title: Al(2)O(3) Surface Complexation for Photocatalytic Organic Transformations.
abstract: The use of sunlight to drive organic reactions constitutes a green and sustainable strategy for organic synthesis. Herein, we discovered that the earth-abundant aluminum oxide (Al2O3) though paradigmatically known to be an insulator could induce an immense increase in the selective photo-oxidation of different benzyl alcohols in the presence of a large variety of dyes and O2. This unique phenomenon is based on the surface complexation of benzyl alcohol (BnOH) with the Brønsted base sites on Al2O3, which reduces its oxidation potential and causes an upshift in its HOMO for electron abstraction by the dye. The surface complexation of O2with Al2O3also activates the adsorbed O2for receiving electrons from the photoexcited dyes. This discovery brings forth a new understanding on utilizing surface complexation mechanisms between the reactants and earth abundant materials to effectively achieve a wider range of photoredox reactions.
authors.affiliation: Innovative Center for Flexible Devices, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Nanyang Technological University , 50 Nanyang Avenue, Singapore 639798.
authors.forename: Wan Ru
authors.initials: WR
authors.lastname: Leow
authors.affiliation: School of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, Nanyang Technological University , 21 Nanyang Link, Singapore 637371.
authors.forename: Wilson Kwok Hung
authors.initials: WK
authors.lastname: Ng
authors.affiliation: Innovative Center for Flexible Devices, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Nanyang Technological University , 50 Nanyang Avenue, Singapore 639798.
authors.forename: Tai
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Peng
authors.affiliation: School of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, Nanyang Technological University , 21 Nanyang Link, Singapore 637371.
authors.forename: Xinfeng
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Innovative Center for Flexible Devices, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Nanyang Technological University , 50 Nanyang Avenue, Singapore 639798.
authors.forename: Bin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Innovative Center for Flexible Devices, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Nanyang Technological University , 50 Nanyang Avenue, Singapore 639798.
authors.forename: Wenxiong
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Shi
authors.affiliation: Joint Center for Artificial Photosynthesis, Materials Sciences Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory , Berkeley, California 94720, United States.|Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of California , Berkeley, California 94720, United States.
authors.forename: Yanwei
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Lum
authors.affiliation: Innovative Center for Flexible Devices, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Nanyang Technological University , 50 Nanyang Avenue, Singapore 639798.
authors.forename: Xiaotian
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Innovative Center for Flexible Devices, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Nanyang Technological University , 50 Nanyang Avenue, Singapore 639798.
authors.forename: Xianjun
authors.identifier: 0000-0001-7479-9044
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Lang
authors.affiliation: Innovative Center for Flexible Devices, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Nanyang Technological University , 50 Nanyang Avenue, Singapore 639798.
authors.forename: Shuzhou
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-2159-2602
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Innovative Center for Flexible Devices, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Nanyang Technological University , 50 Nanyang Avenue, Singapore 639798.
authors.forename: Nripan
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Mathews
authors.affiliation: Joint Center for Artificial Photosynthesis, Materials Sciences Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory , Berkeley, California 94720, United States.|Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of California , Berkeley, California 94720, United States.
authors.forename: Joel W
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Ager
authors.affiliation: School of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, Nanyang Technological University , 21 Nanyang Link, Singapore 637371.
authors.forename: Tze Chien
authors.identifier: 0000-0003-4049-2719
authors.initials: TC
authors.lastname: Sum
authors.affiliation: School of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, Nanyang Technological University , 21 Nanyang Link, Singapore 637371.
authors.forename: Hajime
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Hirao
authors.affiliation: Innovative Center for Flexible Devices, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Nanyang Technological University , 50 Nanyang Avenue, Singapore 639798.
authors.forename: Xiaodong
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-3312-1664
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Chen