Heterogeneous photooxidation of alcohols in water by photocatalytic membranes incorporating decatungstate

The incorporation of decatungstate in polymeric membranes provides new heterogeneous photocatalysts for the oxidation of organic substrates performed in water under an oxygen atmosphere at 25degreesC. The photooxidation of water-soluble alcohols proceeds to completion, forming the carbonyl derivative as an intermediate, and leading to degradation products with a COD loss up to 70%. Solid state characterisation techniques (SEM, IR) together with solution UV-VIS analysis and kinetic studies allowed us to identify, among diverse polymeric materials, the PDMS-based system as leaching-free under irradiation and recyclable up to >300 turnovers (4 runs) with no major loss of activity. Membrane induced discrimination of the substrate results from the oxidations of a series of alcohols, through comparison with the homogeneous reactions.