Applied Catalysis B: Environmental
Applied Catalysis B: Environmental
5 years ago

Alkaline modified g-C3N4 photocatalyst for high selective oxide coupling of benzyl alcohol to benzoin

Alkaline modified g-C3N4 photocatalyst for high selective oxide coupling of benzyl alcohol to benzoin
Benzoin is an important feedstock with high additional value for its extensive use in chemical industry. Benzoin condensation characterized by CC coupling between benzaldehyde requires the use of nucleophilic catalysts including cyanide or N-heterocyclic carbene and is restricted to organic medium such as MeCN, diethyl ether, etc. Construction of efficient and non-toxic catalysts for benzoin synthesis still remains a challenge. Herein, highly selective (97%) benzoin synthesis from benzyl alcohol was achieved over potassium modified g-C3N4 via light-driven tandem selective oxidation and CC coupling. The outstanding performance was attributed to alkali modifications on the electronic structure and surface chemical environment of g-C3N4. K+ intercalation not only facilitated the light harvesting as well as the transport of charge carriers, but also induced surface deprotonation of g-C3N4 and thus remarkable nucleophilicity for prompting the CC coupling reactions. This work sheds light on the design of earth-abundant inorganic photocatalysts for CC coupling reactions such as the green synthesis of benzoin under ambient conditions.

Publisher URL: www.sciencedirect.com/science

DOI: S0926337317307932

You might also like
Discover & Discuss Important Research

Keeping up-to-date with research can feel impossible, with papers being published faster than you'll ever be able to read them. That's where Researcher comes in: we're simplifying discovery and making important discussions happen. With over 19,000 sources, including peer-reviewed journals, preprints, blogs, universities, podcasts and Live events across 10 research areas, you'll never miss what's important to you. It's like social media, but better. Oh, and we should mention - it's free.

  • Download from Google Play
  • Download from App Store
  • Download from AppInChina

Researcher displays publicly available abstracts and doesn’t host any full article content. If the content is open access, we will direct clicks from the abstracts to the publisher website and display the PDF copy on our platform. Clicks to view the full text will be directed to the publisher website, where only users with subscriptions or access through their institution are able to view the full article.