Photocatalysis in the Life Science Industry

• Lisa Candish^a
• Karl D. Collins^b
• Gemma C. Cook^c
• James J. Douglas^d
• Adrián Gómez-Suárez^e
• Anais Jolit^f
• Sebastian Keess^f

• ^aDrug Discovery Sciences, Pharmaceuticals, Bayer AG, 42113 Wuppertal, Germany
• ^bBayer Foundation, Public Affairs, Science and Sustainability, Bayer AG, 51368 Leverkusen, Germany
• ^cDiscovery High-Throughput Chemistry, Medicinal Science and Technology, GlaxoSmithKline, Stevenage SG1 2NY, U.K.
• ^dEarly Chemical Development, Pharmaceutical Sciences, R&D, AstraZeneca, Macclesfield SK10 2NA, U.K.
• ^eOrganic Chemistry, Bergische Universität Wuppertal, 42119 Wuppertal, Germany
• ^fMedicinal Chemistry Department, Neuroscience Discovery Research, AbbVie Deutschland GmbH & Co. KG, 67061 Ludwigshafen, Germany

In the pursuit of new pharmaceuticals and agrochemicals, chemists in the life science industry require access to mild and robust synthetic methodologies to systematically modify chemical structures, explore novel chemical space, and enable efficient synthesis. In this context, photocatalysis has emerged as a powerful technology for the synthesis of complex and often highly functionalized molecules. This Review aims to summarize the published contributions to the field from the life science industry, including research from industrial-academic partnerships. An overview of the synthetic methodologies developed and strategic applications in chemical synthesis, including peptide functionalization, isotope labeling, and both DNA-encoded and traditional library synthesis, is provided, along with a summary of the state-of-the-art in photoreactor technology and the effective upscaling of photocatalytic reactions.

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