Esplorando il potenziale sintetico degli arilchetoni fotoeccitati

The carbonyl system is one of the most prevalent functional groups in Nature. It is present in several classes of organic compounds that are essential for our daily life. Specifically, aryl ketones are a paradigmatic case of study in terms of photophysical and photochemical applications. Their use in synthetic photochemistry has been studied in detail during the 20th century. This thesis deals with the development of previously unexplored synthetic methods enabled by using new technologies. In particular, the utilization of microfluidic photoreactors enhanced the synthetic performance and scalability of several photochemical methods, e.g., Paternò–Büchi and photoenolization/Diels–Alder processes, while opening the way to unprecedented reactivity. Additionally, the careful mechanistic analysis of the occurring processes has been of pivotal importance during my PhD studies. Thus, the diastereoselectivity prediction for dearomative Paternò-Büchi reactions, the development of versatile organic photocatalysts and the investigation of challenging trifluoromethoxylation reactions have been studied on a rationale basis.