Ruthenium complex immobilized on mesoporous silica as recyclable heterogeneous catalyst for visible light photocatalysis

Aldehyde group-functionalized [Ru(bpy) 2 L](PF 6 ) 2 catalyst was prepared and immobilized onto the mesoporous silica nanoparticles to act as a heterogeneous catalyst for the selective oxidation of thioanisole to methyl phenyl sulfoxide under visible light. The heterogeneous catalyst can be easily recovered by simple centrifugation without chemical treatment, exhibiting comparable catalytic efficiency with homogeneous ones and no decrease in catalytic efficiency after at least 5 cycles.