Visible-Light-Induced Efficient Selective Oxidation of Nonactivated Alcohols over {001}-Faceted TiO2 with Molecular Oxygen

In the presence of molecular oxygen, a {001}-faceted nanocrystalline anatase TiO2 catalyst enabled the selective oxidation of nonactivated aliphatic alcohols to the corresponding aldehydes or ketones under visible light. The reaction shows excellent conversion and selectivity towards the formation of the carbonyl products without over-oxidation to the corresponding carboxylic acids. The exceptional reactivity of the catalyst is possibly due to the absorption of visible light originating from a stronger interaction of alcohol with the {001} facet, which facilitates the modification of the band structure of TiO2, thus facilitating the photogenerated hole transfer and subsequent oxidation processes. The experimental results have also been corroborated by first-principles quantum chemical DFT calculations.