Selective production of aldehydes: from traditional alternatives to alcohol photo-oxidation using g-C3N4-based materials Quintana Lancheros, María Alejandra Rodríguez-Padrón, Daily Jimenéz-Calvo, Pablo Calero De Hoces, Francisca Mónica Rodríguez Solís, Rafael Muñoz Batista, Mario Jesús This project has received funding from PID2022-139014OB-I00/SRA (State Research Agency)/10.13039/501100011033.501100011033. D. R.-P. received funding from the European Union′s Horizon2020 research and innovation program under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie Cofound Grant Agreement No. 945361. P.J-C. received funding from the European Union's Horizon Europe research and innovation program under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement no. 101068996. Once largely overlooked, selective photocatalysis has recently seen rapid development and now includes several new applications. One of the most sought-after applications is the photocatalytic oxidation of alcohols to their corresponding aldehydes. There is significant interest in the selective production of compounds such as benzaldehyde, cinnamaldehyde, and vanillin using this technology, among various other valuable components. This work examines common production methods and alternative synthesis routes for aldehydes from their alcohols, focusing on g-C3N4-based photocatalytic schemes. The discussion includes an analysis of g-C3N4 structures that have shown significant results in the selective oxidation of alcohols and provides a critical review of the mechanism, highlighting the importance of reporting quantum yields of the reaction. Literature data suggest that photocatalysis is a viable alternative to traditional aldehyde production methods, with maximum selectivity values towards the product of interest (>99%), but catalytic activity remains limited, with relatively low quantum yields, restricting the transition beyond the laboratory scale. However, the charge handling in g-C3N4-based advanced materials is adequate for this application, and their implementation under solar illumination conditions is promising. 2025-06-17T07:37:03Z 2025-06-17T07:37:03Z 2025-05-05 journal article Quintana, M. A. et al. Selective production of aldehydes: from traditional alternatives to alcohol photo-oxidation using g-C3N4-based materials. Mater. Adv., 2025, 6, 3760. https://doi.org/10.1039/D5MA00229J https://hdl.handle.net/10481/104709 10.1039/d5ma00229j eng info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/EC/H2020/MSC/945361 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ open access Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 Internacional Royal Society of Chemistry