On/Off O2 Switchable Photocatalytic Oxidative and Protodecarboxylation of Carboxylic Acids

Photoredox catalysis in recent years has manifested a powerful branch of science in organic synthesis. Although merging photoredox and metal catalysts has been a widely used method, switchable heterogeneous photoredox catalysis has rarely been considered. Herein, we open a new window to use a switchable heterogeneous photoredox catalyst which could be turned on/off by changing a simple stimulus (O2) for two opponent reactions, namely, oxidative and protodecarboxylation. Using this strategy, we demonstrate that Au@ZnO core–shell nanoparticles could be used as a switchable photocatalyst which has good catalytic activity to absorb visible light due to the localized surface plasmon resonance effect of gold, can decarboxylate a wide range of aromatic and aliphatic carboxylic acids, have multiple reusability, and are a reasonable candidate for synthesizing both aldehydes/ketones and alkane/arenes in a large-scale set up. Some biologically active molecules are also shown via examples of the direct oxidative and protodecarboxylation which widely provided pharmaceutical agents.