Identification of Bi2WO6 as a highly selective visible-light photocatalyst toward oxidation of glycerol to dihydroxyacetone in water

Glycerol, being either a primary by-product of biodiesel manufacture or a platform molecule from sugars, is of significant interest as a renewable biomass because it is a highly functionalized and versatile organic building block for the synthesis of value-added fine chemicals. In particular, selective oxidation of glycerol to various industrially valuable products by heterogeneous photocatalysis using solar light as free energy and molecular oxygen as benign oxidant under ambient conditions is extremely attractive. However, a highly selective, heterogeneous visible-light photocatalyst utilized for aerobic oxidation of glycerol has been unavailable. To date, the discovery or design of a visible-light-driven, highly selective photocatalyst for selective oxidation of glycerol to a specific product is particularly challenging in heterogeneous photocatalytic selective transformation. Herein, we for the first time, report the identification of flower-like Bi2WO6 as a highly selective visible-light photocatalyst toward aerobic selective oxidation of glycerol to dihydroxyacetone using oxygen as oxidant in water at room temperature and atmospheric pressure. A rationale for the observed high selectivity over photocatalyst flower-like Bi2WO6 is provided.