Activity-Based Approach for Selective Molecular CO2 Sensing.

Carbon dioxide (CO2) impacts every aspect of life, and numerous sensing technologies have been established to detect and monitor this ubiquitous molecule. However, its selective sensing at the molecular level remains an unmet challenge, despite the tremendous potential of such an approach for understanding this molecule's role in complex environments. In this work, we introduce a unique class of selective fluorescent carbon dioxide molecular sensors (CarboSen) that addresses these existing challenges through an activity-based approach. Besides the design, synthesis, and evaluation of these small molecules as CO2 sensors, we demonstrate their utility by tailoring their reactivity and optical properties, allowing their use in a broad spectrum of multidisciplinary applications, including atmospheric sensing, chemical reaction monitoring, enzymology, and live-cell imaging. Collectively, these results showcase the potential of CarboSen sensors as broadly applicable tools to monitor and visualize carbon dioxide across multiple disciplines.

Applications of organocatalysed visible-light photoredox reactions for medicinal chemistry.

The focus of this review is to provide an overview of the field of organocatalysed photoredox chemistry relevant to synthetic medicinal chemistry. Photoredox transformations have been shown to enable key transformations that are important to the pharmaceutical industry. This type of chemistry has also demonstrated a high degree of sustainability, especially when organic dyes can be employed in place of often toxic and environmentally damaging transition metals. The sections are arranged according to the general class of the presented reactions and the value of these methods to medicinal chemistry is considered. An overview of the general characteristics of the photocatalysts as well as some electrochemical data is presented. In addition, the general reaction mechanisms for organocatalysed photoredox transformations are discussed and some individual mechanistic considerations are highlighted in the text when appropriate.