Photoactive iron complexes: more sustainable, but still a challenge

On transition metals such as iron rests lots of hope to replace precious metal catalysts in the field of photochemistry for a more sustainable future. Indeed, significant progress has been made in recent years in terms of lifetime extension and emerging applications in catalysis. For this reason, recent synthetic strategies of new photoactive iron compounds, which have proved to show particularly promising properties, are reviewed here. The lifetime of the excited state serves as a key parameter for comparison with the standard ruthenium complex, [Ru(bpy)3]2+, to discuss the potential and performance of the iron complexes. This approach is complemented by a more holistic examination of the sustainability of such a substitution strategy in order to answer the question: when or at which point can we assume that iron represents a more sustainable alternative for noble metals in photochemical applications?