Visible light-driven selective hydrogenation of unsaturated aromatics in an aqueous solution by direct photocatalysis of Au nanoparticlesElectronic supplementary information (ESI) available. See DOI: 10.1039/c7cy02291c

• Main Authors: Huang, Yiming, Liu, Zhe, Gao, Guoping, Xiao, Qi, Martens, Wayde, Du, Aijun, Sarina, Sarina, Guo, Cheng, Zhu, Huaiyong
• Format: Journal Article
• Published: 05.02.2018
• ISSN: 2044-4753; 2044-4761
• DOI: 10.1039/c7cy02291c

Selective hydrogenation of various chemical bonds, such as C&z.dbd;C, C&z.tbd;C, C&z.dbd;O, N&z.dbd;O, and C&z.dbd;N, is efficiently driven by visible light over a supported gold nanoparticle (AuNP) photocatalyst under mild reaction conditions. The reaction system exhibits high substituent tolerance and tunable selectivity by light wavelength. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations demonstrated a strong chemisorption between the reactant molecule and metal resulting in hybridized orbitals. It is proposed that direct photoexcitation between hybridized orbitals is the main driving force of the hydrogenation reaction. The hydrogenation pathway is investigated by the isotope tracking technique. We revealed the cooperation of water and formic acid (FA) as a hydrogen source and the hydrogenation route through Au-H species on the AuNP surface. Selective hydrogenation of various chemical bonds, such as C&z.dbd;C, C&z.tbd;C, C&z.dbd;O, N&z.dbd;O, and C&z.dbd;N, is efficiently driven by visible light over a supported gold nanoparticle (AuNP) photocatalyst under mild reaction conditions.