**8. Asymmetric α-amination of aldehydes by means of photoredox and organocatalysis**

The synthetic design and developing methodology on the creation of CdN bonds within the complex molecular architecture in a stereospecific manner is a challenging task which is routinely needed in the process development of drug molecules. Consequently, α-amino aldehydes are the valuable structural motifs in the process development of drug molecules. However, asymmetric α-amination of aldehydes poses a plethora of potential challenges since the reaction medium contains reagents and chemicals that can racemize product molecule. In this context, a VLPC methodology has been demonstrated for α-amination of aldehydes in an enantioselective fashion using nitrogen-centered radicals which enables the synthesis stable to racemization, a tactful synthetic methodology. N-centered radicals are easily generated using dinitrosulfonyloxy groups (ODNs) which are capable of producing the requisite heteroatom-centered radical upon exposure to household light and in the presence of designed catalyst. The nitrogen-centered radical thus is produced when treated with a transient π-rich enamine (derived from the coupling of an imidazolidinone catalyst with the aldehyde); upon photonic excitation, singleelectron transfer reaction produces nitrogen-centered radical. Then the reaction proceeds to yield an iminium ion, which up on hydrolysis gives rise to enantiomerically enriched α-amino aldehyde [13] (**Figures 12** and **13**).

This is an organocatalytic and photoredox-based approach to the asymmetric α-amination of aldehyde, where a functionalized nitrogen is directly coupled with a formyl precursor. This protocol provides a ready access to N-substituted α-amino aldehyde architecture without any racemization with more than 85% enantiomeric excess.
