Facilitating room-temperature Suzuki coupling reaction with light: Mott-Schottky photocatalyst for C-C-coupling

The Suzuki coupling reaction is one of the most practiced classes of catalytic C-C bond formation. The development of new means of activating molecules and bonds over old catalysts for C-C bond formation is a fundamental objective for chemists. Here, we report the room-temperature C-C bond formation over heterogeneous Pd catalysts by light-mediated catalyst activation. We employ stimulated electron transfer at the metal-semiconductor interface from optically active mesoporous carbon nitride nanorods to Pd nanoparticles. This photocatalytic pathway is highly efficient for coupling aryl halides with various coupling partners with high activity and selectivity under photo irradiation and very mild conditions.