(4) New photocatalytic metal complex achieving only the two electron reduction

While a lot of Photocatalytic reduction or oxidation reactions have been reported, most of them began with electron transfer, which caused some problems because of the radical species produced as reaction intermediates. We succeeded in the synthesis of multi-electron reduction photocatalyst which did not involve electron transfer. By adopting this photocatalytic system, selective hydride reductive of coenzyme NAD(P) was realized in the same product distribution as that of photosynthesis by plants. Improvement and application of the reduction system, such as asymetric reductive photocatalyst, is now in progress.

Fig. 5 Photocatalyst affording the same product distribution
as that of photosynthesis by plants.