Open AccessDehydrogenation of anhydrous methanol at room temperature by o-aminophenol-based photocatalysts
Author(s) -
Masanori Wakizaka,
Takeshi Matsumoto,
Ryota Tanaka,
HoChol Chang
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
nature communications
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 5.559
H-Index - 365
ISSN - 2041-1723
DOI - 10.1038/ncomms12333
Subject(s) - dehydrogenation , anhydrous , methanol , catalysis , photochemistry , chemistry , formaldehyde , inorganic chemistry , organic chemistry
Dehydrogenation of anhydrous methanol is of great importance, given its ubiquity as an intermediate for the production of a large number of industrial chemicals. Since dehydrogenation of methanol is an endothermic reaction, heterogeneous or homogeneous precious-metal-based catalysts and high temperatures are usually required for this reaction to proceed. Here we report the photochemical dehydrogenation of anhydrous methanol at room temperature catalysed by o -aminophenol (apH 2 ), o -aminophenolate (apH − ) and the non-precious metal complex trans -[Fe II (apH) 2 (MeOH) 2 ]. Under excitation at 289±10 nm and in the absence of additional photosensitizers, these photocatalysts generate hydrogen and formaldehyde from anhydrous methanol with external quantum yields of 2.9±0.15%, 3.7±0.19% and 4.8±0.24%, respectively, which are the highest values reported so far to the best of our knowledge. Mechanistic investigations reveal that the photo-induced formation of hydrogen radicals triggers the reaction.