Triphenylphosphine-Catalyzed Alkylative Iododecarboxylation with Lithium Iodide under Visible Light

Under irradiation of 456 nm blue light-emitting diodes, PPh3 catalyzes the iododecarboxylation of aliphatic carboxylic acid derived N-(acyloxy)phthalimide with lithium iodide as an iodine source. The reaction delivers primary, secondary, and bridgehead tertiary alkyl iodides in acetone solvent, and the alkyl iodide products were easily used to generate C-N, C-O, C-F, and C-S bonds to allow various decarboxylative transformations without using transition-metal or organic-dye-based photocatalysts.