Photocatalytic Oxygenation Reactions with a Cobalt Porphyrin Complex Using Water as an Oxygen Source and Dioxygen as an Oxidant.

Photocatalytic oxygenation of hexamethylbenzene occurs under visible-light irradiation of an O2-saturated acetonitrile solution containing a cobalt porphyrin complex CoII(TPP) (TPP2- = tetraphenylporphyrin dianion), water, and triflic acid (HOTf) via a one-photon-two-electron process, affording pentamethylbenzyl alcohol and hydrogen peroxide as products with a turnover number of >6000; in this reaction, H2O and O2 were used as an oxygen source and a two-electron oxidant, respectively. The photocatalytic mechanism was clarified by means of electron paramagnetic resonance, time-resolved fluorescence, and transient absorption measurements as well as 18O-labeling experiments with H218O and 18O2. To the best of our knowledge, we report the first example of efficient photocatalytic oxygenation of an organic substrate by a metal complex using H2O as an oxygen source and O2 as a two-electron oxidant.