chem 9, 28–45 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41570-024-00663-6

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