Upon irradiation, flavin oxidises 4-methoxybenzyl alcohol to the corresponding aldehyde using aerial O(2) as the terminal oxidant. We have observed that this reaction is significantly accelerated by the presence of thiourea. A series of thiourea-functionalised flavins has been prepared from flavin isothiocyanates and their photocatalytic efficiencies have been monitored by NMR. The alcohol photooxidation proceeds rapidly and cleanly with high turnover numbers of up to 580, exceeding previously reported performances. A likely mechanistic rationale for the more than 30-fold acceleration of the photo-redox reaction by thiourea has been derived from spectroscopic, electrochemical, and kinetic studies. Thus, thiourea acts as an electron-transfer mediator for the initial photooxidation of 4-methoxybenzyl alcohol by the excited flavins. This mechanism has similarities to electron-relay mechanisms in flavoenzymes, for which cysteine sulfenic acid intermediates are proposed. The observation that thiourea mediates flavin photo-redox processes is valuable for the design of more sophisticated photocatalysts based on Nature's best redox chromophore.
Benzyl alcohols are oxidized cleanly and efficiently to the corresponding aldehydes under irradiation using flavin photocatalysts and aerial oxygen as the terminal oxidant in homogeneous aqueous solution. Turnover frequencies (TOF) of more than 800 h À1 and turnover numbers (TON) of up to 68 were obtained. Several flavin photocatalysts with fluorinated or hydrophobic aliphatic chains were immobilized on solid supports like fluorous silica gel, reversed phase silica gel or entrapped in polyethylene pellets. The catalytic efficiency of the heterogeneous photocatalysts was studied for the oxidation of different benzyl alcohols in water and compared to the analogous homogeneous reactions. Removal of the heterogeneous photocatalyst stops the reaction conversion immediately, which shows that the immobilized flavin is the catalytically active species. The immobilized catalysts are stable, retain their reactivity if compared to the corresponding homogeneous systems and are easily removed from the reaction mixture and reused. TOF of up to 26 h À1 , TON of 280 and up to 3 reaction cycles without loss of activity are possible with the heterogeneous flavin photocatalysts.
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