Photocatalytic Oxidation of Hydrocarbons in Water by Ruthenium Complexes

Abstract

Reactions in the sun: A simple homogeneous photocatalytic system for the oxidation of organic substrates that consists of RuII-H2O complex as catalyst, [Ru(bpy)3]2+ as photosensitizer, and [Co(NH3)5Cl]2+ as electron acceptor, can efficiently and selectively catalyze the oxidation of alkene and alcohols in water by using sunlight as the driving force (see scheme).