Recent Progress in Semiconductor Photocatalysis for Organic Fine Chemical Synthesis

Abstract

Photocatalytic process is a well-known reaction in photosynthesis by plants and algae. "rtificial photosynthesis is a chemical process that mimics the natural plant photosynthesis to make important chemicals by using man-made materials. One of the most promising methods of artificial photosynthesis is synthesis of organic chemicals, including biodegradable plastics, pharmaceutical drugs, liquid fuels and intermediates for valuable chemicals, etc. In , Fujishima and Honda discovered photocatalytic process using TiO semiconductor oxide electrodes to generate hydrogen from water. Researchers have achieved a single-step system that uses semiconductor particles for organic fine chemical synthesis under UV or visible radiation. This chapter summarizes the recent research trends on artificial photosynthesis by photocatalytic process for organic fine chemical synthesis on selected photocatalytic organic transformations, especially photocatalytic transformations by oxidation, carbon-carbon and carbon-heteroatom coupling, cyclization, etc.