Selective photoelectrocatalytic transformations of organic compounds

The chapter deals with the use of photoelectrocatalysis to perform selective organic syntheses. Photoelectrocatalysis has been applied mainly to hydrogen formation and elimination of harmful compounds, while to-date its use for organic syntheses has been limited. We hope that scientists’ attention to this topic will grow because it could be a green alternative to traditional organic synthesis reactions that are normally conducted at high temperature/pressure in the presence of toxic oxidants and/or solvents. Photoelectrocatalysis exploits the existence of great synergy between photocatalysis and electrocatalysis by hindering the recombination of the hole-electron pairs generated under appropriate irradiation and consequently increasing the efficiency of the reaction under examination.