Synthesis of propylene from renewable allyl alcohol by photocatalytic transfer hydrogenolysis

Photochemical transformation of biomass-derived or renewable substances with promising scalability is an important challenge for promoting green and sustainable chemistry. We report here that photocatalytic transfer hydrogenolysis of allyl alcohol (obtained from glycerol) gives potentially sustainable propylene with high chemo- and redox selectivity, promoted by powdered Pd/TiO2 in CH3OH (obtained from CO2) under near-ultraviolet–visible light irradiation (λ > 365 nm) at ambient temperature.