Electrophotocatalytic hydroxymethylation of azaarenes with methanol

The merge of electrochemistry and photocatalysis allowed the required selectivity for the hydroxymethylation of functionalized azaarenes with methanol, including bioactive substrates. The two electrophotocatalytic protocols developed in this work address this transformation, using non-toxic and readily available reagents under mild reaction conditions with electricity as the only “sacrificial oxidant.”