Flavins have been established as effective catalysts in oxidative photoredox catalysis. Conversely, their use in reductive photocatalysis remains limited, mainly due to the relatively low stability of the transient flavin radicals (semiquinones), which are used in photoreductions. The fully reduced forms of flavins are also disadvantaged in photocatalysis because they absorb light in the UV rather than in the visible region. In this work, we present a new approach for reductive flavin photocatalysis that utilises a flavin (isoalloxazine) anion derived from the elusive 10-unsubstituted 3,7,8-trimethylisoalloxazine, an unstable tautomer of 3-methyllumichrome. We found the conditions under which this isoalloxazine anion is formed by in situ deprotonation/isomerisation from the readily available 3-methyllumichrome and we subsequently used it as a photoredox catalyst in the reductive dehalogenation of activated bromoarenes and their C-P coupling reaction with trimethyl phosphite to form an arylphosphonate. Steady-state and transient absorption spectroscopy, NMR and cyclic voltammetry investigations, together with quantum chemical calculations, showed that the anion of oxidised isoalloxazine has several advantages, compared to other forms of flavins used in photoreductions, such as high stability, even in the presence of oxygen, an absorption maximum in the visible region, thereby allowing the use of excitation light between 470 and 505 nm, and a relatively long-lived singlet excited-state.

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Functionalized 5-aryldeazaalloxazines have been successfully synthesised through a one-pot, three-component reaction involving N,N-dimethylbarbituric acid, an aromatic aldehyde and aniline. By utilizing readily available reagents, this approach opens up the opportunity for the efficient formation of a variety of 5-aryldeazaalloxazines bearing electron-donating or halogen groups. This practical method is characterised by atom economy and offers a direct route to the introduction of an aryl moiety into the C(5)-position of deazaalloxazines, thereby generating novel catalysts for photoredox catalysis without the need for subsequent purification. Thus, it significantly improves existing approaches.

• Keywords
• catalysis, deazaalloxazine, flavin, multicomponent approach, one-pot reaction,
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• Journal Article MeSH