State‐of‐the‐Art Light‐Driven Hydrogen Generation from Formic Acid and Utilization in Enzymatic Hydrogenations

Abstract

A concept of combining photocatalytically generated hydrogen with green enzymatic reductions is demonstrated. The developed photocatalytic formic acid (FA) dehydrogenation setup based on Pt(x)@TiO2 shows unprecedented hydrogen generation activity, which is two orders of magnitude higher than reported values of state‐of‐the‐art systems. Mechanistic studies confirm that hydrogen generation proceeds via a photocatalytic pathway, which is entirely different from purely thermal reaction mechanisms previously reported. The viability of the presented approach is demonstrated by the synthesis of value‐added compounds 3‐phenylpropanal and (2R, 5S)‐dihydrocarvone at ambient pressure and room temperature, which should be applicable for many other hydrogenation processes, e.g., for the preparation of flavours and fragrance compounds, as well as pharmaceuticals.