Photodehydration of Ethanol Mediated by CuCl2–Ethanol Complex

Biomass ethanol is regarded as a renewable resource but it is not economically viable to transform it to high-value industrial chemicals at present. Herein, a simple, green, and low-cost CuCl2–ethanol complex is reported for ethanol dehydration to produce ethylene and acetal simultaneously with high selectivity under sunlight irradiation. Under N2 atmosphere, the generation rates of ethylene and acetal were 165 and 3672 μmol g–1 h–1, accounting for 100% in gas products and 97% in liquid products, respectively. An outstanding apparent quantum yield of 13.2% (365 nm) and the maximum conversion rate of 32% were achieved. The dehydration reactions start from the photoexcited CuCl2–ethanol complex, and then go through the energy transfer (EnT) and ligand to metal charge transfer (LMCT) mechanisms to produce ethylene and acetal, respectively. The formation energies of the CuCl2–ethanol complex and the key intermediate radicals (e.g., ·OH, CH3CH2·, and CH3CH2O·) were validated to clarify the mechanisms. Different from previous CuCl2-based oxidation and addition reactions, this work is anticipated to supply new insights into the dehydration reaction of ethanol to produce useful chemical feedstocks.