Photoactivation of Metal Oxide Surfaces: Photocatalyzed Oxidation of Alcohols by Heteropolytungstates

Article abstract of DOI:10.1021/ja00255a019

Photoinduced oxidation of primary, secondary, and tertiary alcohols by several tungstates of varying structural complexity (WO2(OR)2, PW12O40^3-, or (WO3)n) requires strong alcohol precomplexation before photoactivation and occurs via a rapid two-electron transfer, in contrast to previous mechanistic suggestion.The relative efficiencies for alcohol oxidation induced by excitation of a series of heteropolytungstates of increasing molecular complexity are reported.Mechanistic features of the photocatalytic oxidation are described, and a comparison is drawn between thermal and photochemical activation of the heteropolytungstates.