Insights into the Role of Graphitic Carbon Nitride as a Photobase in Proton-Coupled Electron Transfer in (sp3)C-H Oxygenation of Oxazolidinones

Graphitic carbon nitride (g-CN) is a transition metal free semiconductor that mediates a variety of photocatalytic reactions. Although photoinduced electron transfer is often postulated in the mechanism, proton-coupled electron transfer (PCET) is a more favorable pathway for substrates possessing X-H bonds. Upon excitation of an (sp(2))N-rich structure of g-CN with visible light, it behaves as a photobase-it undergoes reductive quenching accompanied by abstraction of a proton from a substrate. The results of modeling allowed us to identify active sites for PCET-the 'triangular pockets' on the edge facets of g-CN. We employ excited state PCET from the substrate to g-CN to selectively cleavethe endo-(sp(3))C-H bond in oxazolidine-2-ones followed by trapping the radical with O-2. This reaction affords 1,3-oxazolidine-2,4-diones. Measurement of the apparent pK(a) value and modeling suggest that g-CN excited state can cleave X-H bonds that are characterized by bond dissociation free energy (BDFE) approximate to 100 kcal mol(-1).

Automated summary

Graphitic carbon nitride (g-CN) is a transition metal free semiconductor that mediates photocatalytic reactions through proton-coupled electron transfer (PCET) mechanism. The active sites for PCET are identified as the 'triangular pockets' on the edge facets of g-CN. Using excited state PCET, g-CN can selectively cleave X-H bonds with approximately 100 kcal mol(-1) bond dissociation free energy (BDFE), leading to the formation of 1,3-oxazolidine-2,4-diones.