Concomitant Production and Transfer of Hydrogen for Efficient In Situ Reduction of C-C and C-O Unsaturated Substrates by Pt/TiO2 Photocatalyst in Ethanol.

The highly active platinum photodoped titanium dioxide material (Pt/TiO2) recently reported by our team for hydrogen production from oxidative dehydrogenation of ethanol was successfully evaluated for in situ photocatalytic hydrogenation of C-C and C-O unsaturated functional groups, through hydrogen transfer. These sustainable and secure hydrogenation conditions efficiently allow transformation of aliphatic or cyclic alkenes, alkynes, and ketone substrates, as well as hydrogenation of α,β- and β,γ-unsaturated ketones, with ethanol as a green solvent as well as a hydrogen donor and without the use of external H2 gas.