Green photocatalytic organic transformations by polyoxometalates vs. mesoporous TiO2 nanoparticles: selective aerobic oxidation of alcohols

In this study, the catalytic activity of decatungstate (W10O324−) supported on mesoporous TiO2 nanoparticle assemblies (DT-MTA) was compared with that of homogeneous [Bu4N]4W10O32 catalysts under mild conditions. Our experiments showed that both catalytic systems achieve exceptionally high activity and selectivity under UV-visible light oxidation of various para-substituted aryl alcohols, using molecular oxygen as a “green” oxidant. The chemoselective transformation of aryl alcohols into the corresponding ketones was investigated with gas chromatography (GC) and NMR spectroscopy. Product analysis and kinetic results also indicated that these photooxidation reactions proceed via both electron transfer (ET) and hydrogen atom transfer (HAT) mechanisms over the DT-MTA catalyst, with the former one as the predominant, whereas a HAT route was adopted to account for the decatungstate homogeneous catalyzed reactions.