Photocatalytic Oxidation of Benzyl Alcohol to Benzyl Aldehyde Using Synthesized Zinc Oxide and Zinc-Doped Titanium Oxide

Photocatalytic oxidation of alcohols to carbonyl compounds is important in various organic transformations because it plays a significant role in synthesizing fine chemicals, confectionaries, fragrances, and pharmaceuticals. This study compares the photocatalytic activity of synthesised zinc oxide and zinc-doped titanium oxide for the photocatalytic oxidation of aromatic alcohols to aldehydes. We prepared undoped and zincdoped titanium oxide (Zn-TiO2) by hydrothermal synthesis. We evaluated the photocatalytic performance of the synthesised photocatalyst for converting benzyl alcohol to benzaldehyde. We used powder X-ray diffraction to characterise the synthesised product. Gas Chromatography - Flame Ionization Detector was employed to assess the photocatalytic conversion activity of Benzyl alcohol (BA) via UV-Visible irradiation. The study achieved about 40 parcent conversion of the alcohol and 80 parcent product selectivity. This research also compares hydrothermally synthesized Zinc oxide and Zn-TiO2 as photocatalysts for the organic synthesis of aromatic hydrocarbons such as benzyl alcohol, where zinc-doped titanium oxide yields higher product selectivity than the undoped photocatalyst.