Nano-WO3-SO3H as a New Photocatalyst Insight Through Covalently Grafted Bronsted Acid: Highly Efficient Selective Oxidation of Benzyl Alcohols to Aldehydes

Modification of nano-WO3 with -SO3H groups as a covalently grafted solid acid reduced its band-gap energy from 2.8 to 2.4 eV and made it an ideal nominee for photocatalytic reaction under visible light irradiation. This nano-photocatalyst has been successfully used for the selective oxidation of different benzyl alcohols to corresponding aldehydes under blue LED irradiation. The reaction became approximately two times faster with excellent yields. It has shown that the nitrobenzene as an available industrial oxidant is applicable for photocatalytic oxidation of benzyl alcohol; remarkably high yield and selectivity have been observed.