Photocatalyzed organic synthesis transformation is a remarkable green synthetic strategy because of the advantages of operational simplicity, high chemoselectivities, cheap, and environmental benignancy, along with the extensive applications in the fields of organic, pharmaceutical and functional material chemistry. Generally, photoredox catalysts or photosensitizers are necessary for the generation of their excited states to perform the successive oxidative or reductive reactions through the single electron transfer (SET) or energy transfer (ET) process. Furthermore, the exploration of a colored electron donor-acceptor (EDA) complex or a charge transfer (CT) complex between an electron-rich and an electron-poor substrate provides the chance to deliver the excited intermediate under the irradiation of light, resulting in the formation of radical activate species through a single electron transfer to induce successive various radical reactions. These reactions were performed without the need of any external photocatalysts under mild reaction conditions. Herein, this review focuses on the recent progress on photoinduced radical addition reactions, radical borylations, reductive reactions, radical-radical cross-coupling reactions, degradation reactions and radical cascade cyclization via EDA complexes. We highlight these novel green synthetic methodologies and applications, as well as the mechanisms. This review will help to provide references for organic and medicinal chemists who are charmed by these green organic photochemical transformations based on EDA complexes.

A novel and efficient three-component coupling annulation strategy for the synthesis of 2-iminothiazolidin-4ones from amines, isothiocyanates, and alkyl acetylenedicarboxylates under visible-light irradiation conditions has been demonstrated. In this transformation, the in situ formed photoactive electron donor−acceptor (EDA) complexes facilitate the reaction and smoothly generate the corresponding products with a high adaptability under mild conditions. This protocol provides a cost-efficient and practical route to 2-iminothiazolidin-4-ones and promotes potential applications on the synthetic drugs.

A new photocatalyst-free visible-light-enhanced strategy for the synthesis of pyrazolo­[1,5-a]­[1,3,5]­triazine-2,4-diamines via the formation of electron donor–acceptor (EDA) complexes is reported. The in situ generated pyrazolthiourea intermediates from 1H-pyrazol-3-amines and isothiocyanates undergo formal [4 + 2] annulation with 1,1,3,3-tetramethylguanidines (TMG) to deliver the corresponding products involved in three C–N bond formations in a one-pot protocol. The formation of EDA complex from pyrazolthiourea and TMG is confirmed by UV–vis spectroscopy and 1H NMR experiments. Moreover, this mild reaction proceeds in the absence of any external transition metals, oxidants, bases, and ligands. This efficient methodology for the synthesis of purine analogues pyrazolo­[1,5-a]­[1,3,5]­triazine-2,4-diamines provides potential synthetic applications in the field of drug research and development.

A visible-light catalyzed [3 + 1 + 2] annulation for the synthesis of unsymmetrical trisubstituted amino-1,3,5-triazines from amidines, isothiocyanates, and 1,1,3,3-tetramethylguanidines has been developed. This method exhibits the advantages of easily available starting materials, insensitive to air and moisture, wide substrate scopes, high step economy, mild, metal- and ligand-free conditions, which has potential applications in the organic, medicinal, and material chemistry.

Hydrazonamides are fundamental building blocks in many pharmaceuticals and agricultural chemicals. Although contributions have been accomplished through multi-step reactions under harsh conditions, achieving high efficient synthetic strategy remains challenging. Considering...