Simultaneous and selective transformation of glucose to arabinose and nitrosobenzene to azoxybenzene driven by visible-light

Both the selective conversion of glucose into arabinose and the reduction of nitrosobenzene to azoxybenzene are very important but challenging processes. Herein we carried out the first work on the simultaneous transformation of glucose to arabinose and of nitrosobenzene to azoxybenzene by photocatalysis. It was found that Pd nanoparticles supported on mesoporous CdS were very active and selective for the reactions in water under visible light irradiation. Nitrosobenzene could be reduced to azoxybenzene with a selectivity of 92% by hydrogen from water and glucose. More importantly, glucose was oxidized to arabinose with high selectivity (70%) by photoexcited holes. The reaction mechanism and the reason for the high selectivity were studied using control experiments.