On the comparable activity in plasmonic photocatalytic and thermocatalytic oxidative homocoupling of alkynes over prereduced copper ferrite

Controlling Selectivity in Plasmonic Catalysis: Switching Reaction Pathway from Hydrogenation to Homocoupling Under Visible-Light Irradiation

Plasmonic catalysis enables the use of light to accelerate molecular transformations. Its application to the control reaction selectivity is highly attractive but remains challenging. Here, we have found that the plasmonic properties in AgPd nanoparticles allowed different reaction pathways for tunable product formation under visible-light irradiation. By employing the hydrogenation of phenylacetylene as a model transformation, we demonstrate that visible-light irradiation can be employed to steer the reaction pathway from hydrogenation to homocoupling. Our data showed that the decrease in the concentration of H species at the surface due to plasmon-enhanced H₂ desorption led to the control in selectivity. These results provide important insights into the understanding of reaction selectivity with light, paving the way for the application of plasmonic catalysis to the synthesis of 1,3-diynes, and bringing the vision of light-driven transformations with target selectivity one step closer to reality.

Ligand and additive free aerobic synthesis of diynes using Pd–CuFe2O4magnetic nanoparticles as an efficient reusable catalyst

Herein, we present the synthesis of Pd–CuFe₂O₄magnetic nanoparticles as an efficient and recyclable catalyst for the oxidative homocoupling of various terminal alkynes to form symmetric 1,3-diynes.

Synergistic effect between gold nanoparticles and Fe-doped γ-MnO2 toward enhanced aerobic selective oxidation of ethanol

Gold nanoparticles supported on Fe-doped γ-MnO₂ were found to show a strong synergistic effect in the aerobic selective oxidation of ethanol to acetaldehyde.