Photocatalytic oxidative cleavage of aryl alkene CC bonds using a uranyl cation

Abstract

Highly efficient photocatalytic oxidative cleavage of aryl alkene CC double bonds was effectively established using uranyl cations under mild conditions. Ketones and carboxylic acids were obtained with this protocol. Excellent substrate scopes were found, and scale-up experiments showed the application prospects. By combining experiments with theoretical calculations, the reaction mechanism based on a uranyl–alkyl peroxy radical (ROO˙) intermediate was proposed for the first time to the best of our knowledge. Kinetics experiments demonstrated that the photoreaction followed zeroth-order kinetics. Moreover, this reaction was successfully carried out under sunlight, providing the potential for energy savings applications.