Ramírez, Nieves P., Lana-Villarreal, Teresa, Gonzalez-Gomez, Jose C. Direct Decarboxylative Allylation and Arylation of Aliphatic Carboxylic Acids Using Flavin‐Mediated Photoredox Catalysis European Journal of Organic Chemistry. 2020, 10: 1539-1550. doi:10.1002/ejoc.201900888 URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10045/103987 DOI: 10.1002/ejoc.201900888 ISSN: 1434-193X (Print) Abstract: We describe herein a direct decarboxylative allylation of aliphatic carboxylic acids with allylsulfones using visible light and riboflavin tetraacetate (RFTA) as photocatalyst. The reaction proceeds at room temperature tolerating a wide range of functionalities, avoiding the use of external bases or additives. Mechanistic studies support that alkyl radicals are involved in the reaction and that a true photocatalytic cycle is operating. It is proposed that the carboxylic acid is deprotonated by [RFTA]·–, and the corresponding carboxylate acts as a reductive quencher of RFTA*, which after decarboxylation produces the alkyl radical. The methodology was adapted to prepare benzothiazoles substituted at C2, by reacting some carboxylic acids with 2‐(phenylsulfonyl)benzothiazole. The number of carboxylic acids suitable for this arylation was lower than for the allylation and this different reactivity was briefly commented. Keywords:Allylation, Carboxylic acids, Photocatalysis, Radicals, Sustainable chemistry Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA info:eu-repo/semantics/article