Investigation of photocatalytic performance of Ru(0) nanoparticles (Ru@g-C3N4/TiO2) supported on g-C3N4/TiO2 in transfer hydrogenation reactions

Catalytic transfer hydrogenation is an alternative method to molecular hydrogenation because it contains a stable hydrogen donor. In which iso-PrOH is used as a hydrogen source, is very advantageous because it does not use environmentally harmful substances and does not require high pressure conditions. Transfer hydrogenation reactions, mostly using Ru catalysts, are widely used to convert aromatic or aliphatitic ketones into secondary alcohols. Ru catalyzed transfer hydrogenation reactions are widely used in the synthesis of natural products, biomolecules, pharmaceutical intermediates, and functional materials due to their advantages such as mild reaction conditions and low toxicity compared to molecular hydrogenation. In this study, Ru(0) nanoparticles (Ru@TiO2/g-C3N4) supported by TiO2/g-C3N4 in different percentages by mass were prepared and identified by advanced analytical methods such as P-XRD, TEM, XPS, HR-TEM, FTIR, SEM-EDX, XPS. Photocatalytic efficiency of Ru@TiO2/g-C3N4 nanoparticles in transfer hydrogenation reactions was investigated under visible light and catalytic conversion rates were found by gas chromatography method. In this study, Ru@TiO2/g-C3N4 nanocatalyst prepared in different percentages was used for the first time in catalytic and photocatalytic transfer hydrogenation reactions. The acetophenone derivatives of Ru@TiO2/g-C3N4 nanocatalyst were tested in hydrogen transfer reaction reactions with isopropyl alcohol. The photocatalytic efficiency of Ru@TiO2/g-C3N4 nanocatalyst prepared in different percentages was tested in the transfer hydrogenation reactions of acetophenone derivatives with isopropyl alcohol, and the best yield was Ru(0) attached to the support material prepared using 4:1 TiO2/g-C3N4 by mass. Were obtained from nanocatalysts. The highest conversion in the GC device was obtained from Ru(0) (2% by mass) nanocatalysts loaded on the support material prepared using 4:1 TiO2/g-C3N4 by mass. It was observed that the particle size of the Ru@TiO2/g-C3N4 nanocatalyst prepared according to the images obtained by HRTEM was 2.8 nm on average. As a result, the catalytic efficiency of the Ru@g-C3N4/TiO2 nanocatalyst prepared with 2% metal load was found to be 85% in 15 hours. In addition, it was observed that its photocatalytic efficiency was very low (%20 in 24 hours) under visible light in 24 hours.