Photocatalytic oxidation of industrial reactants lowers the production cost of hydrogen peroxide in large-scale and highly efficient reactions.

Hydrogen peroxide is employed in many industrial processes, including paper production, waste-water treatment, and mining. This multibillion-dollar market requires bulk hydrogen peroxide, which is currently synthesized through the anthraquinone process. However, this method requires time-consuming and inefficient production in batches.

Bulk oxidation of organic compounds is a general industrial process that can create currently unusable byproducts. However, Dr. Kozlowski’s team at the IAST Lab identifies and modifies these oxidation schemes to avoid creating useless waste by reducing oxygen for hydrogen peroxide formation. In addition, their photocatalytic method enables the high-yield synthesis of hydrogen peroxide from alcohol, alkane, and lignin-based reductants.

Disclosed herein is a method using 12 alcohols, 19 alkanes, and 7 different analogs of the paper manufacturing byproduct lignin as substrates for photocatalytic hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) synthesis. The inventors combine examples of these common industrial agents with two catalysts. The first, 1-chloroanthraquinone, is excited by light to provide energy, which drives the reduction of balloon-delivered oxygen (See Figure). To improve the yield of H₂O₂ per reactant molecule in the photocatalytic process, N-hydroxyphthalimide (NHPI) is also introduced as a co-catalyst. All yields are confirmed using V₂O₅ colorimetry at reaction scales from 0.5-25 mmol.

• Synthesis of H₂O₂ happens simultaneously with oxidation of desired organic compounds
• Coupling H₂O₂ production to existing industrial oxidation schemes reduces the reagent  costs from direct synthesis strategies
• Compatible with diverse reactants
• Up to 97% yield with lignin analogues, or alkanes as reductant
• Up to 99% yield with alcohols as reductant