Pyridinium Salts as Redox‐Active Functional Group Transfer Reagents

In this Review, we highlight recent advances in the understanding and design of N‐functionalized pyridinium scaffolds as redox‐active, single‐electron, functional group transfer reagents. We provide a selection of representative methods that demonstrate reactivity and fundamental advances in this emerging field. The reactivity of these reagents can be divided into two divergent pathways: homolytic fragmentation to liberate the N‐bound substituent as the corresponding radical or an alternative heterolytic fragmentation that liberates an N‐centered pyridinium radical. A short description of the elementary steps involved in fragmentation induced by single‐electron transfer is also critically discussed to guide readers towards fundamental processes thought to occur under these conditions.