Heterogeneous Photocatalysis for Cyclic Compound Synthesis or Functionalization, a Promising Approach for Discovery Chemistry

A special issue of Catalysts (ISSN 2073-4344). This special issue belongs to the section "Photocatalysis".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 September 2025 | Viewed by 1490

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
Department of Chemistry, University of Utah, 315 S. 1400 E., Salt Lake City, UT 84112, USA
Interests: photoredox chemistry; green chemistry; heterogeneous photocatalysis; homogeneous photocatalysis; medicinal chemistry

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Photocatalysis has emerged as an increasingly important methodology in the modern synthetic toolbox, providing access to open-shell radical pathways that are complementary to classical reactivity. Its mild reaction conditions grant high selectivity and broad functional group tolerance. Beyond the well-studied homogeneous photocatalysts, heterogeneous photocatalysts can operate similarly but offer additional advantages such as low cost, high photostability, and high catalyst turnover. Combining these factors, highly efficient heterogeneous photocatalysis may be particularly attractive to the pharmaceutical industry from an economic perspective.

Considering the fact that cyclic scaffolds are privileged scaffolds in medicinal chemistry and drug discovery, this Special Issue aims to collect high-quality original research, reviews, and perspectives with an emphasis on heterogeneous photocatalysis for cyclic compound synthesis or functionalization. The heterogeneous photocatalysts applied in this research may include, but are not limited to, highly recyclable and affordable semiconductive visible-light absorbing materials such as titanium oxide, cadmium chalcogenide, or perovskite nanocrystals, metal-organic frameworks, conjugated organic polymers, and carbon nitride. Within this topic, research papers that involve bioactivity testing of synthesized compounds, computational-guided bioactive compound design, and cooperative catalysis are highly encouraged.

Dr. Yixiong Lin
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • heterogeneous photocatalysis
  • photocatalytic cyclization
  • cycloaddition
  • green chemistry
  • photoredox chemistry
  • semiconductor-based photocatalysts
  • ring compound functionalization
  • drug discovery
  • nanomaterial photocatalysis

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

19 pages, 3222 KiB  
Article
Polyol Formation of Silver@Metal Oxides Nanohybrid for Photocatalytic and Antibacterial Performance
by Jovairya Azam, Zahoor Ahmad, Ali Irfan, Asima Naz, Muhammad Arshad, Rabia Sattar, Mohammad Raish, Bakar Bin Khatab Abbasi and Yousef A. Bin Jardan
Catalysts 2025, 15(3), 283; https://doi.org/10.3390/catal15030283 - 17 Mar 2025
Viewed by 970
Abstract
The polyol method under a single pot has successfully produced a coating of CuO, TiO2, and the combination of CuO/TiO2 around Ag NWs under sequential addition. The Ag NWs and their coating with a pure metal oxide and a hybrid [...] Read more.
The polyol method under a single pot has successfully produced a coating of CuO, TiO2, and the combination of CuO/TiO2 around Ag NWs under sequential addition. The Ag NWs and their coating with a pure metal oxide and a hybrid of metal oxide were characterized using X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) coupled with EDX, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), UV–Visible, photoluminescent (PL) spectroscopy, and cyclic voltammetry (CV). The formation of ultra-thin NWs was also been seen in the presence of the TiO2 coating. The ultra-thin and co-axial coating of each metal oxide and their hybrid form preserved the SPR of the Ag NWs and demonstrated photon harvesting from the 400–800 nm range. The band gap hybridization was confirmed by CV for the Ag@CuO/TiO2 design, which made the structure a reliable catalyst. Therefore, the material expresses excellent photocatalytic activities for carcinogenic textile dyes such as turquoise blue (TB), sapphire blue (SB), and methyl orange (MO), with and without the reagent H2O2. The hybrid form (i.e., Ag@CuO/TiO2) exhibited degradation within 6 min in the presence of H2O2. Additionally, the material showed antibacterial activities against various bacteria (Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus subtilis, and Bacillus pumilus) when assayed using broth media. Therefore, the materials have established degrading and disinfection roles suitable for environmental perspectives. The role of coating with each metal oxide and their hybrid texture further improved the growth of Ag NWs. The preparatory route possibly ensued metal–metal oxide and metal–hybrid metal oxide Schottky junctions, which would expectedly transform it into a diode material for electronic applications. Full article
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