Recent progress and perspectives in photo-induced organic reactions of acylsilanes

Acylsilanes have been utilized in various transformations for the synthesis of functionalized organosilicon derivatives due to their importance in medicinal and materials science. This review summarizes recent photo-induced reactions of acylsilanes, mostly focused on nucleophilic siloxycarbene intermediates and categorizes them by reaction types, nucleophilic carbene addition, insertion reactions, and cyclization. Several photo-induced reactions using acylsilanes beyond the reactivity of siloxycarbenes have also been covered in the miscellaneous part. Although significant efforts have already been devoted to the use of acylsilanes, further synthetic applications of acylsilanes are likely to follow in the near future to prepare valuable building blocks for various fields such as medicinal and materials chemistry.