In the pursuit of new pharmaceuticals
and agrochemicals, chemists
in the life science industry require access to mild and robust synthetic
methodologies to systematically modify chemical structures, explore
novel chemical space, and enable efficient synthesis. In this context,
photocatalysis has emerged as a powerful technology for the synthesis
of complex and often highly functionalized molecules. This Review
aims to summarize the published contributions to the field from the
life science industry, including research from industrial-academic
partnerships. An overview of the synthetic methodologies developed
and strategic applications in chemical synthesis, including peptide
functionalization, isotope labeling, and both DNA-encoded and traditional
library synthesis, is provided, along with a summary of the state-of-the-art
in photoreactor technology and the effective upscaling of photocatalytic
reactions.