The present invention discloses a method for photocatalytic
hydrogen transfer reduction cleavage of
aryl ethers at
room temperature. This method uses Pt / TiO2 as a photocatalyst, diaryl ethers and
aryl alkyl ethers as
aryl ether substrates, simple aliphatic alcohols as solvents and
hydrogen donors,
hydrochloric acid as an acid catalyst, and a 370 nm LED as a
light source. Under an anaerobic
atmosphere at
room temperature,
hydrogen transfer from simple aliphatic alcohols to aryl ethers is achieved, thereby the aryl ethers undergo reductive cleavage to obtain
cyclohexane and
cyclohexanol products. The aryl
ether substrate, Pt / TiO2 catalyst, catalytic amount or equivalent amount of
hydrochloric acid, and
aliphatic alcohol are placed in a
quartz reaction tube. After replacing the gas
atmosphere with
nitrogen or
argon, it is sealed and stirred under light for 1 - 12 hours to obtain
cyclohexane and
cyclohexanol products. Compared with conventional aryl
ether hydrogenation methods, this method has the characteristics of operating at
room temperature, without the need for hydrogen, using primary alcohols as hydrogen sources, and using heterogeneous photocatalysts, and the experiment is simple and easy to operate.