Visible-Light-Driven Photocatalytic Oxidation of Organic Chlorides Using Air and an Inorganic-Ligand Supported Nickel-Catalyst Without Photosensitizers

Engineering photoredox-triggered chemical transformation via visible light has been an emerging area in organic synthesis. However, most of the well-established photocatalysts are based upon either transition metal complexes involved with noble metals and organic ligands or photosensitive organic dyes, the development of pure inorganic molecular photocatalysts that could provide better stability and durability is greatly retarded. Herein we discover that the Anderson polyoxometalate (POM) Na-4[NiMo6O18(OH)(6)] (1), which consists of pure inorganic framework built from a central Ni-II core supported by six (MoO6)-O-VI inorganic scaffold/ligands, can be used as a powerful photocatalyst. Upon irradiation with visible light (>400 nm), the compound can catalyze, in high efficiency, a wide range of reactions, including the oxidative cross-coupling reaction of chlorides with amines, as well as oxidation of chlorides using molecular oxygen, affording various imines, aldehydes, and ketones, respectively in high selectivity and good yields. Owing to the robust inorganic framework, this catalyst exhibits excellent stability during the catalysis and reusability with little loss of the catalytic activity, thus providing an alternative without use of complicated organic ligands and expensive noble metal-based photosensitizers.