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Metal‐ and Additive‐Free Oxidation of Sulfides into Sulfoxides by Fullerene‐Modified Carbon Nitride with Visible‐Light Illumination
Author(s) -
Chen Xi,
Deng Kejian,
Zhou Peng,
Zhang Zehui
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
chemsuschem
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.412
H-Index - 157
eISSN - 1864-564X
pISSN - 1864-5631
DOI - 10.1002/cssc.201800450
Subject(s) - photocatalysis , graphitic carbon nitride , catalysis , x ray photoelectron spectroscopy , photochemistry , singlet oxygen , diffuse reflectance infrared fourier transform , sulfoxide , chemistry , carbon nitride , spectroscopy , materials science , inorganic chemistry , oxygen , chemical engineering , organic chemistry , physics , quantum mechanics , engineering
Abstract Photocatalytic selective oxidation has attracted considerable attention as an environmentally friendly strategy for organic transformations. Some methods have been reported for the photocatalytic oxidation of sulfides into sulfoxides in recent years. However, the practical application of these processes is undermined by several challenges, such as low selectivity, sluggish reaction rates, the requirement of UV‐light irradiation, the use of additives, and the instability of the photocatalyst. Herein, a metal‐free C 60 /graphitic carbon nitride (g‐C 3 N 4 ) composite photocatalyst was fabricated by a facile method, and well characterized by TEM, SEM, FTIR spectroscopy, XRD, X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy, diffuse reflectance spectroscopy, and photoluminescence spectroscopy. The C 60 /g‐C 3 N 4 catalyst exhibited a high photocatalytic activity at room temperature for the selective oxidation of sulfides into the corresponding sulfoxides in the presence of other functional groups, due to the synergetic roles of C 60 and g‐C 3 N 4 . Several important parameters have been screened, and this method afforded good to excellent yields of sulfoxides under optimal conditions. The superoxide radical ( . O 2 − ) and singlet oxygen ( 1 O 2 ) were identified as the oxidative species for the oxidation of sulfides into sulfoxides by exploring EPR experiments, and hence, a plausible mechanism for this oxidation was proposed. Moreover, the C 60 /g‐C 3 N 4 catalyst can be easily recovered by filtration and then reused at least four times without loss in activity.