Solvent-controlled selective photocatalytic oxidation of benzyl alcohol over Ni@C/TiO2

Abstract

Selective photocatalysis offers an alternative green and economically competitive approach for valuable fine chemical synthesis. In this research, the Ni@C/TiO2-Z catalyst was prepared for the efficient photocatalytic oxidation of various aromatic alcohols. Interestingly, the selectivity of the reaction products is affected by the absorbance of the solvents used in the reaction. The oxidation ability of the reaction system is stronger when the absorption peaks of the solvents are closer to light source wavelengths. Therefore, the reaction tends to generate aldehyde in acetonitrile and acid in ethyl acetate, which allows for the manipulation of product selectivity by choosing the solvent.

Keywords

• Solvent controlled
• Photocatalysis
• Benzyl alcohol
• Selective oxidation
• Ni@C/TiO2