electron transfer ·photocatalysis ·pyrenes ·triplettriplet annihilation ·tris(bipyridine)ruthenium (II) During the last decade photocatalysis in organic synthesis has become ab looming field of research. [1][2][3] In most cases, photocatalytic reactions involve electron transfer processes that yield highly reducing or oxidizing intermediates.In search of highly reducing species generated upon visible light excitation, arecent Communication published in this journal [4] reports the use of av isible-light absorbing photocatalyst, namely [Ru(bpy) 3 ] 2+ ,toproduce radical anions of UV-absorbing polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons,s uch as pyrene,w hich in turn were able to drive the reductive activation of chemical bonds for carbon-carbon and carbonheteroatom bond formation.Thep roposed photochemical mechanism mimics that of the natural photosynthesis:l ight absorption, followed by energy transfer and electron transfer steps,asdescribed by the following scheme (the relevant electronic excited states participating in the reactions are shown in parentheses).½RuðbpyÞ 3 2þ ðS 1 Þ!½ RuðbpyÞ 3 2þ ðT 1 Þ ð2Þ ½RuðbpyÞ 3 2þ ðT 1 ÞþPy !½ RuðbpyÞ 3 2þ þ PyðT 1 Þ ð3ÞUpon light excitation of [Ru(bpy) 3 ] 2+ ,t he lowest triplet excited state of the Ru II complex (T 1 ), which is populated quantitatively by the S 1 !T 1 intersystem crossing (processes 1a nd 2), sensitizes the population of the triplet state of pyrene,P y(T 1 )( by triplet-triplet energy transfer, process 3). Py(T 1 )i ss ubsequently reduced by N,N-diisopropylethylamine (DIPEA, reaction 4), resulting in formation of astrongly reducing pyrene radical anion (Py À ), which is able to drive the reduction of organic substrates.H owever,n o experimental evidence supporting the formation of the radical anion of pyrene was reported.We would like to note that, based on the thermodynamic data, the pyrene radical anion is highly unlikely to form as proposed in the scheme (Figure 1, black lines). To af irst approximation, that is,n eglecting the electrostatic work term, [5] the free energy change of the photoinduced outersphere electron transfer reaction can be obtained [6] from the redox potentials of the ground state couples and the oneelectron potential corresponding to the zero-zero excitation energy,according to the values reported and discussed in the original paper: [4] E[Py(T 1 )/Py À ] = E[Py/Py À ] + E 00 [Py/Py(T 1 )] = À2.1 + 2.0 = À0.1 V E[DIPEA + /DIPEA] =+0.9 Vvs. SCE [7] In the case of reaction (4):Therefore,r eaction (4) is highly endoergonic and its occurrence ( Figure 1) is extremely unlikely.Indeed, even the electron transfer quenching of [Ru(bpy) 3 ] 2+ (T 1 )b yDIPEA, which is much less endoergonic (ca. 0.2 eV), was reported to be extremely slow. [4] Apossible alternative,thermodynamically allowed mechanism (Figure 1), underpinning formation of the pyrene radical anion and subsequent reduction of organic substrates, could involve energy transfer from the photoexcited Ru II complex to pyrene [reaction (3)],f ollowed by triplet-triplet annihilation of two ...