Three-component carbonylative Michael addition of aryl bromides using abundant metal-carbonyl under light

Carbonyl compounds are widely found in various chemical reactions and natural products. Herein, a light-driven carbonylative cross-coupling reaction of bromobenzene was reported. Co2(CO)8 was used as an abundant solid carbonyl source to synthesize various Michael addition products with high yields. This reaction has broad substrates scope with good functional group tolerance. The mechanism study indicated that the reaction is achieved by the formation of benzoyl radical from homolytic C–Co cleavage under irradiation.