Visible light-induced selective photocatalytic aerobic oxidation of amines into imines on Cu/graphene

Abstract

Graphene can stabilize metallic copper nanoparticles and enable them to exhibit excellent photocatalytic activity for aerobic oxidation of various primary and secondary amines into the corresponding imines. The copper nanoparticles stabilized on graphene absorb the energy of visible light via localized surface plasmon resonance, and produce energetic hot electrons that activate the reactants adsorbed on the surface of copper nanoparticles. The formation of imines involves selective oxygenation of amines to aldehydes and subsequent condensation with amines to form imines.