Identification of Bond‐Weakening Spirosilane Catalyst for Photoredox α‐C−H Alkylation of Alcohols.

The development of catalyst‐controlled site‐selective C(sp3)−H functionalization is a current major challenge in organic synthesis. This paper describes DFT‐guided identification of pentavalent silicate species as a novel bond‐weakening catalyst for the α‐C−H bonds of alcohols together with a photoredox catalyst and a hydrogen atom transfer catalyst. Specifically, Martin's spirosilane accelerated α‐C−H alkylation of alcohols. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]