Selective aerobic oxidation reactions using a combination of photocatalytic water oxidation and enzymatic oxyfunctionalizations

Peroxygenases offer attractive means to address challenges in selective oxyfunctionalisation chemistry. Despite their attractiveness, the application of peroxygenases in synthetic chemistry remains challenging due to their facile inactivation by the stoichiometric oxidant (H2O2). Often atom inefficient peroxide generation systems are required, which show little potential for large scale implementation. Here we show that visible light-driven, catalytic water oxidation can be used for in situ generation of H2O2 from water, rendering the peroxygenase catalytically active. In this way the stereoselective oxyfunctionalisation of hydrocarbons can be achieved by simply using the catalytic system, water and visible light.