Photocatalysis in dimethyl carbonate green solvent: degradation and partial oxidation of phenanthrene on supported TiO2

Dimethyl carbonate (DMC) is here proposed - for the first time - as a green organic solvent for photocatalytic synthesis. In this work, the photocatalytic partial oxidation of phenanthrene in dimethyl carbonate (DMC) by using anatase TiO2 as the photocatalyst is described as paradigmatic example of a green synthetic process starting from polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). For comparison, the same reaction carried out also in ethanol, 1-propanol or 2-propanol is reported. The use of DMC as the solvent allowed us to achieve 19% and 23% selectivity towards 9-fluorenone and 6H-benzo[c] chromen-6-one, respectively. The proposed approach may represent both a new green synthetic process and an environmentally friendly route to degradation of PAHs.