A photoactive catalyst Ru–g-C3N4 for hydrogen transfer reaction of aldehydes and ketones

Abstract

A novel heterogeneous photoactive catalyst is developed by incorporating ruthenium over a new photoactive graphite carbon nitride (g-C₃N₄) support for efficient photocatalytic transfer hydrogenation of various carbonyl functional group compounds with different alcohols. A synthesized photoactive catalyst Ru–g-C₃N₄ exhibits good to excellent reactivity with a high turnover number (TON) under mild reaction conditions and under visible light. The physicochemical properties of the photocatalyst were analyzed by XRD, BET analysis, TGA, FT-IR, XPS, UV-visible, ICP-OES, TEM and SEM characterization techniques. The main significant features of the photoactive catalyst Ru–g-C₃N₄ are viz., it is easy to handle in visible light (LED lamp), does not require an external base, solvent free, non-toxic, environmentally friendly and proceeds under very mild reaction conditions. Furthermore, the solid photocatalyst Ru–g-C₃N₄ can be recycled efficiently and reused many times, without a major loss in reactivity.