Efficient selective oxidation of hydrocarbon at ambient temperature under photoirradiation being promoted with the in-situ catalytic decomposition of peroxide

For the selective oxidation of hydrocarbon at ambient temperature, the activation of the inner C–H bond and decomposition of the primary oxidation product peroxide are two important steps closely relating with the oxidation efficiency. A ternary catalytic system of NHPI/ α -Fe 2 O 3 /FeSO 4 was developed to simultaneously realize the efficient activation of C–H bond and in-situ decomposition of the peroxide. Notably, it was found that the third component, a metal salt species, significantly influenced the decomposition of peroxide and consequently affected the conversion of the substrate of hydrocarbon. With molecular oxygen at atmospheric pressure as the oxidant and under the irradiation of blue light (455 nm, 3 W) at ambient temperature, excellent conversion (81–99 %) for various aromatic hydrocarbons along with high selectivity (above 99 %) to the high value-added oxidation products of ketone (aldehyde) and alcohol were successfully obtained with the present catalytic system of NHPI/ α -Fe 2 O 3 /FeSO 4 .