Aerobic oxidation of aldehydes by visible light photocatalysis

An efficient and environmentally benign method for the oxidation of aldehydes to carboxylic acids has been developed. Singlet oxygen, generated by visible light in the presence of a Ru or Ir photocatalyst, reacted with aldehydes to give the corresponding carboxylic acids in excellent yields. The reaction is highly chemo-selective, in which only an aldehyde moiety is reactive even in the presence of other photo-oxidation active sites. This method is an example of an ideal green chemical reaction in the sense that molecular oxygen and visible light are key sources for the transformation.