This seminar will focus on new two new strategies to generate reactive organic intermediates that enable precise control over their downstream reactivity to unlock a collection of new synthetic methods.

The first system will introduce a new synthetic logic for use of formate as a formal source of hydrogen atoms and carbon dioxide radical anion that is unlocked through photocatalytic activation of the formate C–H bond. Implementation of this reaction design framework in both C–C bond-forming processes and reductive deoxygenation reactions will be described. The second system will introduce a new platform for oxidative alkene functionalization based around the generation of a new family of dicationic species using anodic activation of thianthrene. These dielectrophiles exhibit a distinctive reactivity profile relative to more conventional dication synthons, such as vicinal dihalides, and consequently enable facile access to a diverse range of building blocks such as aziridines, diamines, cyclopropanes, and beyond.