Photoinduced hydroxylation of neat deaerated benzene to phenol occurred under visible-light irradiation of 2,3-dichloro-5,6-dicyano-p-benzoquinone (DDQ), which acts as a super photooxidant in the presence of water. Photocatalytic solvent-free hydroxylation of benzene derivatives with electron-withdrawing substituents such as benzonitrile, nitrobenzene, and trifluoromethylbenzene used as neat solvents has been achieved for the first time by using DDQ as a super photooxidant to yield the corresponding phenol derivatives and 2,3-dichloro-5,6-dicyanohydroquinone (DDQH2 ) in the presence of water under deaerated conditions. In the presence of dioxygen and tert-butyl nitrite, the photocatalytic hydroxylation of neat benzene occurred with DDQ as a photocatalyst to produce phenol. The photocatalytic reactions are initiated by oxidation of benzene derivatives with the singlet and triplet excited states of DDQ to form the corresponding radical cations, which associate with benzene derivatives to produce the dimer radical cations, which were detected by the femto- and nanosecond laser flash photolysis measurements to clarify the photocatalytic reaction mechanisms. Radical cations of benzene derivatives react with water to yield the OH-adduct radicals. On the other hand, DDQ(.) (-) produced by the photoinduced electron transfer from benzene derivatives reacts with the OH-adduct radicals to yield the corresponding phenol derivatives and DDQH2 . DDQ is recovered by the reaction of DDQH2 with tert-butyl nitrite when DDQ acts as a photocatalyst for the hydroxylation of benzene derivatives by dioxygen.

The chlorine dioxide radical (ClO ) was found to act as an efficient oxidizing agent in the aerobic oxygenation of methane to methanol and formic acid under photoirradiation. Photochemical oxygenation of methane occurred in a two-phase system comprising perfluorohexane and water under ambient conditions (298 K, 1 atm). The yields of methanol and formic acid were 14 and 85 %, respectively, with a methane conversion of 99 % without formation of the further oxygenated products such as CO and CO. Ethane was also photochemically converted into ethanol (19 %) and acetic acid (80 %). The methane oxygenation is initiated by the photochemical Cl-O bond cleavage of ClO to generate Cl and O . The produced Cl reacts with CH to form a methyl radical (CH ). Finally, the oxygenated products such as methanol and formic acid were given by the radical chain reaction. A fluorous solvent plays an important role of inhibiting the deactivation of reactive radical species such as Cl and CH .

Hydroxylation of benzene by molecular oxygen (O2 ) occurs efficiently with 10-methyl-9,10-dihydroacridine (AcrH2 ) as an NADH analogue in the presence of a catalytic amount of Fe(ClO4 )3 or Fe(ClO4 )2 with excess trifluoroacetic acid in a solvent mixture of benzene and acetonitrile (1:1 v/v) to produce phenol, 10-methylacridinium ion and hydrogen peroxide (H2 O2 ) at 298 K. The catalytic oxidation of benzene by O2 with AcrH2 in the presence of a catalytic amount of Fe(ClO4 )3 is started by the formation of H2 O2 from AcrH2 , O2 , and H(+) . Hydroperoxyl radical (HO2 (.) ) is produced from H2 O2 with the redox pair of Fe(3+) /Fe(2+) by a Fenton type reaction. The rate-determining step in the initiation is the proton-coupled electron transfer from Fe(2+) to H2 O2 to produce HO(.) and H2 O. HO(.) abstracts hydrogen rapidly from H2 O2 to produce HO2 (.) and H2 O. The Fe(3+) produced was reduced back to Fe(2+) by H2 O2 . HO2 (.) reacts with benzene to produce the radical adduct, which abstracts hydrogen from AcrH2 to give the corresponding hydroperoxide, accompanied by generation of acridinyl radical (AcrH(.) ) to constitute the radical chain reaction. Hydroperoxyl radical (HO2 (.) ), which was detected by using the spin trap method with EPR analysis, acts as a chain carrier for the two radical chain pathways: one is the benzene hydroxylation with O2 and the second is oxidation of an NADH analogue with O2 to produce H2 O2 .

Alkanes were oxygenated by dioxygen with p-benzoquinone derivatives such as p-xyloquinone in alkanes which are used as solvents to yield the corresponding alkyl hydroperoxides, alcohols and ketones under visible light irradiation with high quantum yields (Φ = 1000, 1600%). The photooxygenation is started by hydrogen atom abstraction from alkanes by the triplet excited states of p-benzoquinone derivatives as revealed by laser-induced transient absorption spectral measurements.