Photochemical reactions as synthetic tool for pharmaceutical industries

In the quest for new agrochemicals and pharmaceuticals, chemists seek access to reliable and mild synthetic techniques to allow for the systematic modification of chemical structures, exploration of unexplored chemical space, and facilitation of practical synthesis in their search for novel agrochemicals and pharmaceuticals. In this regard, photocatalytic reactions enabled the synthesis of intricate and more functionalized compounds. This review overviews the developed synthetic methodologies and their utility in the chemical synthesis of pharmaceuticals. This review also offers in-depth insights into contemporary photoredox reactions such as allylic additions, cyclization, reductive cross-coupling, C-H activation, ring opening, oxidative cross-coupling, dehydrogenation, desulphonation, and decarboxylation. It provides a positive outlook for the promising future of this field.