Open AccessPhotoelectrochemical oxidation of organic substrates in organic media
Author(s) -
Tengfei Li,
Takahito Kasahara,
Jingfu He,
Kevan E. Dettelbach,
Glenn M. Sammis,
Curtis P. Berlinguette
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
nature communications
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 5.559
H-Index - 365
ISSN - 2041-1723
DOI - 10.1038/s41467-017-00420-y
Subject(s) - catalysis , reagent , chemistry , water splitting , photochemistry , organic synthesis , photoelectrochemistry , nanotechnology , materials science , combinatorial chemistry , chemical engineering , environmental chemistry , electrochemistry , organic chemistry , photocatalysis , electrode , engineering
There is a global effort to convert sunlight into fuels by photoelectrochemically splitting water to form hydrogen fuels, but the dioxygen byproduct bears little economic value. This raises the important question of whether higher value commodities can be produced instead of dioxygen. We report here photoelectrochemistry at a BiVO 4 photoanode involving the oxidation of substrates in organic media. The use of MeCN instead of water enables a broader set of chemical transformations to be performed (e.g., alcohol oxidation and C-H activation/oxidation), while suppressing photocorrosion of BiVO 4 that otherwise occurs readily in water, and sunlight reduces the electrical energy required to drive organic transformations by 60%. These collective results demonstrate the utility of using photoelectrochemical cells to mediate organic transformations that otherwise require expensive and toxic reagents or catalysts.