Visible-light-induced aerobic photocatalytic oxidation of alcohols to carboxylic acids over practical NaBr/NH2-MIL-125(Ti) catalyst system

Carboxylic acids, as a fundamental raw material, are widely used in the production of fine chemicals. Herein, we developed the oxidation of alcohols to carboxylic acids under visible light irradiation at room temperature by devising a duplex NH2-MIL-125(Ti)/NaBr catalyst system comprising a photocatalyst and a redox-active cocatalyst. Using the optimization of reaction conditions, the reaction proceeded in high yield under mild conditions with producing barely side products from various alcohols, including sterically hindered aromatic alcohols, aliphatic primary alcohols, and electron-withdrawing/ electron-donating groups substituted benzyl alcohols.